A MERSEYSIDE law firm is urging people making a will to explain its contents as increasing numbers of families are battling inheritance through the courts.
Mace & Jones family law partner Tina Dunn said the increase wills being disputed was in part down to larger families with remarriage becoming more common. She further pointed to a sharp increase in the value of inheritance following the decade long housing boom.
Figures from HM Revenue and Customs show the average size of an inheritance tax bill will reach £111,000 this year – up from £86,000 only four years ago. A recent poll by You Gov, meanwhile, found that one in ten adults has fallen out with a family member over an inheritance. The majority of the arguments were said to be between brothers and sisters, with 42 per cent never speaking to each other again after the argument.
Ms Dunn said there are diplomatic options available to people making a will to ease bad feeling.
"If a person making a will, the testator, knows there is a contentious element to it, it is sensible to explain the reasons for decisions,” she said. "This can be done face to face or, if they do not feel able to that, in the form of a letter. This letter can be filed with the will so the reasons can be fully explained when the will is read out. Furthermore if the testator is elderley or has had mental problems it is wise to enclose a doctors note in the will. This can explain that the testator was of sound mind and body when they made the will, preventing claims that the person was mentally unfit when they wrote the will.”
Ms Dunn said divorce can frequently lead to upset with ex spouses and children losing out to the new spouse.
"It is important to emphasize that there are options available to people who feel they have been unfairly excluded from the contents of a will,” she said. "The inheritance (provision for family and dependants) Act 1975 provides assistance where family members, dependants or co -habitees of the deceased person have been left out of their will."
A High Court judge last month upheld the final will of a widow whose property empire was worth £10m when she died in January 2004. Golda Bechal left her fortune to the owners of a Chinese restaurant, who she said in her will were her "best friends". Her nieces challenged the will, claiming that she was mentally unfit when she drew up the will in August 1994.