MAKING A WILL

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 55, 13 September 1928, Page 8

MAKING A WILL

SURPRISING RELUCTANCE "It is surprising with what reluctance many persons face the important task of making a will,'l remarks the Public Trustee in his annual report. "Statistics havo been compiled in some countries and strikingly bear out this contention. Judging by the office statistics, I am of opinion that in New Zealand, at any rate, increasing numbers of persons are realising its importance and are taking steps by means of testamentary directions to ensure the efficient administration of their estates and the protection of their dependants. "The testamentary disposition of an estate is the problem of the testator himself, but the drafting of a will providing for the distribution is a skilful act requiring the services of an expert daughtsman. The importance of testators availing themselves'of the skilled services of competent advisers in the. preparation of wills cannot be too strongly emphasised.- There is no more fruitful source of litigation and heartburning amongst beneficiaries and dependants than the carelessly or imperfectly drawn will. Obviously this must be so. The drafting of wills and trust instruments is the most difficult and delicate work in the whole range of legal draughtsmanship, and is surrounded by more pitfalls than any other. When it is realised that oftentimes the directions of testators are of the most complicated order, and that the language of the documents, if difficulties are to be avoided, must be clear and unambiguous, the necessity of skilled assistance becomes apparent. The problem of divining the intentions of testators whose directions are couched in contradictory or ambiguous language is one of the most difficult confronting our Courts, and for the reason that the directing parties cannot bo consulted it is inevitable that sometimes it is well nigh impossible to solve the incidental problems. "To some it may well seem that I havo ' exaggerated the difficulties arising from unskilled will-drafting. Such persons may naturally consider that, as they have a thorough knowledge of their own affairs and intentions, they are capable of expressing their directions clearly. To these it can only be reiterated that experience proves the contrary. Persons whose everyday task it is to put into writing their thoughts and directions cannot avoid the pitfalls surrounding will-making, and how much moro difficult must it be for the vast majority of people whose training and occupation do not fit them for such a task."