There are certain formalities which have to be complied with for a Will to be valid. These are set out in section 9 of the Wills Act 1837 and describe the physical process which must be gone through when a Will is executed for it to have what is generally referred to as ‘formal validity.’
Certainly there are other considerations which must be taken into account, such as the Testator’s capacity, but if the provisions of section 9 are not complied with, the Will will not be valid in any case.
The aim of Update your Will Week 2023,’ hosted by Solicitors for the Elderly and running from 23rd to 29th January, is to highlight the need for people to review their Wills and ensure they are still fit for purpose. Circumstances and family change over time so it is vital that you review your Will regularly to keep everything up to date and to avoid potentially costly litigation if your Will is no longer relevant.
In this article we look at the self care that comes from having one’s personal finances in order, especially in the case of wills and probate.
There are lots of legal myths around which crop up from time to time, here…
This is a question which I am often asked by family members, friends and random…
This article highlight some of the main difficulties we have seen come to light in homemade, or online Wills.
Imagine this situation – a parent has written a Will leaving their estate to their 2 children in equal shares. Then after doing this, they make a gift of a substantial sum of money to the younger sibling to help them buy a house. If the parent then dies without making a similar gift to the older child, do we end up with an imbalance in the estate – would/should the older sibling expect to receive more from the estate to balance up the lifetime gift to their sibling? This is where the double portions rule is likely to be effective.
It is a number that is at an all-time high. More than 31 million people in the UK now do not have a Will, a number that has been rising over the last decade. But if you fail to make a Will and keep it updated, all your legacy will be is stress and worry for your loved ones, and at a time they are grieving and least able to cope with it.
Dying intestate – without a Will – also means that your belongings may not be dealt with in a way that you would want.
As this area of law often sees people using legal services during an emotional time in their lives (being terminally ill or having lost a loved one for example) the importance of getting things right, and of being sensitive to the circumstances could not be higher for service providers.
Hiring corporate solicitors is often an overlooked priority on the never-ending, sleep depriving to-do list of a small business owner.
When time and money are the driver of everything that you do, it’s usually the money making activities that take precedence over everything else. It’s easy to feel that because your business is small you can’t run into big legal problems. Sadly, that is not the case.