Multiple Wills and Handwritten Notes Cause Confusion
We encourage all our clients (and everyone else!) to draw up their Wills. We believe it is the only sensible option everyone has to ensure their estate is dealt with in the way they want. Making a Will ensures those you love can share in your estate in the way you want.
However, there can be issues when you have more than one Will. You can also cause confusion if you have several handwritten Wills or handwritten notes instructing changes to your Will.
Why are handwritten documents dangerous?
As you can see from a case we wrote about in our article Making changes to your Will on the back of an envelope is never been a good idea!, whether or not handwritten notes form part of the Will is always subject to debate. In this case, the sheriff decided the handwritten notes did not have sufficient testamentary intent to cause a change to the Will. However, the risk of making handwritten documents is that your beneficiaries might end up in a dispute in court, trying to work out which of your various Wills or handwritten instructions form part of your formal Will.
Multiple Wills can lead to court proceedings
Although not a case decided by the Scottish courts, a dispute amongst Aretha Franklin’s children in Michigan, USA, provides a very clear example of why multiple Wills can lead to court proceedings.
The case revolved around two handwritten Wills and which of these contained the singer’s true wishes.
The first Will, created in 2010, was around a dozen pages long and signed on every page. This Will had been notarised and was found in a locked cabinet. This Will was more detailed than the second Will.
The second Will, dating from 2014, was contained inside a spiral notebook and found under a couch cushion in her home. Both Wills contained detailed lists of assets.
The first Will specified that each of her children would receive specific weekly and monthly allowances. It also stipulated that two of Franklin’s children, Kecalf and Edward, “must take business classes and get a certificate of a degree”.
The second Will, three of the sons (all except Clarence) would receive equal shares of their mother’s music royalties. In addition, one of the children, Kecalf was to receive his mother’s house, which was valued at $1.1 million and also the late singer’s cars.
Aretha Franklin died in 2018 but both Wills were not discovered until May 2019. Two of the children raised court proceedings in Michigan arguing the second Will should prevail. A jury decided, in July 2023, that the second Will should prevail, and the estate divided on the basis of that Will.
Avoiding confusion with your Will
As can be seen in the Downey case, handwritten additions do not always show an intention to change a Will. In the Franklin case, although an American decision, the principles remain the same. If you have multiple Wills, expect confusion to reign. Unless you make it clear in a later Will that any earlier Will is cancelled or revoked, it may take a court to determine which Will should be used as the basis for distributing the estate.
Clearly, if either Miss Downey or Aretha Franklin had consulted a solicitor to have the changes made or fresh Wills drawn up, there would be no confusion.
Court proceedings are lengthy, time-consuming, and expensive. They should be avoided at all costs. Consult a solicitor when you are drawing up a Will or making changes to your Will.
The solicitors in our firm have many years of experience drawing up and making changes to Wills for our clients. They also have the expertise to advise you on the best way to deal with the management of your estate after you have gone.
If you would like to discuss drawing up your Will or making changes to an existing Will, please contact us.