Innovate UK Smart Grant: The R&D Behind True Wills

Building technology for a law that has not been passed is an odd sort of project. The Law Commission published its final report on modernising Wills law on 16 May 2025, with a draft Wills Bill attached, and within days we announced a £500,000 Innovate UK Smart Grant to build the infrastructure behind electronic Wills in England and Wales. The project ran for twelve months, from June 2025 to May 2026, and has now completed. Here is what it paid for, and where each piece stands today.

Why we built ahead of the law

The Law Commission's recommendation rests on one idea. A valid electronic Will must be made and stored using a "reliable system", one that can prove who signed, tell the original from a copy, and protect the original from alteration. That comes down to authenticity, security and integrity, which we cover in depth in our reliable system series. We took that as the brief, because the reform was always going to be written around outcomes and not around a particular technology.

There was a practical reason too. Most people write a Will once and rarely look at it again, while a great deal of family wealth is due to change hands over the next thirty years. A process built on paper, wet ink and two witnesses in the same room was never going to hold up under the pressure, and the sensible time to build something better was before anyone needed it.

One project, twelve months

We delivered on time and on budget, providing Innovate UK with detailed updates along the way. That required a lot of project management and reporting, which is to be expected as the project was funded with public money, and we treated it as our own. Three of the products are live today. Two are built, one ready to launch after field testing and validation, the final one waiting for the law change.

True Wills: the version you signed is the version that stands

Live since February 2026, adeus True Wills™ gives a signed Will a time-stamped digital fingerprint, recorded on the blockchain, so any later change to the document, down to a single character, can be detected. If a Will is ever challenged, anyone can check whether the copy in front of them matches what was signed, and which version came last. It works with the Will process as it stands today, wet ink and two witnesses included. The launch was covered by Tech.eu and CoinGeek, and we explain how it works in The Technology Behind adeus.

True Gifts and True Notes: the small things and the words that matter

Both went live in May 2026. True Gifts records specific gifts, high-value or sentimental items for the people meant to have them, along with the story behind each one, which a formal Will rarely has room for. True Notes holds private, sealed messages for named people. Together they cover the parts of a legacy that a Will on its own does not, and they keep it private and secure, something paper has always struggled to do.

Testamentary Capacity Assessment (MCA): evidence for the day someone asks

The most complex work package is an AI-guided, self-paced online assessment built on a legal and scientific framework for testamentary capacity, broken down into measurable components. Development and internal testing are complete, and we are currently working with law firms and will writers on field testing and validation ahead of the expected launch in early 2027. It exists for the day someone asks, years later, whether the person who made a Will understood what they were doing. It works under current legislation, so it does not wait for the law to change, and it is future-proofed and ready to integrate with electronic Wills once they become law.

Digital signatures: signing and witnessing without sharing a room

This package uses technology we all rely on every day, assembled in a new way under a proprietary orchestration layer, to deliver synchronous video execution and witnessing, with a Qualified Electronic Signature, biometric identity checks and the session details recorded on the blockchain. It is built to meet or exceed the requirements we expect from the legislation. Together with electronic storage of the Will itself, it is the only part we cannot release until the law changes, and it will be ready on day one.

Where the National Law Review comes in

Mark's latest article for The National Law Review, Defining a "Reliable System": How the UK Law Commission Proposes to Regulate Electronic Wills, published on 6 October 2026, sets out those three tests for a US legal audience. The work above is how we have answered them: the signature and identity checks for authenticity, the controlled execution flow for security, and the blockchain record for integrity. His earlier piece, One Year and Counting, covered why the reform has stalled, and the advocacy behind both is set out in A Voice in Wills Reform. The same reliability logic appears in a number of US electronic Wills statutes, a conversation we joined as the first UK member of the LIVE Coalition.

Recognition along the way

Mark was an invited panellist at a blockchain roundtable at the House of Lords in November 2025, which CoinGeek reported, and we have since presented to Law Society committees. We were a finalist at the UK Startup Awards 2026 and the Hustle Awards 2026. Searches for "are electronic wills legal in the UK?" currently put adeus on the top of the first page of Google Search, and our articles are regularly cited in AI results.

What happens next

True Wills protects a Will today. The Testamentary Capacity Assessment (MCA), launching in early 2027, will add a layer of certainty that does not exist today, and both are designed to address some of the most common causes of contested Wills, regardless of the timetable for law reform. When the law allows it, electronic execution and storage are ready to be switched on, which is the point of having built them first. Until then, the practical step for anyone with a Will is to make sure it is current and that its record is secure. You can see how adeus True Wills works and make your own.

Frequently asked questions

What was the adeus Innovate UK Smart Grant project?

A twelve-month Innovate UK Smart Grant project, running from June 2025 to May 2026, to build the technology behind electronic Wills in England and Wales. The grant was £500,000, and all five work packages were delivered on time and within budget.

Is the Testamentary Capacity Assessment (MCA) available yet?

Not yet. It is built and in field testing with law firms and will writers, ahead of an expected launch in early 2027. It works under current legislation, so it does not depend on the law changing.

Are electronic Wills legal in England and Wales yet?

No. An electronic Will is not currently valid in England and Wales, because the Wills Act 1837 still requires a signed paper document and two witnesses. New legislation is needed, and the government has not yet published its full response to the Law Commission's report. Our running update on the missed deadline tracks where things stand.

Is adeus True Wills available now?

Yes. True Wills has been live since February 2026 and works within current law, wet signatures and two witnesses included. It adds a time-stamped digital fingerprint that makes any later change to the signed document detectable.

What happens to digital signatures and witnessing until the law changes?

They are built and tested, and held back from the live product until electronic Wills are legal. They are designed to be integrated as soon as the law allows it, so that adeus is ready on the day, not starting then.

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