What are the various reasons a will might be invalid?

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Branz

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This rather casual, perhaps even careless, piece of journalism refers.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crim...rotect-vulnerable-surviving-spouses-1.2467404

contains the following, almost throwaway, remark.

"Indeed, even where a will is made, it may be found invalid for a number of different reasons."

There is no explanation offered which is quite unhelpful..
Anyone like to suggest a few of the obvious ones: I know it can't be definitive etc and consult an expert etc but some top line ideas would help.
Thanks
 
A checklist of things to look out for would be very useful. Here are some

1) Make sure that the witnesses or their spouses are not beneficiaries.
2) The two witnesses must be present when you sign the will. Don't ask people to witness it retrospectively.
3) Don't staple things to the will
 
Brendan Burgess said:
A checklist of things to look out for would be very useful. Here are some involved

1) Make sure that the witnesses or their spouses are not beneficiaries.
2) The two witnesses must be present when you sign the will. Don't ask people to witness it retrospectively.
3) Don't staple things to the will
Click to expand...
Is there a danger that this discussion might encourage people to do their own wills? For the sake of the modest fee {if any}involved i think people should be strongly encouraged to engage a solicitor to draw up a will.
 
Trojan

Why might you think think that people are not capable of drawing up a simple Will?

I accept that a complicated will might require the assistance of a competent solicitor.

Marion
 
Hi Trojan

People can still use a solicitor if they wish. They could use the checklist to check on the will made for them by the solicitor.

Brendan
 
A solicitor may prepare a will for a nominal fee or in lieu of a donation to a charity but care should be taken if a solicitor seeks to have themselves listed as an executor to the will (typically 2 executors would be listed to a will so that hopefully one outlives the person making the will ) to ease the administration of the will as they know what is required and makes it easier when the time comes. The reason being that whilst solicitors don't have set fees (as that would be anti competitive) I have seen solicitors charge a fee of 3% of the value of the estate to act as executor, with perhaps conveyancing costs on top of this where a property is involved - even for a simple estate (house, bank account and perhaps a few shares) this can be a sizeable sum. For this reason I have heard it said that the pension fund of a solicitor is filed in his filing cabinet in reference to where the wills previously drawn up are stored. (Of course they should have them filed in a fire proof filing cabinet or safe if possible).

Also if someone has prepared a will for you make sure that someone you trust knows where it is located so that it can located and acted upon when the time comes.

It can be useful to keep a personal affairs checklist with the will to assist people to know what to look for as well.
See http://www.williamsmerrigan.ie/pac.pdf for an example of one

(Note to Moderators : if a link to the website (my firm) is inappropriate feel free to delete the reference but I have only added it for benefit of users as it is a useful document originating from Chartered Accountants Ireland)
 
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