The Dangers of Poor Will Drafting

Hello, it’s Graham Martin from Kingsbridge Wills and Trusts. It’s now Sunday afternoon. It’s the 17 March 2024, I’ll tell you that I’ve been up to this week in particular.

I’ve been looking after an older lady, she wouldn’t mind if I said that, and she’s in her eighties, and I’ve been called in to look after her Lasting Powers of Attorney and also to look at some Trust work to protect her property from potential attack by care homes costs. Now, this lady’s a widow and she has two children in their fifties. And I said to her, well, you know, we might need to consider a new rule.

And she said, well, actually, Graham, I’ve got a really good will, I don’t need you to draught me. And I said, well, let me have a look? So, anyway, she provided me with the will. Now, my wills run to six, seven pages, depending upon the complexity. This is really unusual, It’s written on just two sides of a single piece of A4 and that was legal, It was witnessed, It had been signed by this lady about seven years ago, 2017.

It was unusual. It wasn’t quite right in as much as that whilst it said, I leave my estate to my son and my daughter, that was it. Now, as I’ve just mentioned, you know, the children in the fifties, they have their own children, so grandchildren of the lady that we’re talking about. And in fact, these children were indeed alive when the rule was written.

So, naturally, one would say that in drafting or writing the will. Drafting, as the posh word, if you like, for will drafting, the writing of the will. But one would normally say, if my son and my daughter were to predecease me, then that she would say that half of my state would naturally just trickle down and arrive with their issues, their children, effectively the lady’s grandchildren. But in this will, there was nothing of that. But more worryingly even was that it said that she leaves the estate to her son and her daughter.

Now, what’s the problem that, you might ask? Well, quite significant, actually. If, for example, the son had predeceased the mother and all the money had gone to the daughter, or vice versa, if the daughter died first, the money had gone to her brother’s son, that would have created quite a significant potential inheritance tax liability for that surviving daughter. Now, in fact, the daughter said to me, it’s not a problem because I would give my half to my brother’s children. Now, that’s great, you know, that’s the right thing that one might contemplate.

Although I can tell you now that not all families are that honest with each other. Things do go a rife. It’s not just the Hollywood movies or the Richard Osmond books where money goes, you know, aside. But the key here was that that money would go completely to the sister’s estate, which could have an impact in terms of her own inheritance tax liability, if, again, she was to die pretty quickly with, at any time before leaving the money, to pass the money over to her nieces and nephews.

So I was just very surprised. If you’ve got a will, don’t assume that it’s been correctly drafted. I was really surprised. This is a well known potter’s bar law firm. In fact, somebody that I know had done some work for my dad back in the 1970s.

So what should have happened? Well, the estate should have been very, very clearly identified, that the mother should have said, I leave my estate, my residue, to my daughter or her issue, her children, and also to my son and his issue, his children, my grandchildren, on either side. And not to have had this issue that it might have gone to each of the brother or sister before it trickled down, because this would just accrue to the potential inheritance tax liability for the surviving daughter or son. So there we go, pondering about these things on a Sunday afternoon. I thought I’d share with you.

Most wills that I do review. Review are pretty good, I have to say. And many of them, I think that’s interesting because, you know, you always learn new things. But this was negligent. But it was just very, very badly drafted and could create some significant problems for the brother or the sister if they predeceased the mother.

Anyway, that’s it for me. I’ll see you again. Graham Martin from Kingsbridge Wills and Trusts. If you know who I am, where I am. I operate in Hertford and Potter’s Bar and Northall, and also in Welwyn Garden City, but also around Enfield, Grange Park, Winchmore Hill and Southgate.

If you’re interested in talking about how to avoid poor will drafting, just send me a message. I’m sure you’ll find it somewhere. Graham Martin from Kingsbridge Wills and Trusts. Bye.