Badly-written Wills can lead to a range of legal problems for your family and friends after you’re gone. Mistakes or omissions can cause confusion and in the worst cases, can even trigger litigation between your heirs. To help make sure that your assets are distributed where you intended without disputes, avoid these 10 common mistakes that people make in their Wills.

Top 10 Common Mistakes in Wills:

1. Not updating your Will when your circumstances change

It is easy to think that once you have prepared your Will you won’t need to worry about it again. One of the most common mistakes is to not update a Will after a major life change, like a marriage or a divorce. By acting promptly to update your Will in situations like this, you can help ensure your assets are left to the people you intended.

2. Paying more Inheritance Tax than you need to

Exemptions from Inheritance Tax (IHT) can make a huge difference to how much your family may receive, net of taxes, from your estate. Leaving gifts to your family during your lifetime is usually more tax-efficient, as can be gifting money to charities to lower the IHT rate paid by your heirs. It is important to keep your Will updated in line with changing laws to make sure you do not miss out on any tax reliefs.

3. Excluding people who might expect to receive something in your Will – without explaining it to them

Make sure to consider other’s people expectations on what they will inherit. If a beneficiary is unhappy with the Will, they may contest it which can be long and expensive for the other beneficiaries. One way to help reduce the risk of a dispute is to speak to everyone and explain your wishes to them long before the Will becomes an issue. Another way to reduce the risk of a dispute is to leave a ‘letter of wishes’ alongside the Will explaining your thinking in respect of any decisions. This can also help dispel any speculation of mental incapacity if the beneficiaries are not content with the outcome of the Will.

4. Not considering a ‘no contest clause’ to discourage disputes

If you are worried that a beneficiary may contest your Will, it is worth considering a ‘no contest clause’. These clauses say that anyone who tries to dispute the Will to acquire more assets would automatically lose whatever assets were left to them in the Will. So long as your Will makes adequate provision for your dependants, a no contest clause can be an effective way to help reduce the risk of litigation between your heirs.

5. Appointing the wrong executor

Many people choose to appoint family members as executors of their Will without thinking through all their options. If you are aware of any conflicts between your executors – or between them and your other beneficiaries – it may be worth appointing a professional executor instead. This can help reduce the risk of a dispute.

Being an executor can also be emotionally draining for grieving family members. Executors have a lot of precise and complex work to complete during a very difficult period, such as ensuring IHT is paid properly. A professional executor – usually a lawyer – won’t face the same emotional stress and will be experienced in handling those issues.

6. Using witnesses who might be hard to find later

The witnesses of your Will might need to be tracked down in the future if there are any issues with the Will – for example, someone claiming the Will is invalid. For that reason it’s important to choose witnesses who will be easy to trace in the future.

7. Making amendments to your Will by hand

Making handwritten amendments to your Will after it is complete can invalidate the entire document. If you want to make changes to your Will, it is safer to have a professional redraft it, including having it witnessed again.

8. Being too specific in leaving individual assets to too many people

To ensure your Will is fair, it can be better to leave a percentage of your assets to each beneficiary rather than a specific amount of money or a specific asset. After you draft your Will, the value of assets may fluctuate, meaning you may end up leaving some beneficiaries much more or much less than you intended.

9. Simple errors in spelling and grammar

While simple ‘style’ issues like spelling and grammar may seem relatively unimportant in your Will, unclear wording or missing words can easily change the meaning of a sentence. This can result in your assets not being distributed in the way you intended – or in the worst-case scenario, being invalidated altogether. This problem is especially common with homemade Wills. A solicitor will help to make sure you get it right.

10. Leaving it late to write your Will

It is advisable to write a Will as soon as you have acquired assets like property or when you have dependants – regardless of how old you are at the time. This is especially important if you wish to leave assets to an unmarried partner or a non-relative who would not automatically inherit from you.

How TWM can help you

At TWM, our expert Private Client team is here to help you and we offer an initial meeting with no obligation to proceed, so that we can discuss with you the things you should consider and help you think about your choices and options. We will provide you with a fixed charge to consider, for preparing a Will based on your wishes.

For more information or advice please contact Duncan Mitchell-Innes.

For further details about our Private Client services, click here.