Nothing is certain but death and taxes, so the proverb goes. And in death is the final chance to determine how your hard earned money is distributed. This is done by a will, and in this important document most of us reflect family ties, friendships and charities.
Sadly, many do not make a will at all and then what is called the law of intestacy says where the money goes; and it does not necessarily all go to the surviving spouse or civil partner. In the worst case everything could go to the Crown to help pay off the national debt!
A will is essential if you want to be certain what is to happen after you die. And a professionally drawn will is the best way to ensure that certainty.
The law gives those of us over the age of 18 and of sound mind the freedom in a will to dispose of our assets after death in any way we wish. But, as we have seen, few things are certain, disputes can still arise, and have a habit of bringing out the worst. At a time of grief. And the star witness has just died!
There are two types of dispute I see. First is over the will itself. To be valid a will, it must comply with the Wills Act 1837, which sets out the formalities. These formalities are strict and it really is not worth taking the chance to do it yourself with a will or use anyone other than a solicitor specialising in this field.
It is often claimed that the testator (the person who made the will) was not of sound mind, that he or she lacked the legal capacity to understand what they were doing when the will was made. With Alzheimer’s Society estimates that by 2025 there will be over 1 million people suffering from dementia in the UK, this issue is only going to become more frequently raised.
Then there is what lawyers call undue influence. This is the subtle influence over the testator’s mind which coerces him or her into making a will against their true wishes.
Finally, we have cases of a will being forged or there being some fraud such as destroying a later will so that an earlier will is used instead.
The second type of dispute is over the inheritance. These disputes have as their basis the snappily entitled Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. This gives a Judge the power to, in effect, re-write a will in order to give some (or more) of your money to certain people such as a spouse, partner or children who feel they should have left been more.
If you feel you may be affected by any of the issues raised here then it is important to seek urgent legal advice.
Andrew Morley joined the legal profession in 1982 with a desire to put right injustice. Learning on the job whilst undergoing academic study, he entered private practice and qualified into the Fellowship of the Institute of Legal Executives in 1990, and joined McKinnells solicitors in Lincoln in 2004. Brought up in a village not far from Lincoln, Andrew is a keen cyclist and once completed the Lands End to John O’Groats ride for no better reason than is was there and it seemed like a good idea.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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