Mistakes made when the will was drafted  

Mistakes can occur sometimes at the point of drafting a Will.  In this instance and if you suspect a mistake has occurred, depending on the nature of the mistake, it may be possible to take action to correct the mistake. 

In circumstances where there has been a clerical error in how the Will has been drafted or the Will drafter’s mistake has occurred because the original instructions were not understood, the law does allow for this error to be corrected. 

These actions must be pursued quickly.  Any application to rectify a Will must be issued no later than six months after the date that a grant of representation is issued  an estate.  Further time may be allowed, although Court permission would need to be requested in this instance.  Permission cannot be guaranteed as this depends on the circumstances.  For this reason, where an error is suspected in the drafting of a Will, it is of the upmost importance to ensure that investigations are undertaken immediately to confirm the original instructions of the person whose Will you suspect is not correctly drafted. 

Although you would expect if a professional is instructed to prepare a Will that the advice provided and Will provisions are correct, sometimes that is not always the case.  Instructions can be misconstrued, or mistakes made in the work completed, the consequences of which are only uncovered by those benefitting from the Will (or not) after someone’s death.

For example, a Will may have been drafted incorrectly but it is not possible to rectify the mistake made in the Will.  Alternatively, it may be that advice was provided about how the provisions should be drafted, but no check was done to ensure that the provisions could be followed on death (i.e. checking that a property can be gifted under a Will).

If the error cannot be corrected otherwise and you have lost out on receiving provision due to this, it may be possible to pursue a claim against the firm responsible if this is because of their actions for the loss you suffered to be pursued against the professional firm who completed the work.

These are bespoke claims and proving that the loss suffered could have been avoided and was due to the error of the professional is important in succeeding with this type of claim. 

There are time limits that apply for a professional negligence claim, and taking advice as early as possible to determine the appropriate time limit is important.