There is a growing trend for all things DIY, and writing a Will is no exception. Many online businesses and high street stationers offer Will writing packs at very low cost which say that you can produce a valid Will with no hassle and very little cost compared to asking a solicitor to write one for you, but is this really true and can a dementia diagnosis have any impact on this?
Yes it is true. You can write a valid Will with a DIY pack, but there are some things that can go wrong. If you make a small error, this can leave your Will invalid. This will not impact you as the validity of your Will won’t be tested until after you’ve died, but it may have a massive impact on your loved ones.
INVALID WILLS
An invalid Will can have lots of unintended consequences. First and foremost, if you are living with you partner but you aren’t married and you have an invalid Will, your partner won’t inherit a penny, even if you intended for them to have it all.
A DIY Will could be open to challenge from anyone you’ve excluded. They may try to say that you were coerced into making the Will or that you didn’t have the mental capacity to understand the Will you were making. This is particularly true if you were diagnosed with dementia or another similarly progressive illness.
Or you might simply make a mistake. A Will has to contain certain things to be legally binding. If you leave something out or don’t get your Will witnessed properly, then your Will is worth nothing.
SOLICITOR USE
Using a solicitor can help to make sure that your Will is written properly. A DNDLAW solicitor can give you help and advice on how to structure your Will to be beneficial to the people you are leaving your assets to and also help you to structure a tax efficient Will that can help you to plan for your family’s future once you are no longer there.
A Will is there to ensure that your wishes are carried out and having dementia can limit your ability to voice what you want so having a Will in place, written by a professional, means that your wishes will absolutely be carried out, with no questions or concerns being raised about the validity of your Will.
To find out more about making a Will, particularly after a dementia diagnosis, call our friendly and experienced team of solicitors for advice now
DNDLAW Solicitors / Donnelly Neary & Donnelly offer a full range of legal services including Conveyancing Tax Commercial Criminal Family Law Divorce Wills Probate Immigration Notary Public from offices in Newry Castlewellan Dublin Portadown serving all of County Down Armagh and Belfast
For more information visit our offices or telephone 028 30264611
Our website is www.dndlaw.com & www.notaryni.co.uk
Offices at
1 Downshire Road Newry County Down BT34 1ED
21 Deans Court Christchurch Dublin 8
31 Main Street Castlewellan County Down
17/19 Church Street Portadown County Armagh
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