How do we bring wills into the 21st century?

What age you you think is correct to make a will?
For some individuals the concept of making a will could be daunting, however in reality it is such a wise choice, even if one does not have an estate as such, but they may have children at a young age. These young parents should have the same rights to appoint guardians for their children as anyone else.
There was also a case recently in which a young girl was dying of a terminal illness and she wanted to be cryogenically frozen, in the hope to be revived one day. This case was dragged through the courts as she was unable to make this decision herself. However a theory is that if she was able to make a will, she could have appointed executors who could have made this decision, without the need to go through the courts.

I totally agree, and believe that the age of writing a Will should be lowered from 18 to 16 within England and Wales.

Some 16 year old’s have children, assets and also have an idea on how they would like their body to be dealt with once they pass away (e.g. buried/cremated).

I believe it is essential that the laws are to be updated to fit and suit to today’s society. As mentioned above, if a 16 year old has a child, then they should be able to write a Will and appoint guardians to care for their children, in the event they predeceases them.

Victoria makes a valid point, but now armed with continuing scientific knowledge that your brain is not sufficiently developed enough to make important life changing decisions until your mid twenties surely is grounds for changes in our legal system. I recall a late elderly friend once saying “The elderly know well what it is like to be young but the young have yet to experience what it is like to be old.” It is often said in retrospect, if you could live your life over again would you have done things differently? It surely must help if your brain has matured enough to help you make those important decisions we all have to face in this life.

I owe my very existence to scientific research as do thousands of others. The court who allowed the unfortunate terminally ill young lady to be cryogenically frozen was faced with a dilemma. Scientific neurological research may soon provide substantive evidence to determine whether the court made the right decision as to her brain being sufficiently mature enough to make such a decision or whether that decision was influenced by that which presently still remains science fiction.

The US are well known for making unrealistic and unethical medical claims, often money orientated, when the onus is then placed on our legal system to decide whether they are genuine or spurious, giving false hope to desperate and seriously ill people.

If 16 year olds are bringing babies into this world either by accident or design, they need a parent or guardian to help them to cope until they are mature enough to take responsibility for themselves and their offsprings, many of whom are relying on state benefits to survive, but that is another subject entirely and I am veering off topic so will end it here.

I wonder how many 16 year olds have sufficient assets to make writing a will worthwhile?

I appreciate the points you are making Beryl and Malcolm, very valid.

In my opinion, it is not so much about whether a 16 year olds brain is ‘mature’ enough, it is simply about having the right to make a Will.

Granted, 16 year olds may not have sufficient assets such as property or significant amounts of money in policies such as pensions ect. However, in this day and age, with technology getting more advanced, 16 year olds most probably have hundreds if not thousands of pounds worth of assets such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer, camera’s etc, all of which could be included in a Will.

Inline with modern society, 16 year olds are having children, intended or not, and they should be able to have a say on who should care for their child in the event of them passing.

I was just asking a question! 🙂 Many children will have assets below the age of 16, and some have children. So just where do we draw the line?. One argument could be to draw it at the minimum age at which the “child” can leave school; so when technically they can stand on their own feet in the real world. This is currently 16. So I think I would suggest that argument to support the proposed age.

The argument about lowered age appears to be ignoring the line of undue influence which has proved a happy hunting ground for lawyers for centuries. Wikipedia has both English and Australian examples with an interesting aside into German law.

I cannot get excited about the subject as I think it is very minimally important apart from exceedingly wealthy children where the fees for the drafting of a will can be recouped. Which? does offer a Wills Service and I do wonder if they have ever extracted details of when people make them which may provide a clue to youngest person; and eldest.

A link to the consultation would have been useful. I have now found it and submitted my views directly where it counts.
For the purposes of this discussion here is what I sent.
Wills should be simplified and made less mysterious with words average people do understand, I.e.plain English. Your consultation itself is overly complicated and not easy to read by joe public.It tries to cover every eventuality, which is not possible and forces us down a complicated path. This won’t aid an increased used of wills to overcome the 40% figure.

It should be quicker and easier to make a will. Hence electronic means to do it all should be used wherever possible, and this treated as a priority. It will allow more use of wills and force a simpler process that is more understood. One example, if a testator registers as such online in a proven manner and then submits their will why do we even need a witness or signatures.

If we keep the current arcane process then no beneficiary should be able to sign a will as testator, or a witness. Furthermore, we agree with your proposal that witnesses should be fully independent and in no way do they or anyone connected to them in family, blood or business be a beneficiary.

There should not be any privileged wills. The military should support members to make a will as it’s so dangerous.