During covid, the government introduced temporary measures for remote witnessing of wills and other documents. That has now become permanent.

When the validity of a will is tested, obviously, the person who made the will is not available to authenticate it. For this reason, the law imposes strict rules as to how a will must be signed and witnessed.

The law requires wills to be signed in the presence of two witnesses, who cannot be beneficiaries under the will. But with the outbreak of COVID 19, many people were wondering how they can validly sign their wills whilst still practising social distancing. This was a pressing question, especially as there had never been more important time to have a valid will.

In 2020, the NSW parliament passed legislation allowing, for the first time, certain documents to be signed by video link, such as Zoom or Teams. The documents include wills, powers of attorney, appointments of enduring guardian, affidavits and statutory declarations.

The legislation involved amendments to the Electronic Transactions Act 2000 and changed the requirements for validly signing a document under:

1. The Succession Act (ie a will);
2. The Powers of Attorney Act 2003 (ie a power of attorney);
3. The Guardianship Act 1987 (ie an appointment of enduring guardian); or
4. The Oaths Act 1900 (ie an affidavit or statutory declaration).

Under the changes, we send you an invitation with a link to a video conference. You click on the link so we can see you sign the will. You then send it to us and we witness it, and add a statement that it has been signed in accordance with the regulation.

The regulation was initially in force until 31 December 2021. It works so well, that it has now become permanent.

Accordingly, there is now a simple method to enable a will (or a power of attorney, guardianship or affidavit) to be validly signed and witnessed, even though the witnesses may not be physically present.

For more information, please contact Somerville Legal’s Stephen Lynch, Accredited Specialist in Wills & Estates, on 9923 2321 (North Sydney office) or 49278077 (Newcastle office).