The UK’s recent increase in the number of inheritance disputes reaffirms the value of will drafting solicitors.
According to figures from a recent Freedom of Information request by law firm Nockolds, the number of will challenges brought before UK courts rose by 37% between 2019 and 2021.
Do-it-yourself (DIY) wills, which people use to create their own succession plans, are one of the main factors causing this increase.
The global health issues brought on by the recent global pandemic led more people to consider how their estates would be distributed in the event of their death. This greater desire to organize individual estates, combined with widespread economic regression, created a trend where more people made their own wills.
While a DIY will may seem like a good cost-saving mechanism in the short-term, it leaves estates vulnerable to the much more costly possibility of estate litigation. Many of the mistakes at issue in the disputes before UK courts involve simple errors related to wording or signing and witnessing procedures.
Certain conditions of modern societies also make the will challenge procedure more difficult. Costs of living are on the rise, family structures are becoming increasingly complicated and diverse, and many families have trouble accessing the funds of their deceased loved ones in the months after their deaths.
The Canadian legal system as a whole aims to become more efficient and accessible by reducing costs for litigants and shortening the backlog of cases that come before its courts. For individuals, hiring a solicitor to properly draft a will can greatly reduce the financial, emotional and time burdens of any disputes down the road.
Thank you for reading and have a nice day!
Ian Hull and James Macfarlane
Sources:
Cristian Angeloni, “DIY Wills fuel rise in inheritance disputes”, International Adviser (26 August 2022), online.
Jean Dondo, “Are DIY wills creating more inheritance conflicts?”, Wealth Professional (1 September 2022), online.
Sue Halfyard, “Increase in home made wills during lockdown”, Lexology (1 November 2022), online.