Practical and Logical

Who, what, where, why, how

Firstly...

How much do you own? Who are you giving what to? Will there be inheritance tax to pay? Who are your executors and witnesses to your will?

Before you start writing your will, you need answers to these and other questions.

Write v type v word process?

You can compose a will on a typewriter or computer, or even use old-fashioned pen and paper: All are legal but word processors make a lot of sense, and not only for the error-prone. It is convenient for making many drafts, and for making changes - major or minor - in the future.

Suppose you write out your will by hand or on a typewriter and realise afterward that you should have been more specific about a certain item. Perhaps you left something to your nephew but forgot to include his name. Or you provided his name correctly but made a different mistake: you intended the gift for your niece.

In an ordinary letter, you could easily erase or strike out an offending word or sentence and insert a correction. Not in a will. Cross-outs and strikeovers and doodles - even small holes - can cause problems. Is the hole just a hole, for example, or evidence of an erstwhile staple? And if it is a staple hole, what happened to the sheet or sheets that used to be attached?

If you prefer the old-fashioned method, it is perfectly permissible to draft a holographic - handwritten - will.

Doing it all over is better than correcting it

Starting anew and creating a clean, error-free draft is better than a marked up copy that causes confusion.

And starting over with a word processor is easier and more efficient than with a typewriter or pen and paper.

With a typewriter or handwritten document, you have to type or write the entire text all over - and if you make another mistake, you have to do it all over yet again.

With a word processor, you can quickly fix the mistake and print a new, clean, corrected draft - as often as required. You can make several successive drafts until you get the wording you want.

And your original file remains on your computer or memory stick. if you want to change your will a week, a year or a decade later, you can retrieve the original file and update it without having to rewrite or re-type the entire thing.

Where should you store your will?

Several options, some better than others, and some to be avoided at all costs.

Solicitors and banks will store your will - for a fee.

You can keep it at home but will it be safe (on that matter, do you have a safe?), and will your surviving family members or executor be able to find it?

It is also possible to store a will online.

WWP TIP
'Do not store your will in your safety deposit box. The box can’t be opened until Probate is granted and Probate can’t be granted without the original will'

HM Courts Service

Lost and found..and lost

Some wills are genuinely lost but some are intentionally destroyed, usually by someone who has more to gain by intestacy or an earlier will. Consider giving a photocopy to a beneficiary or trusted associate, or alert them to the solicitor or other professional who drafted the will and retained a copy. In Bodh v Boudh, an elderly woman made a new will and gave a copy of it to a friend. After the woman died, the new will had not surfaced and would have remained buried if not for the friend, who alerted family members to its existence. If the testratix had not taken this precaution, an earlier will would have prevailed.

Life insurance

Who is your beneficiary of your life insurance? If it is yourself personally, the payoff forms part of your estate. If your policy is in trust, the benefits go directly to your beneficiary and bypass your estate, thereby reducing IHT.

Property, especially property abroad

If you own a house or flat, do you own it by yourself or with someone else and, if with someone else, as joint tenants or tenants in common?

Do you own a second or buy-to-let home in a foreign country?

If you have not yet purchased a property but are thinking of doing so, take advice on formal ownership, especially with property in a foreign country, where the decisions you make at the beginning of the process can be critical.

If you already own and are making a will, be certain on these questions of ownership.