I am often asked if you should reveal the content of your Will to your adult children. In a perfect world my answer would be absolutely not. This will allow you to change your will for petty reasons, e.g. that they did not ask you to lunch, without upsetting them or appearing senile. If the reason for changing your Will is a good one, inform them after the Will has been changed that they have lost out. The more money that they think you have the more satisfying you may find this. You can always change it back later. However, as clients get older and their fortunes greater, they come under increasing pressure from their adult children to reveal “Who to?”, “How much?” and in some families “How Long?”. Trying to reason with an adult child that their “utterly useless” sibling is more deserving, is not usually accepted as a valid reason for the loss or reduction of their rightful inheritance. Where a step mother or step child is involved such explanations will fall on deaf ears. If you tell...

Why did Walt Disney not have something cheesy to say about Step Mothers? Answer: they are a thoroughly bad lot, that’s why. Luckily you decided not to marry again (yet) and although suspicious of the new lady in your life, your adult children have not been too hostile (yet). After three years or so, your minds will turn to making wills. She has no children and is prepared lovingly to give everything to you. You want to see her right but to look after your own children too. You decide to consider carefully what your children will want. Within seconds you guess, “everything”. She will want your home. You give it to her for the duration of her life and then it will go to your children. On your death your children will do the “math” and decide that “your lady” has at least 30 years to go and may see them out. She may make a court claim for full ownership of the house. This is either because she is, understandably, fearful about her future security or a bit of an old bag depending on who yo...

They may not be up there on Disney’s hit list with Stepmoms but Stepdads can be just as villainous. Your dear old Dad dies unexpectedly at the age of 53 years. He is immediately elevated from the dog house to pride of place on the mantelpiece. Framed photographs appear like mushrooms on every flat surface in the house. Your mother is devastated, and hopefully a little guilty, as she fights with the Insurance Company over a generous insurance payout, which they do not want to let go of. They inspect old medical reports and look for loopholes. Your mother begins to think that your Dad's mates may have told the Insurance Company that she nagged him to death. However, her lawyer assures her that with insurance companies, this is not unusual, despite what their advertisements say. Just about the same time as the insurer finally pays up, your mother’s loneliness is mercifully cut short as she meets a male companion. Your relief at your mother becoming less reliant on you is quickly repla...

The worst thing about committing a legal mistake is that everyone seems to find it obvious after the event especially your wife/partner. If business owners started to create new, exciting, unique legal mistakes then it would be a real challenge for us lawyers-fortunately for us they do not.  This means that your lawyer has probably seen the legal mistake before and has a good idea what to do.  Although it may not seem that way to you. Many small business legal services can be divided into “deals” where lawyers prepare documents to anticipate and avoid future problems or “disputes” where things did not get documented at the start and the parties come out swinging.  Usually deals are cheaper than disputes.   Experienced business owners are adept at working out when to document and when to wing it. Mistake no. 1        You unexpectedly die and your business stops dead too. This can be very inconvenient. Avoid this by having a will including a busines...

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  Been left out of a will lately?  Basically, there are three arguments to put to contest a will- 1.  The will was not properly drawn up. Although courts are becoming a little less formal, they will still throw out wills for this reason. 2. The deceased was out of his or her mind. If you are an ageing parent get your doctor to witness your will. A doctor’s opinion that you are sane is good evidence and may surprise your spouse at the time of making the will. The good news for the challengers is that the legal costs of contesting a will, which can be substantial, are usually paid for from the deceased estate. This is, of course, the bad news if you should win.  3. You are a spouse, child or dependant without proper maintenance and support. This is the least dramatic option. Dependant includes anyone the deceased was maintaining or supporting. But not an accountant, no matter how traumatic the death of their client may be.  The court can give you what they think f...

We all know we should make a Will, but if you don’t you may be long gone before it becomes a problem to those you leave behind. However, from your point of view it is absolutely unacceptable for anybody who may leave his or her money to you to die without one. Now this has some implications. It is no longer enough to look after your immediate family and the occasional rich uncle. With the property boom even your most despised ne’er do well relatives could leave substantial sums to you, providing you are prepared to put yourself out a bit and of course put aside the bitterness of the years.  For those who can forbear from fighting with relatives and neighbours there is a killing to be made. Ironically, the more disagreeable the relative, the nearer you are to the top of the list as they may have fallen out with every other potential beneficiary.  But what if your relatives, friends and acquaintances are as useless and tight as you are as far as Wills are concerned? Well, the mo...