Will and name changes

tommytynan123

My dear old Mum has been talking wills (she's 85 going on 18) and she has a will in her 'safe' at home thatwas professionally drawn up many years ago with help from a solicitor. She has stated that most (if not all) of the estate is destined for me and 2 sisters. However, she is concerned that one sister is named using a surname at the time but who has since remarried.
Someone said that it shouldn't be a snag if the sister has all the documents, eg divorce, marriage.
Is that correct?
Thanks

Keep_pedalling

No it should not matter, although as the will was drawn up years ago perhaps it might be worth reviewing it anyway.

FreeBear

Having to deal with an estate t the moment. None of the siblings in the will are referred to by their surnames, just the first/second. i.e.:

I leave my collection of Picasso sketches to my daughter Mary Anne.

To my daughter Susan Florence, I bequeath my Ansel Adams photographs.

As K.p. suggests, it would be worth reviewing the will as items gifted in recent years may negate any bequests in the will. A good solicitor may also be able to make suggestions on how to reduce inheritance tax liabilities and/or protect assets should your mother need to go in to care.

The solicitor should also be conversant with any recent high court rulings that might be used to challenge a will and resolve any potential ambiguities.

Tuesday_Tenor

tommytynan123 wrote: »

Someone said that it shouldn't be a snag if the sister has all the documents, eg divorce, marriage.
Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

So if
(a) your Mum is happy with everything else about the will
and
(b) sister has the paper trail evidence of the name changes
then there is no need to do anything.

TBagpuss

As others have said, there should not be a problem - all that is necessary is that the intended beneficiary is sufficiently identified. So if you said 'to my daughter' and you have more than one daughter, there would be a problem, but if you said 'to my daughter Jane Smith, and she is now Jane Jones, or for that matter John Jones, it would not matter, so long as she can provide evidence that she is still the same person (marriage certificate / decree absolute / change of name deed etc)

LutonGirl

I was named in my married name in my Dad's will. I divorced a few years before he died in 2012 and changed back to my maiden name.

After he died and we were sorting things out, I always had the paperwork to back up the name change but was only rarely asked to provide it.

GaleSF63

My husband named me in his will before we were married and never changed it. There were no problems - I suppose I must have been asked to produce the marriage certificate though I can't remember doing!

(Scotland - a will isn't invalidated by marriage, before anyone wonders why it was still ok.)

Keep_pedalling

I think the only real issue is the difficulty the name changes would cause an executor. Fine if it's a close family relative or friend who is aware of the changes but if it were a solicitor who was not that familiar with the deceased then they might have some difficulty of tracing everyone who had a name change and had probably moved as well. This would delay wrapping up the estate and could add significant cost as well.

If the will does not need amending then leaving some notes with it detailing name and address changes will make life easier for the executors.