Solicitors and badly written wills?

elsien

This is just to satisfy my curiosity, no other reason although the scenario does arise from a real situation.


Person wants to makes a will in a hurry, doesn't really think it through. Goes to solicitor. Will states house can't be sold for x years to allow the resident children time to sort themselves out before the non resident children get the house sold and have their share. All fine so far.
But there is no mention of who pays rent or maintenance or any other financial consequences that might arise during those x years. And there's too many children to have the house transferred to all their names. So I was just wondering if this is something a good solicitor would have suggested was considered or whether the onus is on the person making the will to think about the potential difficulties beforehand?

How much does/should a decent solicitor discuss about how best to manage the person's wishes in the most effective way?

Mojisola

elsien wrote: »

Will states house can't be sold for x years to allow the resident children time to sort themselves out before the non resident children get the house sold and have their share.

But there is no mention of who pays rent or maintenance or any other financial consequences that might arise during those x years.

We have a clause like this in our wills (although it's months and not years) and our solicitor laid out exactly who would be responsible for the costs during that period.

Keep_pedalling

If this is related to your previous thread the executors should not get involved in questioning the suitability of the will. As per previous advice given they should walk away and let the children sort it out.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5621746

elsien

They have already renounced being executors.
As I said above, it just made me curious as to how much a solicitor would advise a client about potential pitfalls or things that should be consideed, as a general rule.

SevenOfNine

A decent solicitor would discuss what a person wants to achieve, why, & take on board all their suggestions.

From there they would/should give the pros & cons for the person to consider, pointing out possible pitfalls & suggesting viable alternatives which may achieve the same aims in a more practical or more suitable manner. Suggesting things the person may not have thought of, assuming they have all the facts in front of them.

Then they'll charge an arm & a leg for the privilege.

If a reputable solicitor was used, don't blame them if the person chose not to follow their best advice.