Following the Law Commission’s nearly 500-page final report Modernising Wills, published in May 2025, the private client sector stands on the brink of transformative change. 

Kathleen Gray, Associate Partner at Boys & Maughan's Margate office, explores what the proposed reforms could mean for practitioners and clients alike.

The Law Commission’s project had three guiding objectives: to enable people to express their wishes clearly, to ensure protection against abuse, and to improve certainty for practitioners and families.

Key proposed reforms to wills law

• Modernisation of will-making formalities
• Greater consistency in assessing capacity (applying the Mental Capacity Act standard only)
• Lowering the minimum will-making age to 16, including statutory wills for 16–17-year-olds
• Flexibility for courts to validate non-compliant wills where intent is clear
• Recognition of electronic wills with appropriate safeguards
• Stronger protections against undue influence and predatory marriage
• Judicial powers to prevent unintended failures of gifts.

For practitioners, these reforms promise clearer standards when advising clients, new opportunities for younger people to make wills, and greater flexibility where technical mistakes occur. At the same time, protections for vulnerable clients are strengthened, with more effective tools to challenge undue influence.

Why reform is needed
The law of wills still rests on 19th-century foundations, with the Wills Act 1837 continuing to govern current practice. While many of its safeguards remain valuable, society has changed dramatically since the Victorian era. People are living longer, rates of dementia are increasing, and digitalisation has transformed how we communicate and record intentions. Concerns about fraud, undue influence, and predatory marriage have also grown.

These reforms aim to modernise the law so that it reflects the realities of contemporary life and provides a framework that balances flexibility with protection.

Although the proposals are not yet law, a Draft Bill has been prepared for the new Wills Act. If enacted, the Wills Act 1837 will be repealed and replaced.

At Boys & Maughan, we are committed to staying fully informed and ready to adapt our practices, particularly around capacity assessments and the use of technology in will drafting, to ensure we continue to deliver the highest standard of service to our clients.