Homemade isn’t always good for you
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
George Bernard Shaw
How many times have you sent a text or an email and then sat back thinking the job was done only to find out sometime later that the message never reached the intended destination. Usually this isn’t a problem. But when it comes to your Will you need to be 100% sure that the document you sign correctly communicates to your loved ones your instructions in relation to your estate.
I recently came across a Will that failed to carry out the wishes of the person making it. The person concerned, let’s call him Mr. Smith, initially made their will with a firm of Solicitors. The Will was straightforward and was signed and witnessed correctly. A few years after making the Will Mr. Smith changed his religious beliefs and therefore wanted to alter his Will to amend his funeral wishes. This should have been very straightforward and Mr. Smith decided to update his Will by making a Codicil. A Codicil is effectively an extension to a Will and importantly it should not revoke the existing Will. Alternatively you can make a completely new Will including all of your new instructions which revokes the existing Will. I the case of Mr. Smith what he intended did not materialise.
Mr. Smith decided to make a Codicil with the help of his new Church rather than qualified and experienced Solicitors. This is where things started to go wrong. The form that was used was a standard Will form that can be purchased in any high street. There is nothing wrong with this but as the saying goes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The Codicil was handwritten on the Will form and the mistakes followed.
The part of the form stating ‘I hereby revoke all Wills and Codicils made by me at any time before’ was not crossed out. Because of this it was if Mr. Smith was starting from scratch. The problem was that he carried on as if it was a Codicil. The only matter referred to in the Will was the funeral. There was no appointment of Executors, no gift to his wife of his entire estate and no gift in substitution to his daughter in the event of his wife dying in his lifetime.
The result is that the ‘Codicil’ revoked the existing valid Will and ended up doing nothing more than leaving funeral instructions. Because it did not dispose of any part of his estate it merely acted as a ‘Revocatory Instrument’ and could not be submitted to the Probate Registry to be proved as a valid Will. Therefore Mr. Smith died ‘Intestate’ – i.e. without a Will. Luckily for Mr. Smith the person under the Rules of Intestacy who can benefit from his estate is the same person as he wanted to benefit from his estate – his daughter. This is because his wife had died before him and his next of kin is his only child.
Of course Mr. Smith never knew of the problems his homemade Codicil caused, he had signed his ‘Codicil’ in good faith thinking that he had done the right thing. The extra work to sort out the confusion caused by his ‘Codicil’ has cost far more than the cost of making a Codicil or new Will with a Solicitor showing that homemade doesn’t guarantee a saving.
For more information about making Wills please contact one of our experts in our offices in Bingley, Ilkley and Bradford:-
Belinda Fox
Email: belinda@rdcsolicitors.co.uk
Address: RDC Solicitors
9 New Brook Street
Ilkley
LS29 8DQ
Telephone: 01943 601173
Sheila Mackintosh
Email: Sheila@rdcsolicitors.co.uk
Address: RDC Solicitors
City Hub
9-11 Peckover Street
Little Germany
Bradford
BD1 5BD
Telephone: 01274 735511
Ian Cormack
Email: IanC@rdcsolicitors.co.uk
Address: RDC Solicitors
City Hub
9-11 Peckover Street
Little Germany
Bradford
BD1 5BD
Telephone: 01274 735511
Our Bingley Office address is:
RDC Solicitors
30 Park Road
Bingley
BD16 4JD
Telephone: 01274 723858
