Electronic witnessing solution allowing remote execution of Wills, thereby increasing Wills accessibility during a pandemic and going forward.

新冠肺炎疫情导致英国对遗嘱的需求出现了有史以来最大的增长（[Law-Society-Gazette-March-20] b[0]）。所有人都担心自己的健康，担心家人的幸福和经济安全，同时考虑如果最坏的情况发生，法律和经济后果。此外，英国55岁以上的人中有40%没有遗嘱（Unbiased-2017），这主要是由于涉及手动（非数字）管理方面的麻烦。在撰写或更新遗嘱时，每个人都可以从适当的法律建议中受益，超过70% （Law-Society-Gazette-2020）的人使用受监管的律师来帮助撰写和执行遗嘱。英国法规规定，律师在提供建议之前必须核实当事人的身份（以避免对资产进行欺诈性索赔），遗嘱必须由两个人签署并见证。这些过程通常是与律师面对面进行的，但在大流行期间，当社交距离和封锁规则到位时，这根本不可能。更糟糕的是，那些最易受伤害的人，最需要的可能是一份遗嘱。英国政府正确地将遗嘱律师归类为“必要的工作人员”，但他们不能执行这项必要的工作。Thirdfort的一些客户律师事务所通过要求在花园围栏外作证来维持生计，但由于没有电子解决方案，律师们求助于各种危险而繁琐的变通办法。Thirdfort的另一位客户带着一个凉亭开车去客户那里，作为临时办公室，进行身份检查和签名/见证。如果委托人独自生活，律师必须与委托人的另一名家庭成员一起前往委托人的住所担任第二证人。如果律师独自生活，找到第二个证人就更难了。这些变通措施缓慢、代价高昂，而且可能致命，因为它会使脆弱的客户和基本工作人员暴露于Covid-19。Thirdfort正在构建一个远程身份检查和电子签名/见证移动应用程序，允许任何拥有智能手机的个人撰写和签署他们的遗嘱，同时获得必要的法律建议。该解决方案建立在我们现有的移动应用程序的基础上，该应用程序解决了财产法律市场上的类似问题。我们将把该产品卖给遗嘱律师，他们将能够将其与通过电话/视频会议提供法律咨询相结合，提供完全远程的遗嘱服务。这种新的远程服务可以在大流行后继续存在，升级目前执行遗嘱的陈旧、低效和潜在不安全的方式。[0]: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/coronavirus-demand-for-wills-jumps-by-76/5103703.article

Covid-19 has driven the largest increase in the demand for Wills the UK has ever seen ([Law-Society-Gazette-March-20][0]). All demographics are scared about their health, worried for their family's wellbeing and financial security, whilst thinking about the legal and financial ramifications if the worst was to happen. In addition, c.40% of UK over 55 year-olds do not have a Will (Unbiased-2017), largely due to the manual (non-digital) administrative hassle involved.When writing or updating a Will, everyone could benefit from proper legal advice and over 70% (Law-Society-Gazette-2020) of people use a regulated lawyer to help write and execute Wills. UK regulations mean that lawyers must verify a person's ID (to avoid fraudulent claims over assets) before giving advice and a Will must be signed and witnessed by two individuals. These processes typically happen face-to-face with a lawyer, but this is simply not possible during a pandemic, when social distancing and lockdown rules are in place. Worse still, vulnerable individuals who are most at risk and practising shielding are likely to be the most in need of a Will.The UK government has rightly classified Wills lawyers as 'essential workers', however they cannot carry out this essential work. Some Thirdfort client law firms get by via requiring witnessing over garden fences, but with no electronic solution, lawyers are resorting to all kinds of dangerous and cumbersome workarounds. Another Thirdfort client drives to clients with a gazebo to use as a makeshift office to conduct ID-checks and signing/witnessing. If the client lives alone, the lawyer must travel to the client's property with another member of their own household to act as the second witness. If the lawyer lives alone, finding a second Witness becomes even harder. These workarounds are slow, costly and potentially lethal, as it exposes vulnerable clients and essential-workers to Covid-19\.Thirdfort is building a remote ID-checking and E-signing/witnessing mobile-app to allow any individual with a smartphone to write and sign their Will, whilst getting the necessary legal advice. The solution is built on the back of our existing mobile-app which tackles equivalent problems in the property legal market. We will sell the product to Wills-lawyers who will be able to use it in combination with offering legal advice over telephone/video-conference to offer a fully remote Wills service. This new remote offering can then endure post-pandemic, upgrading the archaic, inefficient and potentially insecure way Wills are currently executed.[0]: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/coronavirus-demand-for-wills-jumps-by-76/5103703.article