You arrived at this page by selecting:Death bed requests won't stand up (10/12/09)
When someone is very poorly and is near the end of their life it is naturally a very upsetting time for them and their family. Sometimes the person who will soon be departing makes requests or expresses wishes about what they would like to happen to their estate to other family members. Sometimes they may even make their wishes known by writing it in a letter. But does this letter stand up in a court of law? Not necessarily. If the person has already made a will then that last will and testament is the one that counts and if they haven't made a will the rules of intestacy apply in the eyes of the law.
I came across an unfortunate matter like this recently where someone had written a will and left their estate to their two children. This person had also written a letter subsequently, expressing their wishes as to what should happen to some of the money that was given to the children. Apparently these same wishes were reiterated verbally to the family before this person passed away.
The children, who were the beneficiaries of the will, agreed verbally to carry out the wishes and as only one of the children was executor this one proceeded to give money from the estate to other members of the family as per the letter. The other sibling then either changed their mind or said they never agreed to it in the first place and wanted the money returning to the estate.
Legally this letter of wishes does not stand up in a court of law. A letter of this nature would have to be signed and witnessed by two people to be even considered. And what about the verbal agreement between the children? Well unless there are any witnesses to it this is just someone's word against someone else's.
Unfortunately it is better in the long run to get things like verbal agreements (even between family members) and letters of wishes properly agreed and signed, ideally through a solicitor. It may leave you in a very difficult predicament if you don't.
In the eyes of the law, unless proper proof could be provided which determined otherwise, a will or rules of intestacy stand. The executor has no legal right to hand out money from the estate to other people who were not beneficiaries of the will. Even though the the executor thought they had agreement from the other beneficiary and were doing the right thing by carrying out the wishes of their loved one.
So remember please don't rely simply on good intentions if you really want to ensure your wishes or indeed someone else's wishes are carried out because you will probably find that it won't stand up in court.
By John Wilson
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