Tenants in Common - Will help

Manxman_in_exile

My wife and I are both law graduates (I even did law of succession as an optional subject) and she's a lawyer (public law).


Initially we thought we knew enough to do our own wills (which we did) but then we both realised we had not taken account of a rather obvious and very significant "what if" scenario, and we didn't know the answer.


So we went to a solicitor and she pointed out a few other things we hadn't taken account of! And we thought we had enough knowledge to know what we were doing!


Even then, make sure you read the draft properly. It was only at about the 4th time of checking it that we realised there was a mistake in it, and that was because we had not communicated our wishes sufficiently clearly.


Money well spent.

Yorkshireman99

Bravo! You illustrate perfectly that law is not nearly as easy as some think. There is always something new to learn. When I last amended my will the draft had a glaring legal error in it. My solicitor was seriously embarrassed but had the good grace to apologise at once and did not charge me for it. Everyone makes mistakes but is how you deal with correcting them that counts. I was happy to get the will done for free and will go back. I am sure she will be extra careful with any work she does for me.

getmore4less

If the original plan was you end up with the house on second death with 1/2 siting in limbo(life interest?) till both died then the alternative to give 1/4 to your wife what happens to the rest on second death?

you need to look at the full picture when considering any change.

if you have a kid(grandkid to your parents) then if that is the primary family tree they want to follow then they could bypass you.

when you build a death order tree the permutations can get quite complex.

If trying to avoid anything falling into intestacy once the primary line fails needs careful consideration.

Especially as you have the potential complication that some beneficiaries will be in the s33 category