A document must only comply with the minimal conditions set out in the Wills Act to be considered a legal Will. The requirements are not difficult to achieve.

It is true, something written on the back of the proverbial corn flakes packet might be considered a valid Will.

The issues with Will Kits arise after the person who wrote it has died and their family or loved ones are attempting to administer their estate. Problems might arise which can often lead to delays in administering or finalising an estate and also lead to additional expense in trying to rectify or resolve the issues that arise.

What kind of issues are there with Home Made Will Kits?

Some issues that arise:
The executor nominated has since died and there is no substituted executor named;

The testator gifts a specific bank account to someone but at the time of their death they had changed banks leading to the gift failing;

The testator not having disposed of their entire estate leading to a partial intestacy (distribution according to legislation set out by Parliament);

The document not being signed correctly (or at all) and not being dated correctly (or at all);

The names of executors or beneficiaries being incomplete or incorrect leading to confusion;

Conditions being placed on certain gifts (…”X can have the car but only if he leaves that wife of his that I hate”…) which are either offensive, against public policy or impossible to meet or enforce;

A testator wishing to gift property which they own jointly with another, that property never falls into their estate and was never capable of being gifted;

The Will being revoked by marriage resulting in a distribution the testator did not want.