Your Life, Your Estate Plan, Your Choice

• Published date: 05 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Family and Matrimonial, Wills/ Intestacy/ Estate Planning
• Law Firm: O'Sullivan Estate Lawyers LLP
• Author: Ms Susannah Roth

This is definitely dating myself, but in thinking about this blog I was unable to get Jon Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" out of my head (check it out on YouTube here). Sorry for the earworm!

Mr. Bon Jovi (we've never met, so I'll not call him Jon just yet) makes a couple of points that are applicable to your estate planning. It's your life, and it's now or never. This blog deals with the first point - it's your life.

Often, we consider everyone else's thoughts, opinions, expectations, and needs when making our estate plan.

This is not a bad thing, and in fact, the ability to understand the expectations and "moral claims" of the people who would normally expect to benefit under your will is one of the elements of the legal test for capacity to make a will (as set out in the English case of Banks v. Goodfellow (1870) L.R. 5 Q.B. 549, the other elements being the ability to understand the nature and effect of making a will and the ability to understand the extent of the property which is subject to the will).

It is important to consider the expectations of the people who would normally benefit under your will, as well as those (whether reasonable or not) of any of your loved ones or friends based on your relationship, taking into account what you may have said, or perhaps even "promised" or held out, to them in the past, or their wishes and desires.

These are important considerations, and not to be set aside lightly. It is also important to discuss these potential and actual expectations with your estate planning advisors too, so that any future claims can be anticipated and, to the extent possible, planned for to avoid future disputes.

However, it's your life and your estate you are planning for, and you are...