Yet again we’ve heard of another case where the person who thought they were going to receive a fortune didn’t receive a penny, a cent, a dime or a euro.
A father told his son in 2005 that he had written a new will naming his son as a major beneficiary.
The father died in an accident, aged just 43 with the son just 21. For some reason the will couldn’t be found. The step mother inherited a £1.2 million home and the whole of the family business.
There then followed months of legal wrangling and the son finally realized he couldn’t prove that the new will had been written or where it had been kept. The son knew of its existence because not only had his father told him about it, but other family members had seen it as well.
The previous will was the only one that could be found dated 2003 and which left everything to the step mother. Unfortunately, she was separated from the father at the time of the man’s death, so it’s possible the wrong person received the money. We’ll never know as the will dated 2005 might have included the step mother, it may not have. While we’re not suggesting it here in this case, but we have heard of some people destroying a will if it’s contents weren’t appropriate to the person holding the will.
LSUK encourage clients to store their wills in the LSUK head office storage complex which is fire, water and bomb proof. Copies of the will can still be kept by the clients and executors notified of the will’s existence and whereabouts. This ensures that the latest will is always available to the right people.
This is a tried and trusted system operated by quality will writing companies which beats keeping the will at home, in a friend’s safe or in the bank; which bank? It’s always better to take the guesswork out of where the will is kept and to help those that will need access to it – the executors – to know where they can retrieve it, following suitable security systems.
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