Special Edition: Wills Act 2025 - What can we expect from the Law Commission report?

In this latest episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Stephen Lawson, Partner at IDR Law and Elizabeth Gibbison, a solicitor at Irwin Mitchell and Chair of Law Society Private Client Solicitors Section Advisory Committee, to discuss the likely contents of the Wills Act 1837 by the Law Commission, its wider implications, and the broader legislative changes facing the private client sector

The Wills Act has remained largely unchanged for over 150 years. The Law Commission first tackled its reform in 2017, paused to address marriage law, and revisited it with a supplementary consultation in 2023. The result will likely be a comprehensive overhaul of how wills are made and interpreted in England and Wales.

A central feature of the report is the legal recognition of electronic wills. While the Law Commission supports their introduction, the specific technical requirements - such as identity verification and safeguards against fraud - will be left to statutory instruments, meaning further regulation from Parliament. The Commission is also likely to recommend that courts be granted the power to dispense with certain formalities, allowing them to validate wills that clearly reflect a deceased’s intention - even if they technically fall short of legal requirements.
 
Cases involving predatory marriages and dementia may also be tackled as efforts to protect vulnerable people are reviewed; including the automatic revocation of a Will following marriage. 

A key point of contention is whether to retain the long-established Banks v Goodfellow test or move toward the more modern Mental Capacity Act 2005 framework. Lawson argued in favour of Banks v Goodfellow for its clarity and practicality, while Gibbison proposed a hybrid approach, using both tests complementarily.

The report comes at a hugely exciting time in private client practice with IHT reforms, Non-Dom regime changes, Assisted Dying, cohabitation reform and digital transformation all play out over the course of the next few years. 

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