Will Jargon - Is this poor English or Legal Jargon?!

Sussie321

Hi 

My parents have given me a copy of their will and this is what it says.  To me it seems like there are commas missing as it really doesn't make much sense!  

If the above provisions for the distribution of my residuary estate fail then the following shall apply.  Further gift of my residue i give my residuary estate to my daughter Jane Doe and if she shall fail to obtain a vested interest leaving issue who survive me then such issue shall take by substitution and if their shall be more than one of such issue they shall take in equal shares per stirpes but so that no issue shall take whose parent is alive and is capable of taking. 

They used a free will writing service (and gave a donation), but from what they've said the company they didn't seem great.

They have told me that they want to leave everything to me, and if anything happens to me, then my children will inherit instead.  

I do have a late sister who had children, but my parents have left them out of the will - fortunately my sister's children received a substantial payout from a few life insurance policies so have been well looked after.

Have the will writing company worded the will corrected?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can make sense out of it.
 

Keep_pedalling

The lack of commas in legal documents goes way back.

https://wills.org.uk/punctuation-in-wills/

Mojisola

Sussie321 said:

If the above provisions for the distribution of my residuary estate fail then the following shall apply.  Further gift of my residue i give my residuary estate to my daughter Jane Doe and if she shall fail to obtain a vested interest leaving issue who survive me then such issue shall take by substitution and if their shall be more than one of such issue they shall take in equal shares per stirpes but so that no issue shall take whose parent is alive and is capable of taking. 

They have told me that they want to leave everything to me, and if anything happens to me, then my children will inherit instead. 

That is what that says so that's okay.

Do they have a clause that says what should happen to their estate if you and any children you have pre-decease them?

Savvy_Sue

If the above provisions for the distribution of my residuary estate fail then the following shall apply.  Further gift of my residue i give my residuary estate to my daughter Jane Doe and if she shall fail to obtain a vested interest leaving issue who survive me then such issue shall take by substitution and if their shall be more than one of such issue they shall take in equal shares per stirpes but so that no issue shall take whose parent is alive and is capable of taking. 

I've bolded two words which just seem wrong to me - I'd have thought it should be 'leaving issue who survive HER' and 'if THERE shall be more than one'.

I mean, the ME instead of HER could be right, but I can't make sense of it, it's meant to say that if Jane dies before her parents but leaves surviving children, then they will inherit instead of Jane.

The THEIR instead of THERE may just be carelessness in proofreading, but it would give me no confidence in them. 

And you say this is 'their' will - only one? Get them to a proper solicitor and pay to have the job done properly. They need a will each. Each will needs to say what happens on the first death (and should make provision for the survivor) and then on the second death (when everything goes to Jane). 

GDB2222

It’s obvious what the homophone is intended to mean, and whilst wrong does not cause issues.

 I think that 'me' is exactly what was intended, ie no payment to grandchildren who unfortunately die before the testator.

Sussie321

Thanks everyone.  

Here's me asking if the will has been written using 'poor English' and mine was shocking in the post!  

I copied it from a hard copy and was in a rush.....honest! 

'their' was my mistake, it should read 'there'.

Keep_pedalling - Interesting fact that the lack of commas goes back in time!  

Mojisola - thanks for your reply.  Do you know if 'stirpes' means just my children (I only have one child at the moment) or could it be interpreted as all grandchildren? 

 

getmore4less

Per stirpes goes down generations till exhausted.

For any legal term worth Google and multiple UK sources for examples.

https://www.google.com/search?q=per+stirpes+legal+definition+uk+law

Silvertabby

Keep_pedalling said:

The lack of commas in legal documents goes way back.

https://wills.org.uk/punctuation-in-wills/

Eats shoots and leaves.

Malthusian

Silvertabby said:

Eats shoots and leaves.

A solicitor would presumably prefer "Shoots and leaves are eaten by pandas", which is unambiguous despite the lack of punctuation.
My version is longer, and would be bad writing in a non-legal context (unnecessarily verbose and use of the passive instead of the active). But in a legal context it would be better, because the meaning can't be changed by a tiny dot on the paper being rubbed out, or added by an accidental inkblot.

astroL

Sussie321 said:

Hi 

My parents have given me a copy of their will and this is what it says.  To me it seems like there are commas missing as it really doesn't make much sense!  

If the above provisions for the distribution of my residuary estate fail then the following shall apply.  Further gift of my residue i give my residuary estate to my daughter Jane Doe and if she shall fail to obtain a vested interest leaving issue who survive me then such issue shall take by substitution and if their shall be more than one of such issue they shall take in equal shares per stirpes but so that no issue shall take whose parent is alive and is capable of taking. 

They used a free will writing service (and gave a donation), but from what they've said the company they didn't seem great.

They have told me that they want to leave everything to me, and if anything happens to me, then my children will inherit instead.  

I do have a late sister who had children, but my parents have left them out of the will - fortunately my sister's children received a substantial payout from a few life insurance policies so have been well looked after.

Have the will writing company worded the will corrected?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can make sense out of it.
 

Dreadful.  Spelling and grammatical errors - a worthless document. Get it done properly.

Lawrence

p00hsticks

astroL said:

Sussie321 said:

Hi 

My parents have given me a copy of their will and this is what it says.  To me it seems like there are commas missing as it really doesn't make much sense!  

If the above provisions for the distribution of my residuary estate fail then the following shall apply.  Further gift of my residue i give my residuary estate to my daughter Jane Doe and if she shall fail to obtain a vested interest leaving issue who survive me then such issue shall take by substitution and if their shall be more than one of such issue they shall take in equal shares per stirpes but so that no issue shall take whose parent is alive and is capable of taking. 

They used a free will writing service (and gave a donation), but from what they've said the company they didn't seem great.

They have told me that they want to leave everything to me, and if anything happens to me, then my children will inherit instead.  

I do have a late sister who had children, but my parents have left them out of the will - fortunately my sister's children received a substantial payout from a few life insurance policies so have been well looked after.

Have the will writing company worded the will corrected?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can make sense out of it.
 

Dreadful.  Spelling and grammatical errors - a worthless document. Get it done properly.

Lawrence

THe OP came back to admit that the spelling errors were down to them incorrectly copying the original wording.

And as others have said the 'bad grammar' comes from the long standing legal practise of not using punctuation (to avoid any debate on whether the small dot that potentially changes the meaning of a sentence is a comma, an inkblot or a squashed insect)