Dear LPG, 

I know it has been said before on your pages but far too many of us oldies are likely to not actually get around to making a will before the inevitable happens.  Depending on which article you read on the subject, the internet informs that about half of the UK population are still thinking about it (or avoiding even that).  

I found another interesting statistic that perhaps those of us who think we have it all sorted might need to take a look at and that is the statistic surrounding the amount of wills that end up getting disputed after the event.

Now that I am older, I have so many friends who actively avoid one of their family members because of some injustice that they feel happened even though there was a will.  The other thing is that too many of those people’s relationships changed as a direct result of such a document.

This got me thinking about how you can be sure that your wishes will not be challenged.   

I have taken a look on line and having done so thought it might be good to pass on what I have learned.  One thing that might help is adding a ‘no contest clause’ and writing an additional letter explaining the reasons for your wishes especially if you think that they might be questioned.  There is not a lot more than that that you can do from what I can tell. 

I also have to say that a lot of the advice I found was offered on solicitors’ websites which tells me that, although a lot of it makes sense and got me thinking about things that I would not have thought of without reading it, it is offered while the organisation offering it might have their own agenda. 

There is also a growing trend towards avoiding solicitors and professional advisors while making a DIY will these days with will kits and forms being offered online and in shops and, for a person who thinks that they don’t have much to offer or many family members to worry about in the first place, it might be the way to go, but we often have more to leave than we think, which is why I felt that I should send this message to LPG. 

We all have to leave our stuff to someone and while some people have the attitude that it doesn’t matter once we move on, few of us would like to think that we left a family rift as part of our offered inheritance.   

QK, Lewisham 

QK offers what he has learned…

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