Friends Don’t Let Friends Amend Their Own Wills!
I recently worked on a probate administration in which a testator decided to update an attorney-prepared Last Will and Testament by downloading a form off the internet and trying his hand at DIY estate planning. He must have thought to himself, “what could go wrong?” The answer in this case was “quite a bit.”
While seeking to make rather simple changes to his Will, such as changing the dollar amounts of a few bequests, he also inadvertently deleted the recipients of the Residuary clause of his estate. A specific bequest is a gift of a specific asset, including a sum of money, to one or more specific recipients. After making specific bequests, the remainder of the estate that is not specifically listed elsewhere passes under the Will’s Residuary provision. The Residuary often includes the largest part of a testator’s estate.
The consequence of the testator’s simple mistake in deleting the Residuary was that none of the people the decedent cared about received the assets he intended for them, and instead, the bulk of his estate (millions of dollars) passed not under the Will, but pursuant to the Washington laws of intestacy. The result was exactly what the testator had wanted to avoid, namely, that his closest relative, or next of kin, took his entire Residuary estate.
Estate planning is not a good DIY activity. Consult an experienced estate planning attorney to discuss one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make: how to leave your assets to the people you care about the most in a tax-advantaged manner.
The Estate Administration Lawyers at Beresford Booth have extensive experience dealing with all types of estate planning issues. Contact us at info@beresfordlaw.com or call (425) 776-4100 to see how we can help.