Lifeium partners with University of Strathclyde

17th September 2018 by Kevin Karue

Dear Lifeium enthusiasts,

Lifeium aims to simplify the will creation process, making it more accessible whilst also safeguarding the wishes of clients creating wills. With expertise in law, the company has devised the concept of an innovative, simple-to-use digital platform incorporating features to assess and determine the will creator’s competence and freedom from coercion, ensuring compliance with the legal framework.

For will writers, one of the most important part of their job is their ability to assess a client’s capacity and knowledge that they are making a will and in doing so are giving directions as to how their estate should be distributed. This ensures that one of the requirements of creating a valid will is met to avoid any claims challenging the will on this basis. The burden of determining whether a client has testamentary capacity to make a will is therefore crucial in the preparation of every will. Other requirements such as correctly witnessing and executing the will are of equal importance to ensure that the will complies with formalities as set out in legislation.

In an increasingly digital world, Lifeium is investigating the use of technology to develop an intuitive cognitive awareness test, to establish fitness of mind, freedom from coercion, and advanced methods of complying with the formalities of execution of the will. Lifeium has partnered with the University of Strathclyde to leverage the expertise of leading researchers in Computer Science, Psychology and Law to develop this cognitive awareness test. The innovative nature of the research means that this has been granted Innovation Voucher funding by the Scottish Funding Council.

What might be the outcome of this research?

The outcome of the research will have a broader application to other industries beyond will writing and estate management, so we welcome any questions and/or suggestions from innovators from other related fields who are of the view this subject area is of relevance to their work. We are very excited to kick off this exciting stage in Lifeium’s roadmap. We will keep you informed on the progress of the project. Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments or questions that you would like us to ask the students.

By co-operating with the University of Strathclyde, we shall:

• get a strong theoretical knowledge supported by research to enhance our concept product;
• develop connections with industry partners that co-operate with the University;
• develop innovative techniques to eliminate coercion and foul play in will creation; and
• contribute to the drive to achieve efficiency in the will writing and estate management process for people in Scotland and beyond.

Stay tuned!