" . . . "
"I can't pay death duties; I do self-assessment."
Jeremy Hardy, comedian.
Language
Chattel me this
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a young man when he sailed aboard the Beagle to the Galapagos Islands, and middle aged when he wrote The Origin of Species.
His will was written in typical Victorian legalese "...Upon trust as to the freehold messuage dwellinghouse estate or tenement outbuildings lands and hereditaments situate at Down aforesaid now in my occupation with the rights inscribers and apportenaries thereto." 'Messuage' is roughly synonymous with 'dwellinghouse.' 'Apportenaries' is anybody's guess.'
Language can be hazardous to your will's health. Even seemingly simple unambiguous terminology can be a stumbling block.
One of the best-known and most widely quoted examples of linguistic lucklessness concerns the man who left everything to 'mother.'
He doubtless knew exactly who he had in mind. Unfortunately, when alive, he applied the word 'mother' not only to his biological mother but also to his wife (the mother of his children). Which of his two 'mother's did he have in mind in his will? He took this conundrum to his grave.
Too clever by half
Even solicitors can end up on the wrong side of the mat when wrestling with legal terminology.
In a 2006 case, a solicitor prepared a will for his own mother and obtained her approval by reading the draft to her over the telephone.
Not good enough, said the judge when the dispute over this will came to court.
He ruled that the the will was "expressed in the customary technical language of wills, which most lay people will find impenetrable and many may consider to be gobbledegook." This will was invalid, he decided, and reinstated an earlier will.
Judge for yourself. The crucial part of the will disposed of the residue. The solicitor's text, and the judge's critique, are here.
As clear as mud
"My Portman Building Society Account No. 72013068 is the residue of monies left to me by my mother Mrs Edith Firman. My husband Norman John Clements is in full agreement that should I predecease him, all monies in this account should be divided equally between my grandchildren...."
The grandchildren get the money, this particular pile of money. That seems clear enough. Or does it?
Although the language seems lawyerly (residue, monies, predecease), these words were penned in a codicil to her will by Mrs Clements, wife of Norman, after she inherited money from her mother.
But she did not predecease him. He died first, but she did not specify what was to happen with this money if he predeceased her. That verbal omission proved costly ( full story).
See Also: Legal language has many foreign roots.
