When we write our wills, we don’t do so envisioning a largescale rift opening up between family members – accusations or disagreements causing permanent changes to that dynamic we spent our entire lives cultivating.
Unfortunately, will writing is a very complex area – families who stay strong even during turbulent times can meet their match when it comes to inheritance disagreements. The responsibility of writing a sound, clear, comprehensive, and legally valid will weigh heavy on anyone’s shoulders – and, if they don’t, you may want to rethink your approach to will writing.
Contesting a will is a difficult undertaking, but it is all too common. Here’s how you can pre-empt will disputes, and keep your family unit strong after you die.
The Grounds for Contesting a Will
When you’re writing your will, it’s very important that you understand the different scenarios that can cause a will’s validity to be cast into doubt, and potentially ruled invalid in the courts.
Undue influence, fraud, forgery, fraudulent calumny and want of knowledge and approval all concern third parties influencing the creation of the will. It may be that a family member has told the testator lies about you in order to get you omitted from the will, or that someone has fabricated the will completely without the testator’s knowledge or approval.
Will dispute solicitors can also help to contest the will on grounds of testamentary capacity, which simply means that you feel the testator was not capable of making sound decisions at the time of writing. This may happen as a result of a degenerative disease or injury that impairs their ability to think normally.
There are also options available to those who feel the will is valid but fails to treat you fairly. If you feel you were made a promise that was not honoured within the will, for instance, you may have sufficient grounds to make a claim.
How to Avoid a Legal Battle
We want our wills to help and protect our loved ones – and, of course, to give them some much-needed closure, too. None of us set out to write a will that is going to cause confusion, pain, and anger to crop up after we die – but, all too often, that is what happens.
The number one way to avoid any sort of trouble concerning your will is to work with an experienced solicitor with a strong background in inheritance law. The alternative is a ‘DIY will kit’ – something that has grown considerably more popular in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was harder to make a sit-down appointment with a solicitor.
Solicitors can tailor their approach to your specific circumstances – your wealth, asset base, and the beneficiaries you are choosing to include. If you make any wishes that could potentially ‘ruffle feathers’, they understand how to protect your interests – and the interests of your beneficiaries – to reduce the risk of a legal case.
DIY will kits are simply incapable of addressing or mitigating those concerns. It is far too easy to make a mistake and never even realise it. Instead, your loved ones will have to deal with the fallout.