In a Law Society article referring to a survey of over 1,000 individuals, 67% of them incorrectly assumed that all Will Writers are actually solicitors, and 82% assumed that education and certification are required an individual to act as a Will Writer.
How it can go wrong
If your Will is wrongly drafted it could actually have a disastrous consequence on the people you leave behind.
I recall a recent case in which a couple were going to leave their respective shares from the family property to their two children to be able to attempt to safeguard a share of the premises from care expenses should the survivor needing to enter a home.
They had talked about the circumstances with their two children, and there seemed to be an awareness that the children wouldnt pressure the surviving mother or father out of the home, knowning that the surviving parent could live in the house throughout their lifetime, or just right until they asked for long-term care.
The couple had 2 children from their substantial marital life, and the male partner had a kid from a prior partnership whom he had not personallyseen since the kid had been born.
The couple instructed a Will writing provider to prepare Wills and to divide the ownership of their house so that they each held a fifty percent share which could pass under the terms of their Wills.
The Will Writing company drew up the Wills mentioning the beneficiaries as a class ” my children, instead of separately identifying the kids regardless of being aware that the couple wouldn’t intend the estranged child to benefit.
The Will writing company also failed to advise the customers to think about protecting their interest in the home until both of them had died.
Sad to say, the husband died earliest, and as the gift of his share from the residence passed to his children, this included the estranged child. The estranged child was delighted to understand that he reaped the benefit from his deceased fathers estate, and quickly commenced a legal struggle to get the home sold in order that his share could be released.
To make matters worse, their son and daughter-in-law were currently under-going a divorce and the daughter-in-law made an effort to make a claim against the share from the house which had passed to their son.
The result of the badly drawn up Wills along with an absence of competence and knowledge led to 2 expensive legal battles, both of which could have been averted.
To acquire a professionally prepared Will by a firm of solicitors you can trust use our on-line Will Writing service.
