Will you Take the Bull by the Horns?
Sunday Mercury, 2 July 2000
If your house has been appreciating in value, either gradually over a number of years or abruptly thanks to temporary booms, you may want to think about your will – making one if you don’t already have a will, or revising your old one.
Odds are high that you are one of many people with substantial assets and no will, or an outdated one. Many people have wills which have not kept pace with the property and shares bull markets and other changes.
A new spouse, one or more new grandchildren or other changing circumstances might warrant a fresh approach to your legacy. Marriage cancels previous wills. If you make a will and marry or re-marry, your old will is invalid.
At least one circumstance definitely changes over time. People age. A beneficiary who was a teenager when you wrote your will is suddenly an adult.
In our high-reward dot-com economic culture, the son, daughter, niece or nephew who you designated as your beneficiary a decade ago may now be fairly well off. You may want to adjust your bequests accordingly.
According to the Law Society, “far too many people do not review their wills often enough. If people do not make a will, they have no say over how their estate is divided after their death. Forty per cent of the population die intestate, which means that their possessions are divided according to a formula set by the Government.”
But the Consumers’ Association has some cautionary advice. People consult banks and insurance companies in addition to solicitors to have wills drafted. Some people write their own wills, either with the help of a kit or entirely on their own.
Writing your own will is definitely tricky, especially for people with sizeable or complicated affairs. If you have been divorced, your affairs easily might fall in the complicated category.
But putting your affairs into the hands of a professional is no guarantee either. A few years ago, the Consumers’ Association found that many wills written by solicitors and specialist will writers were poorly drafted.
Banks have a tendency to appoint themselves as executors, and for good reason. They reap a fat fee which reduces the pot for your other beneficiaries. Keep an eye out on this point.
Given free rein, some solicitors also appoint themselves as executors, and again, this is an expensive way to proceed. An executor who is, say, a close family friend can instruct a solicitor on an as-needed basis.
How do you know if a solicitor has drafted your will poorly?
Your first step should be to read the will carefully and trust your own judgement if something is or seems unclear of mistaken.
Start with your own checklist that itemises such things as your assets, your beneficiaries, and the amounts you want to leave to each.
In preparing a checklist, consult a guidebook, such as the Wills and Probate Which Consumer Guide. In addition to explaining in detail the benefits of having a will, such guidebooks also tell you what your will should say, and how it should say it.
A simple error can invalidate a will. Guidebooks of this sort are essential reading for anyone who contemplates writing their own will, or has already done so and is worried that they may have botched it.
One of the trickiest aspects of writing a will is psychological, not legal. When do you write your own will? How and when do you encourage others, such as parents, to write or revise their wills?
I had my will written by the solicitor handling my house purchase, but I should have had a will much sooner. In starting to save for the house, I accumulated assets well in advance of the actual purchase.
Many people shy away from discussing wills with parents fearful lest they be thought morbid or greedy. There are no easy answers in such delicate matters other than to bite the bullet. A painful conversation now will almost certainly be preferable to a messy inheritance scrap later.
www.robertliebman.com