No, a will cannot be witnessed by video call any more
The temporary rule that allowed wills in England and Wales to be witnessed over video link has expired. It applied only to wills made between 31 January 2020 and 31 January 2024, and the government confirmed at the start of February 2024 that it would not be renewed. A will signed today must be witnessed the traditional way: two witnesses, physically present, in the same place as you, watching you sign. What follows is general information about the law in England and Wales rather than legal advice, and anyone unsure about a will's validity should speak to a specialist.
If you searched for this because you made a video-witnessed will during the pandemic, the second half of the answer matters just as much: wills that complied with the temporary rule while it was in force remain valid. The expiry was not retrospective.
What the temporary rule actually was
Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837 requires a will to be signed "in the presence of" two witnesses. In September 2020, in response to lockdown and shielding, the government made the Wills Act 1837 (Electronic Communications) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Order 2020 (SI 2020/952), which temporarily redefined "presence" to include presence by video link. The change was backdated to 31 January 2020, the date of the first confirmed UK Covid case, and later extended to cover wills made up to 31 January 2024.
Even during the window, the bar was deliberately high. The government guidance on making wills using video conferencing required that:
- the witnessing happened by live video link, never a pre-recorded video;
- the person making the will and both witnesses each had a clear line of sight of the writing of the signature, not just a face on screen;
- the same physical document then travelled to the witnesses, who signed it in the will-maker's virtual or physical presence, ideally within 24 hours;
- electronic signatures were still not permitted at any stage.
The guidance was always framed as a last resort: where people could witness in the normal physical way, they were expected to.
Why it ended, and what applies now
The provision had a built-in sunset date, and in a written ministerial statement on 1 February 2024 the government confirmed it would not extend video witnessing, on the straightforward basis that the special circumstances of the pandemic no longer applied. Since 1 February 2024, the ordinary formalities have applied in full. Under the GOV.UK rules on making your will legal, a valid will must be:
- made in writing by someone aged 18 or over, acting voluntarily and of sound mind;
- signed by the will-maker in the presence of two witnesses, both aged 18 or over, who have a clear view of the act of signing;
- signed by each witness while the will-maker watches them do it.
Neither witness, nor a witness's spouse or civil partner, can inherit under the will. The two witnesses do not have to sign at the same moment as each other, but each signature must be seen by the will-maker. For the full formalities, including what happens when someone cannot physically sign, see our guide to what makes a will valid: signing and witnessing rules.
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If you hold a video-witnessed will from the Covid years
Take an example. Priya and Daniel, a married couple in Leeds, both made wills in May 2021 while Daniel was shielding after treatment. Their solicitor arranged live video witnessing and the signed documents were posted between the parties within a day. Those wills met the rules in force at the time and remain valid now. Nothing needs redoing simply because the temporary provision has ended.
That said, a video-witnessed will is more exposed to challenge than a conventionally witnessed one, because the validity depends on the process having been followed precisely: live link, clear sight of the signing, the same document circulating for signature. If the family cannot show that afterwards, a dispute becomes easier to run, particularly where capacity is also in question. The simple, cheap fix while the will-maker is alive is to re-execute the will with two witnesses physically present, which replaces any doubt with a cleanly witnessed document. A will witnessed remotely after 31 January 2024, by contrast, does not meet the formalities at all, and if it fails, the estate falls back to the last earlier valid will or the intestacy rules.
Getting a will signed properly now
Physical witnessing is not onerous: two adult neighbours, colleagues or friends who take nothing under the will, ten minutes in the same room, and clear sight of each signature. Our making a will checklist walks through the practical steps, and the wills pillar guide covers the wider choices around what goes into the document itself. If your situation is less straightforward, perhaps a video-witnessed will you are unsure about, a housebound will-maker, or a signature someone else made on the will-maker's behalf, a wills specialist can review the document and, where needed, oversee a fresh execution so the question of validity never has to be argued after death.