A poorly-drafted Will can cause significant problems when you die, and of course you are then no longer able to rectify it. At Lakes Wills Ltd we take the time to properly understand your situation and give you the best advice to ensure your Will does what you want it to.

One example of how we do this is to consider the plausible scenarios – for a young couple who have two small children, in most cases (though not all) they would want to leave their estate to each other when the first of them dies, and when the second dies, the children inherit everything. With no other instruction left, the children inherit at age 18, but might the parents actually choose a different age? Who is the best person to look after the children if both parents die before the children reach 18? And who should inherit if the worst were to happen, and the parents and children all died in the same accident?

Without a properly-written Will, the above questions are answered by the law and the courts, not by the parents themselves.

Sadly, it is not uncommon for us to write Wills for people who are estranged from a son or daughter and want to exclude this child from their Will. A person has the legal right to make a claim on their parent’s estate when the parent dies, however if you are in the unfortunate situation of wanting to leave a child out of your Will, we will advise on how to ensure that any legal challenge is likely to fail.