Talk:Will and testament/Archive 8

2006
Anyone know what the UK statute is which governs the creation of wills?


 * The 1706 and 1800 treaties of union provided that England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland retained their own separate legal systems on creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707) and the United Kingdom (1801). Thus, in the UK as in the USA, the law of wills is state/provincial jurisdiction not national or federal jurisdiction so there is no UK-wide law of Wills.  The judicial provinces of 1) England & Wales, 2) Northern Ireland, and 3) Scotland each have their own statutes.  Also note the law of wills is purely statutory law; there is no common law of wills in either England or Scotland (which has its own common law tradition - Scots common law - separate from English common law). There are UK-wide statutes that can affect wills but nationwide law of wills.


 * I'm hoping someone with more up-to-date knowledge than mine will leap in, here, but a starting point is the Wills Act 1837 (especially section 9). AndyJones 10:20, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Sadly that act still governs New Zealand! Despite which I am seriously worried this article states what the law is without saying which country that law applies to. There is more the world that the U.S. of A. and England, dammit! :-)Winstonwolfe 04:08, 18 June 2006 (UTC)]] 04:08, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Hi, there are several acts that govern the UK Wills area. There is the 1925 Estate act and also the UK succession act. The UK succession act ammended in 2005 should be what you are after. There is also little difference in legal aspects from amongst the aforementioned counteries since all their original law structures were english. Thomas - www.global-wills.com

What to do with a Will after it is signed?
Should the article contain any explanation of what to do with a will after it is created and signed? To whom should copies be given? What should be done with the original? Is it necessary or desirable to have a lawyer keep it? How does the will end up in the hands of the Probate Judge? I don't know the answers, but it might be important. Willaby 19:02, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

How old to write a will?
How old do you have to be to make a will in the UK? 80.47.119.128 21:47, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Article incomplete
How about some material on how a will is executed, what the executor does, what the lawyer does, what the probate court does. How is final settlement achieved? If a man's estate consists of $10,000 in savings and he leaves $7,500 to each of two sons, what happens? If a woman has a house and $10,000 and leaves the house to one of two daughters and $50,000 to the other, what happens? There's just a whole lot more to a will than is covered here. Jm546 17:40, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Actually, perhaps the above considerations belong in the article on probate. But they are not covered there either.Jm546 17:45, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Need Help Correcting an Error
This is the first time that I ever tried to correct a Wikipedia article so rather than screw it up I thought that I would let a professional handle it.

In the Article it says "Though most people are aware that they need a will, as many as 66% of Americans, according to Consumer Reports, don't have one." The correct number should be 56% and not 66%. This number is derived from a Consumer Reports Article located at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/baby-toddler/money-tips-for-new-parents-10-07/your-will-a-how-to-for-new-parents/your-will-a-how-to-for-new-parents.htm?view=Print where it is stated that "Just about everybody needs a will, but only 44 percent of Americans have one, according to a recent survey." If 44% have a will then 56% don't have a will. It can't be 66% not having a will because that would add up to 110% (44%+66%=110%).

Brglassman (talk) 18:02, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Louisiana
The article says "except in Louisiana, where a minimum share is guaranteed to surviving children." This is obsolete. Since 1989 only minor (under age 23) and disabled children are subject to (beneficiaries of) "forced heirship" in Louisiana today. See: Spaht, Katherine Shaw, Kathryn Venturatos Lorio, Cynthia Picou, Cynthia Samuel & Frederick W. Swain, Jr., "The New Forced Heirship Legislation: A Regrettable 'Revolution' ", 50 La. L. Rev., 1990, pp. 409-99. Andygx (talk) 07:52, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Copyright violation?
Based on the way it is written, and the lack of citations, I believe there is a good chance that this article was copied directly from another source and may be a copyright violation. Can anyone confirm that?

Tad Lincoln (talk) 08:42, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Civil law wills - reply
Of course there are wills in civil law systems. I have myself made wills in Spain and Brazil; though many people do not. The issue of wills should not be confused with the degree of testamentary freedom. How to handle this? The ideal woul be to have a general article on wills, covering the main differences and commonalties between common and civil law; and put the detail into separate articles on wills in different specific legal systems. For Brazil say, it would probably be better to link to a Portuguese article than to fudge one in English. --James Wimberley62.36.38.113 (talk) 01:15, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Warren Burger - dubious
The statement about Warren Burger's will costing his estate thousands is based on dubious claims and should probably be removed. I have marked it dubious in the article. See article at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1585397 whose abstract claims:

"Media reports of Warren Burger's homemade three-sentence will crowed about the former Chief Justice's lack of legal acumen in drafting the will. A local attorney alleged that Burger's $1.6 million estate would incur a $450,000 federal and state estate tax liability that could have been entirely avoided by elementary estate planning, noting that "the shoemaker's children are the last ones to get shoes."

It was a great story - if only it were true. This article examines the estate tax consequences of the Burger will and concludes that it is the critics, not the Chief Justice, who do not understand basic estate planning."

The article goes on to state that a media frenzy based on a single person's incorrect claims created this enduring myth about Warren Burger's will. If others agree this claim is not true, please remove it from the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dawaegel (talk • contribs) 14:16, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Civil law wills?
Are there wills in the civil law system? If so, it seems like serious bias for an article called "Wills (law)" to be about only common-law wills. If not, something in the article should mention and link to property disposition in the civil law system - maybe just a brief section that says something like "Wills do not exist in the civil law system. Instead, property is distributed through [whatever they use in the civil law system.]" Elliotreed 05:09, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Wills do exist in the civil law system, but those jurisdictions have a very different statutory framework for the settlement of decedent's estates. For example, forced heirship, the legitime, community property, and universal succession are frequently encountered.98.191.220.101 (talk) 17:58, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Classification of "Heir"
The text states that a testator must clearly define an heir in their will; however, an heir is a creation of intestate administration. A person entitled to property in an intestate administration (where there was no will by the decedent) is an heir. During their lifetime, the person is an heir apparent, and only after the decedent's death are they classified as an heir.

The proper term for the individual who should be clearly defined in a will is a devisee. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.192.20.162 (talk) 02:05, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Heirs are persons who take by intestate succession. A person who takes under a will is a devisee. It is possible for a person to be both an heir or a devisee (e.g. the testator leaves the property to someone who would have inherited it anyway under the law of intestate succession).98.191.220.101 (talk) 18:02, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

will as an informed decision
Is there in English law "will" not as testament/bequest/devise, but a concept of a will to make a transaction. So if someone stole item from you - this item has gone out of your possession without your will. Or such situation can be likevitiated through deficient agreement.·Ɔ (talk) 07:46, 28 May 2020 (UTC)


 * You are thinking of concepts such as consent, intent and mental capacity. Lumping them all together as "will" merely serves to confuse. NRPanikker (talk) 17:01, 31 July 2020 (UTC)
 * There is Capacity (law), but Consent (criminal law), Intention (criminal law) are not civil law.·Ɔ (talk) 09:48, 19 August 2020 (UTC)