Why wills are rubbish

gettingtheresometime

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

I really hope you are not going to DIY this. I am not saying solisitors do not make mistakes, but they make far less than an DIYer will, and there is a route for legal redress if a solisitor fowls up.

Oh no it will be done through a solicitor but what I meant was I want the draft read by someone out of the loop, so to speak.

Yorkshireman99

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

When my mum wrote her will she asked my sister and I to read the draft to see if we could think of any 'what if' situations.


My FIL, on the other hand, wrote a will with the best of intentions but the law of unintended consequences came into play which means potentially OH may never see the inheritance that we know FIL & MIL would have wanted him to have.


I plan to ask a good friend of mine to have a look at the draft of my new will (when I get around to it!) to see if she can see any 'what ifs' situations.

It soaunds as if you plan to DIY it. Don't! Go to a soliucitor and then if you really want get the draft check by another one. You cannot afford to let the checking be done by an unqualified friend.

getmore4less

Do an order of death tree making sure you have covered all branches.

Be especially careful if there are branches you don't want stuff to go to.

Simple example.

You have 2 siblings and you want one branch to inherit not the other.

Make sure you have a clause that covers all of the first branch dieing.

Don't assume because there are kids and below there will be at least one left.

DigForVictory

I regard a Will as being in the same review-&-renew category as my car insurance. Heck yes I shop around, but Things Change.

Not updating my Will is careless not criminal, but I've seen intestacy & want no part of it.
So currently I have a Will and three codicils, welcoming new family members. There's another marriage on the horizon & I may take the lot in & say, lets update the original to cover this lot. Then ask them to run the what-if analysis so I've covered as much as I can.

I believe Alvin Hall rewrites his Will every year. I tend towards codicils (tush!) and overhaul the lot every now & again.

unholyangel

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

There are always risks in these situations, and no will will cover divorce (for that trusts should be considered) Not making a new will in advance of a second marriage would be nuts as you risk dying intestate, and whatever risks there are with wills, the risks associated with intestacy are far higher, which is why the OP is talking rubbish.

Ive never agreed with the OP's view or implied that people shouldn't have a will - quite the opposite.

getmore4less

One issue with the original post is the op clearly does not understand what mirror wills are and uses terms that have no common meaning.

The survivor could not revoke/change the deceased will without beneficiary agreement.
Survivor can change their own but is is not clear what is meant.

Carefully constructed wills can avoid most of the issues.

YoungBlueEyes

getmore4less wrote: »

Be especially careful if there are branches you don't want stuff to go to.

Could I ask a question re this?

If there are family members you don't want to be beneficiaries, is it better to say so in the will or just not mention them?

Could a person argue that as they weren't mentioned in the will, it was the deceased's oversight rather than deliberate omission?

Yorkshireman99

YoungBlueEyes wrote: »

Could I ask a question re this?

If there are family members you don't want to be beneficiaries, is it better to say so in the will or just not mention them?

Could a person argue that as they weren't mentioned in the will, it was the deceased's oversight rather than deliberate omission?

To borrow a term from another area Keep It Simple Stupid or KISS for short. The more complex a will the more likely there is to be an unexpected conseqence or worse a challenge to it. Personally I think anyone making a will should discuss it with their family and their executor. Also make sure everyone knows where the original will is kept. Keep the will under review at a maximum of five yearly intervals. As for your question it is probably best to omit any reference but any good solicitor will make notes that the client explains any reasons for what is in the will. Then if there is any query the notes can be referred to.

getmore4less

YoungBlueEyes wrote: »

Could I ask a question re this?

If there are family members you don't want to be beneficiaries, is it better to say so in the will or just not mention them?

Could a person argue that as they weren't mentioned in the will, it was the deceased's oversight rather than deliberate omission?

The problem happens when they become the intestate residual beneficiary and stuff falls into that pot.

badmemory

I was always under the inpression that if you wanted A,B & C to receive a share but not D, it was advisable to mention that you did not wish D to receive a share. Or maybe leave them a £ to show you had not forgotten their existence.


It is a pity that the will cannot state that one inheritor cannot be instructed not to give any of this inheritance to a step sibling, although hopefully by then the sibling will have seen the light!