A recent ruling by the High Court determined that a claim brought by 3 sons for a share of their mother’s £1 million family home was unsuccessful. Mrs Rea died in July 2016 at the age of 86 and in her final Will which she made in 2015, she left her South London home, which…
Statistics show that over half of the UK population die without making a valid Will and 5.4 million people don’t know how to make one. Many people are of the belief that if they die without making a Will, any assets they own including property, money and any savings, will automatically go to their spouse…
Writing a will is an important task and one that shouldn’t be neglected. Obviously a will is there to distribute your estate to the people you want to inherit it and to appoint people you trust to make sure your wishes are carried out, but it’s also an opportunity to pass on items of sentiment…
A survivorship clause is exactly what it sounds like; a clause in a will that makes a gift to a beneficiary conditional upon them surviving the testator by a set period of time. While these clauses are commonly used in modern wills, it’s clear that many people don’t appreciate the negative effects they can have…
As part of the Society of Will Writers 25th anniversary year, we are again revisiting IFA’s and other professions in the financial services sector. For years, IFA’s felt providing Wills for their clients was a waste of time and resources, especially when they could be out selling their own products. Today the market is totally…
We’re very often asked the following questions: ‘How do I know if my Will is valid?’; ‘How long does my Will stay valid for?’ and; ‘Can I make any changes to my Will?’ The following article will address these questions as well as some rumours that we’ve heard over the past few weeks regarding the…
I had hoped that we would not see a return to the late nineties when low cost Wills, free Wills were rife within the profession. Unfortunately, we are seeing a resurgence of this practice, which is neither good news for the profession or the consumer as most clients who took these services believing they were…
When it comes to storing legal documents there are a range of options available to you, whether you’re a Will Writer, Solicitor or a client of either. But when it comes to choosing a storage provider, how can you be certain that the service you’re getting reflects the cost, or perhaps lack of? Some providers…
Undue influence is the act of applying pressure on a person to coerce them, essentially overpowering the individual’s own will. In relation to wills this could be pressuring a person to include certain provisions in their will. This could be through outright threats to the testator, or by more subtle means. As Estate Planning Practitioners…
Spouses and civil partners are afforded certain benefits when it comes to succession law; benefiting from favourable inheritance rights on intestacy and quite generous inheritance tax exemptions. But what if someone practiced polygamy and dies leaving behind multiple spouses? This is a point of law that our courts have been asked to consider in a…
