Will Advice Please!

[Adeline1]

Morning! If a wife makes a Will and the husband disagrees with her wishes what happens? The husband will sadly outlive the wife so what's to say the husband has to honour her wishes! She surely has a right, once he's gone too, to have her wishes honoured? Can he refuse her wishes?

[Boto]

She can make the executor a friend whom she knows will carry out her wishes, or a solicitor (although he/she will take out a chunk of the estate in fees). She should make sure the will is kept in the bank/solicitor's so it cannot be destroyed. The executor should know where the will is stored.

[VHG]

The will is a legal document, the husbands cant just ignore it.

As has been said, get an outside person to carry out the details in the will.

Also make sure the husband does not find the will after she is dead and tear it up, make sure their are extra copies stored elsewhere.

[Adeline1]

Thank you!

[Peter Pedant]

The will takes precedence as a legal document.
The wife should draw one up by a lawyer ( to take care of all the formalities ) and then name an exec as a friend as above but NOT the lawyer -who will charge £200 /h whilst the family quarrel

If she leaves property to the husband and says Oh I want you to give it to X (a trust ) then really only X can enforce it

She can't leave property she doesnt have. - She might try to leave X's old desk to Y, but oh dear X, now dead may have already left it to someone

......
in short
so what's to say the husband has to honour her wishes!

the will ! the will correctly drawn up would


Amazingly enough some people regard wills as letters from the dead,
where their instructions are advice to be taken or not as desired.

They're not !

[Barmaid]

I'd make sure the original was stored somewhere where the husband could not get hold of it (just making sure there are copies elsewhere may not be enough). I'd also appoint someone other than the husband as executor.

But in any event, the hubby could make a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 for reasonable financial provision and there is little that can be done to prevent that.

[bhg481]

I read somewhere that wills can be registered at Somerset House (I think). That will is then the legal will and is even precedent over a later will, unless the first will has been de-registered and replaced by the later one. Somerset House HAS to be consulted whenever probate is requested and the will WILL show up. Even if the original has been destroyed it is still valid. Look further into it you think it worth the trouble.

[Barmaid]

BHG that is wrong. Registration of a Will has absolutely no effect on its validity nor does it take precedence over later Wills if they are not registered.

The requirements for the validity of a Will and/or its revocation is set down by the Wills Act 1837.

You can register a Will though. I would suggest that certainty.co.uk are probably the best for that.

[bhg481]

I stand corrected Barmaid - I was hoping someone with real knowledge would step in and either confirm or contradict it if I brought-up the subject.