ARTIFICIAL MECHANISMS AND UPDATE OF WILLS: DISCARDING THE PHENOMENON OF FAILED LEGACIES AND NONEXISTENT LEGATEES

Overview

This paper addresses testamentary defects arising from the absence of regular will updates, specifically examining instances where legacies referenced in wills cannot be located upon the testator's death or where named legatees are found to have predeceased the testator. The research identifies the reliance on traditional mechanisms as the primary obstacle to effective will maintenance and proposes artificial mechanisms, including electronic communication systems, as remedial solutions to align testamentary documents with the actual intentions of testators.

Methods and approach

The study employs doctrinal research methodology to examine statutory provisions governing will updates and the practical impediments to their implementation. The analysis focuses on the gap between legislative provisions mandating regular will updates and their insufficient execution in practice, investigating how traditional procedural mechanisms fail to ensure accurate reflection of testamentary intent throughout the testator's lifetime.

Key Findings

The research identifies the traditional means of effectuating changes in testators' circumstances as the primary obstacle preventing regular will updates. This deficiency results in documented instances of legacies that cannot be located in wills after death and named legatees who have predeceased testators, constituting fundamental contradictions to the purpose of statutory update mechanisms. The analysis demonstrates that current statutory frameworks, while containing provisions for will updates, lack sufficient operational mechanisms to ensure their consistent application.

Implications

The findings indicate that modernization of testamentary law through incorporation of electronic communication and artificial mechanisms would substantially improve compliance with update requirements and enhance the congruence between executed wills and testator intentions. Electronic systems could facilitate more frequent and accessible updates, reducing the temporal gap between changes in testators' circumstances and corresponding testamentary modifications. Such modernization would address structural deficiencies in current practices by removing procedural barriers that currently impede regular will maintenance.