CEPLER Invitation to a Free Consultation on the Law of Wills

Location
Birmingham Law School
Dates
Thursday 12 October 2017 (17:30-19:30)
Contact

Lesley Griffiths l.griffiths.1@bham.ac.uk

The Law Commission has recently published a consultation paper Making a Will. The law of wills affects us all and the Commission is keen to hear views from across society - from members of the public, doctors, care workers, and civic groups, as well as members of the legal community.

The law in England and Wales that governs wills is, in large part, a product of the 19th century: the main statute is the Wills Act 1837, and the law that specifies when a person has the capacity to make a will (“testamentary capacity”) is set out in the case of Banks v Goodfellow from 1870. The law of wills needs to be modernised to take account of the changes in society, technology and medical understanding that have taken place since the Victorian era.

The central issues considered in the consultation paper are:

  • testamentary capacity
  • the rules about witnessing and signing wills
  • protecting vulnerable testators
  • electronic wills

We also cover other topics such as statutory wills, interpretation and rectification, ademption, revocation, mutual wills, donatio mortis causa, and whether children should be permitted to make wills.

Your invitation

You are invited to a Law Commission public consultation event, hosted by the University of Birmingham. The event will be on Thursday 12 October 2017 in Birmingham Law School. Please arrive at 5:30pm for 6pm. The event will last for one and a half hours. There is no charge for this event.

Professor Nicholas Hopkins, the Family, Property and Trust Law Commissioner and Spencer Clarke, the lawyer leading the wills project will give a presentation, following which there will be the opportunity for attendees to contribute their own experiences and views on the provisional proposals made and questions asked in the consultation paper.  

The Law Commission also hopes to encourage written feedback to the questions posed in the consultation paper which is available, together with a response form, on the Law Commission site, at www.lawcom.gov.uk/wills.

If you wish to attend, please register for the event via the link above by no later than 5 October 2017.