When Melita Jackson, who died in 2004, made her will she left her £500,000 to animal charities and stated she did not want her daughter to receive a penny.

However, after a long battle through the courts the Court of Appeal has finally awarded the daughter £164,000.

This was reported in various newspapers and a comment in the Daily Telegraph is worth repeating ‘Legal experts said the ruling had implications for how people draw up their wills.  They said it suggested that people would in future have to explain their reasons for why they had left no money to certain parties.’

Something we at Whitebrook have been doing for decades! 

Firstly, of course, the person taking the will instruction has to know about any situations which is why we always ask the question ‘Do you have any financial dependants whom you do not wish to benefit under your Will?’

And then we can document it and give an explanation for the exclusion.  If the will is then contested it is then clear to the court why it was done and will make it much more likely for the original intentions to be carried out.

Barclays is being sued by a daughter who claims a botched Will by the bank deprived her of a stake in her late father's London home. The case underlines a wider problem with low-cost wills.

A woman is seeking hundreds of thousands of pounds compensation from Barclays, claiming the bank's will-writing service resulted in her losing a stake in a valuable London home.

Barclays is contesting the claim.

But, in an interesting twist, we can reveal that when the complaint was previously assessed by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the bank was found at fault. The Ombudsman ordered Barclays to pay "a fair and reasonable settlement".

Unusually, Barclays decided to ignore the Financial Ombudsman's recommendation. The matter has now gone to the High Court.

Court documents detail how in 2007 Ebenezer Aregbesola used Barclays' £90 will-writing service to create a Will dealing with his various assets including homes overseas and in London. His Will instructed half of the London home to be given to his daughter, Tinuola Aregbesola, on his death.

The property was owned jointly by Mr Aregbesola and his wife – who was not Tinuola's mother. Because of the joint ownership, on Mr Aregbesola's death in early 2014, the property went wholly to his wife – in contravention of the wishes spelt out in the Will.

In order for the Will's conditions to have been fulfilled, Barclays should have severed the joint tenancy agreement, the court document alleges. This would have enabled half of the property's value to pass as instructed to his daughter. Because this severance process – which the Ombudsman describes as "a simple formality" – was neglected, the joint tenant, Mr Aregbesola's widow, is legally entitled to the whole property which she can now bequeath as she pleases.

The £90 Will service that Barclays offers highlights the danger of cheap Wills, which are often too simplistic to reflect accurately the deceased’s wishes. In this case, the simple formality of severing the tenancy was neglected.

We have covered the dangers of DIY Wills in a previous blog, but it’s important to remember that a Will is one of the most important documents you can write. It’s vital to make sure that it is accurately completed and that all the minute details and correct steps take place.

The increased complexity of family arrangements means that your Will must be reviewed regularly and, whenever there is a change in the family construct, to have it re-written. Where there are new spouses, step children, ex-spouses or children from outside the marriage, your wishes must be really clear and exact to make sure that what you want to happen after your death is carried out.

By using a professional Will Writer you can be sure that they know the exact ins and outs of the law and will be sure to complete all necessary paperwork for your wishes.

For expert Will writing and inheritance advice call Whitebrook Wills on 01985 850622 or contact us online and we will call you.

It started off as one of those silly conversations which teeter banter and argument.  My husband, George, moaned about how I had again left my car unlocked, and I suggested he should make sure his next wife was a bit more careful!

Then I added that I’d happily bequeath my battered old Volvo to whomever eventually took my place.

Still, this little episode did have one beneficial outcome as it got me thinking about how we both needed to make a Will.

The truth is that, like many people, we’re not particularly keen to have maudlin conversations about death or how we’d like to divide the spoils of the life we’ve built together once we have departed from it.

Yet with three children and five grandchildren to consider it does seem a bit irresponsible not to make clear and proper provision for the family.

We did make our Wills just after Louise was born but that was almost thirty years ago and so much has changed – more kids, plus grandkids and property etc – that those Wills would probably cause more problems than they would solve.

Of course we’re not alone as a recent survey showed that most people would rather go on holiday, do home improvements or even buy a sofa than spend money on making a Will.   

So it’s no surprise that more than half of us haven’t made a Will. And the reason for this? Is it the money? It seems unlikely as even wealthy people have died without making a Will.  Last year the comedian Rik Mayall died intestate.  And in the aftermath of the murder of Jill Dando in 1999 it emerged that had she not made a Will either, so her partner, who she was planning to marry, received nothing of the £1m plus estate – it all passed to her father who was in his 80’s.

The only way you can be sure of avoiding potential problems is to make a Will – it’s never too early but it can be too late.