For Victorian law firms · Section 8A
Run the witnessing. Keep the record.
Your firm runs the session. Kellon guides the will-maker and both witnesses through each step section 8A requires, and records what each of them saw. You finish with an evidence package and a draft affidavit of due execution.
Making your own will? Ask your lawyer whether they offer remote signing.
TestatorSharing
WitnessWatching
Special witnessWatchingWitnessing, not signing
E-signing platforms establish what was signed, and Kellon establishes how it was witnessed.
Section 8A asks whether the witnesses could clearly see the will-maker sign, which is a question about the process rather than the finished file.
The session
Every session runs the same six stages, from the invitation to the evidence package.
- Testator signs · witnesses watching
- Ordinary witness signs · after testator
- Special witness signs · last
The design principle
Kellon prompts and records, and the professional judgement stays with you.
Identity, capacity and the statements on the will are yours to settle. Kellon prompts for each step and records that it happened, without assessing your answer.
See what section 8A requires, in the Act’s wordsThe record
The record shows what each witness could actually see.
A court asks what the witness saw, not what the camera captured. The evidence package comes in three layers, each for a different reader.
- 1A one-page certificate, in plain English, for the registrar.
- 2The recording, with what each witness received, if anyone looks closer.
- 3The session log, for an expert, only if the first two are challenged.
The original
Kellon holds the executed will, so it can be verified whenever it is needed. Every download makes a copy; Kellon can show which file is the one that was signed. Your firm keeps its custody record and its client.
What you need
The ordinary witness joins only to sign.
A session needs the will-maker and two witnesses, one of them the special witness. The ordinary witness skips the review with the will-maker, checks the document for themselves, signs and leaves, which frees the people whose time most often limits how many executions a firm can run.
Who is needed when
We recommend each person signing uses two devices, one to sign on and one for the camera, so the others see both the person and the signature appearing. This is our recommended configuration rather than a requirement of the Act, and you decide what suits the client.
Built for
- Fully remote sessions, everyone by video
- Victorian wills, with enduring powers of attorney to follow
- Your existing precedents and drafting
Not yet
- Hybrid signings, with a witness in the room
- Execution under another jurisdiction’s law
- Signing at the will-maker’s direction
Questions
Questions practitioners ask.
You can, and some firms have. Neither tool was built for section 8A: video software does not record what each witness could see of the signing, and an e-signing platform establishes the document rather than the witnessing. The process may well be compliant on the day, with little to show it afterwards.
No. Capacity is your assessment. Kellon prompts for the step and records that you made it. It does not give legal advice and does not replace your professional judgement.
Two devices is our recommendation rather than a requirement of the Act, and the practitioner conducting the session decides what suits the client. We are happy to talk through particular circumstances.
Section 8A allows for it, and it matters most for the clients the reforms were written for. It is not yet part of the standard Kellon session, and we would like to build it with a firm whose clients need it.
No. Kellon is concerned only with the execution and its record. Your drafting stays yours.
Yes. A walkthrough is the usual starting point, and nothing follows unless you want it to.
See a session from start to finish.
A walkthrough takes twenty minutes. We run a session as your special witness would, and show you the record it produces.
