Jurit partner responds to Ministry of Justice’s consultation on behalf of STEP

Jo Summers TEP, Partner in our Private Wealth & Tax team, has responded on behalf of STEP - the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners - to the Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) consultation on the storage and retention of wills and other documents submitted in applications for probate.

The consultation in question proposes a reform that will allow older wills and documents, dating back to 1858, to be converted into digital form and be destroyed at a later date.

If it goes ahead, only the wills of ‘famous people’ would be kept in paper form.

Speaking on behalf of STEP members, Jo Summers has called for clarification from the MoJ on issues such as budget, cost vs benefit analysis, and clarity over what constitutes a famous person.

She said: “Our members have also raised concerns about the outsourcing of the scanning of wills as part of the digitisation process. The current use of scanning by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has not been without errors.

“Many of our members have observed probate applications where scans have contained missing pages leading to further probate delays. STEP is not against technological change, but we are not convinced this proposal is needed, nor that it will save money.”

STEP’s full response: The Ministry of Justice’s Proposed Reform on the Permanent Storage and Retention of Original Will Documents

Story via Today’s Wills & Probate.