When writing a will last year (through quite a basic legal-and- will-writing service), I encountered a potential serious pitfall for people writing unusual wills. One of the legacies I wanted to leave was larger than they expected. They had a maximum £ value for specific legacies, and wen I said I wanted to leave a bigger amount they cautioned me that it was likely to be overturned if legally challenged because ‘nobody would expect you meant that’. I’ve heard similar stories from solicitors (eg a will written in the UK was overturned because the court ruled the parents would not have meant to leave the majority of their estate to the child who was better off. They did: they asked him to use the monety help the other child who was not good at handling finances, but the court reversed their legacies). One of the reasons to have a solicitor look over your will is that they challenge and confirm unusual clauses, which makes them harder to challenge when you die.
All of which is to say: if you are seeking to raise funds via wills, or intended to leave a legacy that would count as unusual in normal practice, than the less formal legal input you have had the more vulnerable it will be to challenge. It cost us £99 for a joint will writing package, which is a reasonable insurance policy to ensure our estates are donated as we wish.
Thanks Bernadette, I’ll try to take that into account! Did you find a solution?
I point to ways to find cheap lawyers (and free services in the UK) in the current version of the will-writing guide. I’d love to hear about other options for this.
When writing a will last year (through quite a basic legal-and- will-writing service), I encountered a potential serious pitfall for people writing unusual wills. One of the legacies I wanted to leave was larger than they expected. They had a maximum £ value for specific legacies, and wen I said I wanted to leave a bigger amount they cautioned me that it was likely to be overturned if legally challenged because ‘nobody would expect you meant that’. I’ve heard similar stories from solicitors (eg a will written in the UK was overturned because the court ruled the parents would not have meant to leave the majority of their estate to the child who was better off. They did: they asked him to use the monety help the other child who was not good at handling finances, but the court reversed their legacies). One of the reasons to have a solicitor look over your will is that they challenge and confirm unusual clauses, which makes them harder to challenge when you die.
All of which is to say: if you are seeking to raise funds via wills, or intended to leave a legacy that would count as unusual in normal practice, than the less formal legal input you have had the more vulnerable it will be to challenge. It cost us £99 for a joint will writing package, which is a reasonable insurance policy to ensure our estates are donated as we wish.
Thanks Bernadette, I’ll try to take that into account! Did you find a solution?
I point to ways to find cheap lawyers (and free services in the UK) in the current version of the will-writing guide. I’d love to hear about other options for this.
Yes, but a very specific one. After our experience I would generally recommend getting a solicitor to write your will.
There’s been a recent legal update here making it even harder to leave a legacy in a particular way in the UK woman wins inheritance from estranged mother
Thanks Tom, will take that into account!