Making A Will

[Bazile]

If you make a will , is there a statutory requirement to lodge it with any official body - or is there a body that you can lodge it voluntary ?

[hc4361]

You can keep your Will anywhere but the executors really know where to find it otherwise it is useless.

The government provide an excellent storage service for a flat fee of £20. Download the first form here for further info:

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetLeaflet.do?court_leaflets_id=1033

[Bazile]

ok - thanks for that .

[Bazile]

If a mother leaves property to a daughter in her will and the daughter dies before the mother ; does the property still goes to the daughter's estate when the mother dies ( if the mother has not altered the will )?

[hc4361]

It very much depends on the wording of the Will but often the legacy does pass to the beneficiary's children when the beneficiary has predeceased the testator.

"The statutory saving in the Wills Act (ii) has wide-reaching implications. Section 33(1) provides that:
a) ‘where a will contains a devise or bequest to a child or remoter descendant of the testator; and
b) the intended beneficiary dies before the testator, leaving issue; and
c) issue of the intended beneficiary are living at the testator’s death,


then, unless a contrary intention appears by the will, the devise or bequest shall take effect as a devise or bequest to the issue living at the testator’s death’.

For example, Tom gifts the residue of his estate to his two sons in equal shares. The eldest son Peter dies before Tom, leaving two children. Section 33(1) Wills Act operates to ensure that the two grandchildren of Tom (Peter’s children) take Peter’s half in equal shares.

http://www.step.org/doctrine-lapse