This was the key issue of determination in a recent South Australia Supreme Court decision.
In Re Estate of Elizabeth Seabrooke (‘deceased’) [2023] SASC 122 (‘Seabrooke’), Elizabeth Seabrooke (‘the deceased’) died on 24 April 2022. Prior to her death, she executed a Will on an iPad, signed with an iPad pencil and executed in the presence of two witnesses who did the same. The deceased then scanned the electronic Will and sent it to herself.
The deceased named her daughter Natalie Beresford as executor (“the executor”) of the Will. On application to have the will admitted to probate, the executor sought to admit a printed copy of the scanned electronic will as the last will and testament of the deceased. The original electronic will could not be located on the iPad on which it was prepared and signed, however a copy was saved on a USB which had been lodged to the Registry. The matter was referred from the Registrar to the Supreme Court for determination. There was no argument that the Will did not contain the necessities required such as a clause revoking all prior wills and codicils as well as a named executor and beneficiaries of the deceased’s property and assets. What was left for the Court to determine was whether a copy of the ‘document’ executed as a last will and testament should be admitted to probate. [...]
