Article: Digital Will Execution: The S.9 Checklist — The Formalities of Will Execution, The Recurring Failure Points, And Why Will Cannot Yet Be Executed Digitally in England and Wales

Joel Edward Patterson recently published Digital Will Execution: The S.9 Checklist — The Formalities of Will Execution, The Recurring Failure Points, And Why Will Cannot Yet Be Executed Digitally in England and Wales, 2026. Provided below is the Abstract:

A will is one of the few instruments in English private law whose validity still turns on a formality framed in 1837 and executed correctly in a single, unrepeatable moment. Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837, in the form substituted by the Administration of Justice Act 1982, requires that the will be in writing, signed by the testator (or by some other person in their presence and at their direction), that the signature be made or acknowledged in the simultaneous presence of two or more witnesses, and that each witness then attest and sign the will, or acknowledge their signature, in the presence of the testator. These requirements are few in number, but noncompliance is severe in consequence: because the defect comes to light only after death, it is generally irreversible.