How to correct misspelt name in will?

littlerock

I recently had my will drawn up and was about to get it witnessed by friends when I noticed that one of the beneficiaries surnames has been mispelt. My fault for not noticing earlier, although I did give the solicitor the correct name, I did not check it carefully enough as at first glance it looks the same. The difference is only by two letters but it is not her surname now e.g. it should say Weald and it says Wealth.

Can I change it and initial it to correct it?

Flugelhorn

My name was mispelt in my parents' wills (written by solicitor cousin who should have known better). w
When I was swearing oath for probate, I mentioned it to my solicitor who said "clerical error" - it didn't cause any problems. Mine was an error in my middle name, not surname, and looking at the date it was done I think it was a case of sherry ++ on Sunday lunchtime

i think if your solicitor made the error you should ask him / her to correct it

PasturesNew

My sibling married in 1974, in 1994 when my parents wrote their will they put her pre-married name down .... 15 years later when we handled the will there was never any problem.

The thing is with a Will and a name: is the person identifiable? Could anybody else claim it's not them? Is there any confusion/doubt? If not, I'd just let it roll.

Mojisola

littlerock wrote: »

I recently had my will drawn up and was about to get it witnessed by friends when I noticed that one of the beneficiaries surnames has been mispelt. My fault for not noticing earlier, although I did give the solicitor the correct name, I did not check it carefully enough as at first glance it looks the same. The difference is only by two letters but it is not her surname now e.g. it should say Weald and it says Wealth.

Can I change it and initial it to correct it?

Ask the solicitor to correct the name and print out a new copy.

It shouldn't cost you anything because it's their mistake.

littlerock

No it could not be anyone else. It was the solicitor's original mistake, I suspect it was typed by their new typist who is not a native english speaker, as it is a common enough Scottish surname, but it looks like the spelling checker cut in.

At the same time I had ample opportunity to check it and I did make a couple of other corrections and additions, I just never picked up the error in the surname.

Owain_Moneysaver

Get it retyped.

Minor misspellings don't affect the validity of a Will but the example you've given affects the pronunciation of the name and could be an ambiguity.