"Can't take it with you" - have your thought about you will?

The BBC programme “Can’t take it with you”, aired on Friday night, reiterated the thinking that about 70% of us will die without leaving a valid will. The programme centred around two couples, who were in second relationships, struggling to resolve the thorny issue of what should happen to their estates on their deaths.

The resulting wills would not have tested a competent solicitor specialising in the area. However, the most interesting issue arising was the question of “how do you reach a stage at which a solution between the parties can be agreed upon?”. The answer to that is COMMUNICATION!. Communication with your partner and communication with the family. It is so often the case that people are not prepared to discuss what is, after all, eventually going to happen to us all, death. Many examples could be listed where families have not spoken prior to someone’s death and the result is an acrimonious mess.

There are six episodes in this series and the three lessons to be taken from the first episode are:-

Communication; and,

Obtain specialist advice from a solicitor practising in the area of wills, it is too important not to get the will right. A badly drawn will might even be worse than having no will at all!; and

Don’t put off making a will because it is too difficult to think about.

Making a will can be difficult emotionally and, in extreme cases, can test relationships. However, not resolving the issues and leaving it can be more hurtful to those left to pick up the pieces. Wills are essential documents to have in place particularly in the most difficult situations. If you are finding that you are putting off making a will because it is difficult for you to consider then you probably need one in place more than others!

Find out more about the author of this article, Shaun Parry-Jones

find out more about the BBC series "Can't take it with you"

Your Will - why you should use a solicitor!

In a survey published in the Independent on Sunday last week a figure of 38% was quoted as the increase in claims being made by relatives who felt they had been inadequately provided for under the terms of a will or the intestacy rules (the rules that govern an estate where no will is left).

The increase is quoted as being in the last year and one reason cited is the recession.

It is so important to make sure that when you are making your will you take proper legal advice from a solicitor. There are so many organisations now offering to draft your will you can even buy one off the shelf at a stationers! It is a difficult choice but not one that should be based on cost alone. It is unlikely that you will receive advice regarding such claims from a will writer! Even the suggestion of a claim can create costs far in excess of those that would be required to make a will with a solicitor. This is a prime example of being penny wise and pound foolish!

Mental Incapacity

The Daily Telegraph reported on the 10 November that “the number of elderly people with dementia will increase by 70% to more than 1 million in the next 20 years”. The statistic is quoted from the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, which is an NHS programme. The number of those people who suffer dementia and are unable to look after their own affairs due to mental incapacity is not included. Add to that number those who lose capacity through illness or accident and the figure becomes ever greater.

If anything were to prompt individuals into making provision for the loss of mental capacity through accident or the onset of age, statistics such as these surely must. By putting in place a lasting power of attorney, you are able to appoint someone to look after your affairs should you not be able to do so. You can appoint an attorney to look after your financial affairs and also to assist with decisions relating to your personal welfare.

Everyone should considering making provision for mental incapacity and it is never too early to do so.

We all hope that we do not lose mental capacity but if we do, having made provision is an absolute relief for those who have to pick up the pieces.

Find out more about mental incapacity

Read more about the author of this article: Shaun Parry-Jones

National Will Writing Week

It is National Write a Will Week this week and, according to sources quoted by the Daily Telegraph, about 30 million people in Britain don’t have a will. That equates to about 70% of the population.

Everyone should have a will and they should have a will that has been written by a solicitor. There are numerous alternative options to using a solicitor to make a will. None of them are at all satisfactory.

It is possible to buy a will making kit or use a will writer. The difficulty in using these options is that the likelihood is that you or the will writer have little or no legal experience. In addition, will writers are unregulated and uninsured.

Another option would be to rely on the rules of intestacy. Those are the rules that are laid down to govern somebody’s estate when they die if they haven’t left a will. The rules very often do not work in a way that you would expect them to.

There is no alternative to having your will drafted by a solicitor that specialises in the field. Badly drawn wills can often cause more trouble than they are worth and, in the long run, can be far more expensive and cause no end of hurt. There is no substitute to getting a properly drafted will put in place.

Read more about Hart Brown

Cheryl Cole's malaria battle

Recently in an interview with Piers Morgan, Cheryl Cole disclosed that when she was in intensive care with malaria, she asked her mother to arrange for someone to visit her to help her make her will. Making a will is not the preserve of the older generations. Everyone over the age of 18 should consider making a will. Youngsters often forget that some of the more adventurous activities that they take part in can lead to serious injury or death.

No one really wants to think about such morbid provision. However, an experience such as that of Cheryl Cole focuses the mind! She was fortunate to get through her illness and I hope that Cheryl has now made proper provision for the future rather than leaving it until it is too late.

Find out more about making a will

Find out more about the author of this article.