Addresses in wills

Alter_ego

Errata wrote: »

It's a Court service, not a nanny service.

Actually, if I read it correctly it's The Probate service, of course death is most of their business. So why is it not reasonable for them to check the wills the have in store when they deal with an intestacy case?

SmlSave

SmlSave - My Mum was telling me this morning that she and my Dad are going to have their wills looked at, as they still state their last address. Do they have to write a new will, or can they just add something on to confirm they moved and what the new address is.

The firm I work for would be fine with them writing a letter stating their change of address. Saves money on changing the Will itself

Alter ego, the Court Service don't let the Executor know that they have the Will. They will keep it safe and its a good idea to let the Executor know where its stored.

Do you have a family solicitor who will store the Will for you for free? Or you could invest in a fire/water-proof box to store your Will in. Generally its quite safe to store the Will at home but you do have to be careful not to mark it - no coffee stains, rips or paperclip marks as the Probate Regsitry can be extremly fussy at times.

Alter_ego

SmlSave wrote: »

Alter ego, the Court Service don't let the Executor know that they have the Will. They will keep it safe and its a good idea to let the Executor know where its stored.

Thanks

Do you have a family solicitor who will store the Will for you for free? Or you could invest in a fire/water-proof box to store your Will in. Generally its quite safe to store the Will at home but you do have to be careful not to mark it - no coffee stains, rips or paperclip marks as the Probate Regsitry can be extremly fussy at times.

Yes we have a family solicitor, but it would be a bit cheeky to ask them to store wills done by a will writer. We will use them when we re-do wills at a later date. These wills are only temporary in anticipation of some inheritances which will require more complex wills. Aren't families fun?

Just experimenting with fonts etc- sorry.

Mojisola

SmlSave wrote: »

Or you could invest in a fire/water-proof box to store your Will in. Generally its quite safe to store the Will at home

One problem with this can be that you have to trust your family 100%.

I know of a family where the will was kept at home. Lots of people knew of its existence and of how the estate was to be distributed. After the sudden death of the father, one family member locked himself in his father's office for some hours and then came out proclaiming that the will was nowhere to be found.

Nothing could be proved but his share of the estate was much greater under the intestacy rules than it would have been if the will had been found.

Errata

That ^^^^ happens far more frequently than people might think. There have been numerous threads saying "We know/they told us they had made a new will , but the only one we can find is an old one".

meritaten

its sensible to include beneficiaries/executors addresses in the will, especially if they have common names and/or dont live locally. It makes them much easier to contact or trace and it's confirmation that its the right person if they can say they were living at such and such an address at the time the will was drawn up. and to just put 'my godson' would make it very hard to trace someone!

Alter_ego

meritaten wrote: »

and to just put 'my godson' would make it very hard to trace someone!

You misunderstand, the old will referred to said "my godson......" The dots represented his name which I did not want to publish here. Also as said previously, all the beneficiaries know each other and are fully aware of family relationships.

nicolax

also im assuming if they changed their address and the will wasnt changed there would be at least some proof somewhere that they did once live at that address - to identify a beneficiary if they have a fairly common name

Hawkeye4aneye

Every Will writing organisation I have worked for always got their Consultants to get addresses of the Executors /Guardians or Beneficiaries.

The Executors is for obvious reasons to specify the person who is to act in case as mentioned previously there are others with the same name. Also when applying for Probate you need the address on the forms you complete for this so if they are in the Will it makes the job much easier. Guardians addresses will also specify the person who is to act in case, as before, there are others with the same name.
Trying to track Executors/Guardians/Beneficiaries without addresses when dealing with an estate can be a nightmare. Not everyone keeps their address books up to date or have the people named readily available on death. Not always will the Executors, if you find them, know everyone else's addresses.
This often applies to legatees normally who get £200 and it takes ages to find them or eventually find out they had died years ago. This can sometimes apply even with the address as the person moves away.

In any case the Will Writer is in business to make Wills for as many people as they can therefore having "leads" is essential. What better "lead" than from someone you have just done a Will for. The Company have their name and address and if say they are Executors/Guardians they know that they regarded highly by the person making the Will so another candidate for making their own Will.

Some Will Companies even send out literature about Wills to ALL the named Executors etc mentioning what they will have to do as an Executor, but really it's just a ploy to get them to do a Will with them as well.

Pee

If the beneficiary is my friend John Smith, then you do need an address and it does not matter that this may change in the future as John Smith will always be able to prove that he was living at that address at the time you made the will. If the beneficiary is my son John Smith you do not need an address as it is clear which John Smith you wish to benefit.

I would ask your solicitor for a quote for the straightforward wills and you may decide that you prefer to use them. Either the will writers want the addresses for advertising purposes or they are telling you that you need addresses to encourage you to change your Will when maybe no actual changes are required at the moment?

You should have at least one executor with a reserve in case the first choice dies before you or is unable to act for some other reason.