How Can a DIY Will Lead to a Dispute? 

There are plenty of reasons why people decide to write their own will rather than ask a solicitor to do it. Cost is often one of them. Or your wishes may seem straightforward enough that you wonder whether you really need legal help. 

A will template can be downloaded online, or the document can simply be written from scratch on a piece of paper. Once it is signed and stored somewhere safe, you can feel confident that your wishes are recorded and your family will know what to do when you are gone. 

But what if you have made a mistake without realising? Perhaps you have used wording that does not quite achieve what you intended, missed something out, or made a legal error when completing the document. 

Problems like this may only come to light after your death, when you are no longer there to explain what you meant. Mistakes in DIY wills can then lead to disputes when family members or beneficiaries disagree about how the mistake affects what happens to the estate. 

What mistakes can happen when you write your own will? 

DIY will mistakes can take several different forms. For example: 

• Leaving something out. The will might deal with your house and savings but say nothing about what should happen to everything else you own. 
• Using unclear wording. A gift of “my savings” might seem obvious to you, but it may not be clear whether that includes savings accounts, Premium Bonds, investments, Bitcoin or all of them. 
• Including conflicting instructions. One part of the will might say one thing while another points to a different outcome. 
• Describing a gift or beneficiary incorrectly. An error in a name, description or the details of a particular gift can make it unclear who or what you were referring to. 
• Making alterations incorrectly. Crossing something out, adding new wording or changing the document after it has been signed can cause problems. 
• Getting the signing or witnessing wrong. The will might not be signed correctly, both witnesses might not be present when required, or a beneficiary might be asked to act as a witness. 
• Failing to update the will. You might later sell property mentioned in it, acquire something new or go through other changes without updating the document. 

When can a homemade will be invalid? 

Some mistakes are serious enough to mean the will is not legally valid. 

One of the main risks is getting the signing or witnessing wrong. The Wills Act 1837 sets out the legal requirements for how a will must be signed and witnessed. Usually, the person making the will signs it in front of two witnesses, who must both be there at the same time. The witnesses then sign the will in front of the person making it. There are other ways the signing requirements can be met, but if the legal rules are not followed, the will can be invalid. 

There can be problems for other reasons too. The person making the will needs to understand what they are doing, what they own and the people they might be expected to consider when deciding who should inherit. They also need to understand and agree to what is actually written in the will. A will can also be challenged if someone was put under so much pressure that it was not really their own decision. 

These issues can arise with any will, but a DIY will may leave much less independent evidence to help establish whether it was properly made. Where a solicitor was involved, their file may record the instructions they were given, the advice provided and what they observed about the person making the will. That can be important evidence if its validity is later disputed. With a DIY will, there may be no equivalent record to turn to. 

It is also easy to choose the wrong person as a witness without realising there is a problem. You might ask a family member or friend to witness your will when you have also left them something in it. The will can still be valid, but they will usually lose what you left them. Our guide to When a Beneficiary Witnesses a Will explains what happens in that situation. 

If a DIY will is invalid, an earlier valid will may govern the estate instead. If there is no earlier valid will, the estate may pass under the intestacy rules. 

Can a mistake be corrected? 

When a mistake in a will comes to light after the person who made it has died, it may still be possible to correct it. 

In some circumstances, the court can correct, or rectify, a will that does not properly record what the person intended. The Administration of Justice Act 1982 gives the court this power but it is limited. It applies to particular types of error, including clerical mistakes. The law also covers cases where someone preparing a will misunderstood the instructions they were given. 

Rectification is not a way of changing a will simply because the result seems unfair or because the family believes the person would have wanted something different. There needs to be evidence of what they actually intended and that the will failed to reflect it because of the type of mistake the court has the power to correct. 

An unusual example is Marley v Rawlings [2014]. A husband and wife intended to make wills in almost identical terms but accidentally signed each other’s documents. The Supreme Court treated the mix-up as a clerical error and allowed the will to be rectified. 

What can you do if you think a DIY will is wrong? 

If you think a mistake in a DIY will could affect your inheritance, it is sensible to get legal advice as soon as possible, particularly if the estate has not yet been distributed. 

Try to keep hold of anything that could help explain how the will was written and what the person intended. Earlier drafts, notes, emails or messages may be useful if the wording is disputed. If the issue involves signing or witnessing, the people who were present may also have important information. 

If you are unsure whether an error or ambiguity in a homemade will matters, a solicitor can help you understand the position and what, if anything, needs to be looked into. Depending on the problem, that could involve resolving a disagreement over what the will means, challenging its validity or asking the court to correct a mistake. 

Get advice about a DIY will dispute 

You do not need to know whether there are grounds for a claim before speaking to us. If something about a DIY will does not seem right, our specialist contentious probate team can discuss your concerns and help you understand what to do next. 

You can speak to us in a free initial call. 

Call Us Now – 0203 322 5103 

This blog provides general information only and should not be treated as formal legal advice.