The False Economy of Homemade Wills

The False Economy of Homemade Wills

By Chemaine Bravery

Published: 11 Apr 2025

A man’s homemade Will written on the back of frozen fish and mince pie boxes was recently found to be valid by the High Court. The validity of the Will was questioned because of the unusual way it was written down and the fact that his neighbours only witnessed one of the pages. This successful result came after a long and costly court case. Several members of the man’s family had diabetes and his wish to leave his entire estate to Diabetes UK was honoured.

We have administered estates where DIY Wills have caused problems for the deceased’s executors and beneficiaries because they have been worded incorrectly (e.g. not all grandchildren benefited as the wording used excluded grandchildren born after the Will was made) or they have not been witnessed correctly causing parts of the Will to be invalid (e.g. where a relative who stands to benefit under the Will is a witness). In some cases, we have had to seek the opinion of a Barrister on the proper construction of the Will, leading to more legal costs for families at a time when they are processing the death of a loved one.

If you instruct us to draft your Will, we will take your detailed instructions to ensure that on your death your estate validly passes according to your wishes. You will come into our offices to sign your Will, we will provide your witnesses and we offer free Will storage. A professionally drafted Will may help you and your family save money and avoid complications in the long run.

The case highlights many of the dangers of DIY Wills:

• the risk that the wrong wording has been used;
• the risk that Will is not in the correct form;
• the risk that the Will has not been signed and witnessed correctly;
• the risk that the people or charities you want to benefit do not benefit.