Executing Wills without ensuring its Validity

Case law over the centuries is littered with instances invalid homemade wills. A recent case involving a home made will has provided another illustration of the point that executing a will which is clear and unequivocal is both sensible and very inexpensive compared with the time and expense of arguing validity in legal proceedings. The objective is to execute the will properly in the first instance, and avoid difficulties at the most strained of times.

In this case a man made a will specifying that his fiancée should inherit his apartment. He also owned the freehold reversion of the entire building. The property was mortgaged, subject to an endowment policy. This executor was forced to go to court to obtain a determinative judicial interpretation of the meaning of the actual words used. These applications are paid for by the estate and reduce the value of the testamentary dispositions.

The court decided that the endowment had been intended to repay the mortgage on the whole property and that the man’s intention was that ‘my apartment’ meant the flat together with the freehold reversionary interest. As a result the deceased's fiancée inherited the flat and the reversion after the mortgage was repaid.