Home made Will that does not dispose of estate...

The deceased executed a valid homemade Will (that she must have typed up and apparently drafted it with the advice from someone who works at CAB!) appointing her son as Executor. There are no gifts in the Will and the residue it left to her “nemeficiaries”. Obviously the deceased meant beneficiaries but no one has been named! This is clearly a massive error on her part as the Will even goes on to include Trustee provisions etc so she (kind of) had an idea about what she was doing. Anyways, some three months after her Will was executed, the deceased left a “wish list” of what she wanted to happen on her death. This included various gifts and dealt with the remainder of the estate. The list was signed and dated but was not witnessed so clearly it is not a valid Will. Am I right in thinking that as the Will does not dispose of the deceased’s property then the estate is distributed in accordance with the rules of intestacy? The beneficiaries under the intestacy are her two children who are, apparently, happy with how the wish list distributes the estate. If that is the case could they do a deed of variation to vary the rules of intestacy to, in essence, given effect to the wish list? or have I got this all wrong? Should I be looking into making an application to the Court to somehow rectify the Will? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Natalie Tonkin
Bailhache Solicitors

Hi Natalie,

The situation is a little fortunate in that those who would inherit via intestacy have no objections to the gifts. Assuming mum was single and there are only the two adult children: You would still prove the Will (if a grant is needed to gather in/transfer assets) appointing the executor in the usual way; (Oath, 205 or 400 as applicable), the residue would normally be dealt with as intestate however the two children would complete the deed of variation of the Will; effectively re-write (create the necessary clauses) for the Will to incorporate the gifts you have noted then residue 50/50. No additional application for rectification would be required.

John Cartlidge
Campion Solicitors

1 Like

Intestacy and DOV sounds good

Simon Northcott