If I had a pound for every time I am told that using a solicitor is an unnecessary expense in terms of having a will drafted, then I would be retiring in a few years. However, wills should not be dealt with on a whim and need both careful thought and attention for good reason. Good intentions are not necessarily followed by the right result and so it’s vital that professional support is sought out when making a will.
The problem with drafting a will with no help
Take for instance the example of the gentleman who decided to draft his own will. He had no close family and so wanted to benefit the two ladies who cared for and looked after him, both of them neighbours on either side of his house. As well as this, he wanted to gift some money to his dominos buddy. First of all he used tippex to change his friend’s name in the will, but he did not initial the changes or make sure that it completely obliterated the first name that he wrote. Therefore the problem created was that both names were visible and both were real people.
The second problem was that the will had to be witnessed and he asked two gentlemen to do so. However, these were the husbands of the two ladies that cared for him and because of this, they were not allowed to inherit.
This left a will that did not work at all and instead, his estate followed the Intestacy Rules. Distant relatives were traced to Australia and they inherited everything despite never meeting him. Sadly, they were not willing to share with or offer anything to the two ladies who had cared for him.
Wills need to be updated regularly. In one situation, the deceased had three children and in the will he left a third of his wealth to each of his children, Amanda, Mark and Andrew. Andrew in later life had undergone gender re-assignment and had become Joanna. As the will specified a third to “my son Andrew” was Joanna able to inherit? A lack of sibling affection made a delicate position even more difficult but luckily the end result was that she could inherit.
