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10 February 2017 / Roderick Ramage
Issue: 7733 / Categories: Features , Wills & Probate
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E-material & testamentary directions

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Roderick Ramage discusses the challenges of will drafting in a paperless world

  • In a paperless world, the administrator has a very demanding task to discover what the deceased owned and owed if the deceased left no accessible records.

  • Computer Misuse Act 1990 and proposed law reform.

A fully committed “citizen of the internet” suffers a fatal heart attack at his keyboard: the match, with which he was about to light a cigarette, drops into the waste bin, and his computer was damaged beyond repair in the ensuing blaze. His business, financial and private lives were conducted on the paperless principle. He died intestate, and the would-be administrator of his estate needs to identify his assets and liabilities. The name Yahoo came into her mind, and someone stumbled across this passage in its 2012 terms of service: “No right of survivorship and non-transferability. You agree that your Yahoo account is non-transferable and any rights to your Yahoo ID or contents within your account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate, your account may be terminated and all

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal expands Midlands residential development team

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes

NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
Employers cannot rely on wellbeing services alone to defend workplace stress claims after a High Court decision awarding almost £1m to an overworked employee
Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
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