In the recent case of In the Estate of Elizabeth Seabrooke (Deceased) [2023] SASC 122 the Supreme Court of South Australia reviewed the current landscape. It concerned the issue of whether an electronic Will signed by the deceased and witnesses on an iPad with an iPad pencil, should be admitted to Probate as a valid Will.
In New South Wales under section 8 of the Succession Act 2008 a Court can dispense with the usual requirements of a valid Will and admit an “informal Will” where:
* there is a document;
* it purports to state a person’s testamentary intentions; and
* the Court is satisfied the person intended the document to be his or her Will.
Electronic documents are now accepted as informal Wills. In the above case the Court held the document signed on the deceased’s iPad was intended to be her Will and met the legal requirements for an informal Will. A PDF of the document was admitted to Probate.
It is likely that more and more Wills in the future will be created on electronic platforms which will be regarded as valid according to the law.