A useful article published this week, written by a solicitor at the entertainingly-named law firm Wright Hassall LLP, sets out who can challenge a Will under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, and how the process works. Disappointed adult children this way. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/103458
If you have decided to exclude a potential beneficiary from your Will for whatever reason, there are a couple of useful strategies which we would encourage you to consider during your lifetime, in order to reduce the likelihood of a claim on death:
1. Drafting a letter of wishes to be read alongside your Will, setting out the reasons for your decision about how your estate is to be divided; and
2. Discussing your Will with your beneficiaries during your lifetime, so that there are no surprises on death. This may seem like a very difficult conversation to have, but better a disappointment now with time to process it and discuss it with the testator, than a nasty shock on death, alongside the grief of losing a loved one.
If you would like to discuss making your Will, please get in touch.
