Law firms across the UK have raised over £125,000,000 for nine charities by writing wills. Will Aid, as the charity drive is known, is offered by more than 1,000 firms nationwide. For one month, solicitors waive their fees for writing a will and in exchange the client is invited to make a donation to charity. In 2016, almost 13,000 wills were written under the scheme.

While the law on wills differs between Scotland and England & Wales, there issues that will be relevant to the law on both sides of the border. This blog explores proposals down south which may impact on how wills are written, interpreted, altered and stored in Scotland.

In this increasingly digital world, a relatively new but important consideration is how can you make sure your online assets are taken care of after death? You may have many questions in relation to your digital legacy, including how will your appointed executors locate, access and gain control of your intellectual property? And how will they administer such assets in line with your best wishes?

Last year, that Mrs Ilott, an estranged daughter ‘written out’ of her mother’s Will, was awarded £164,000 from her mother’s estate made headlines. The English case concerned the Will of Mrs Jackson who died in 2004. As noted in a previous blog (available to read here), Mrs Jackson had left a majority of her estate to charities, expressly instructing her executors to defend any challenge to her Will brought by her daughter, explaining in a letter that: ‘I have made it clear to my daughter during her lifetime that she can expect no inheritance from me when I die’.

It is widely recognised that writing a will is an effective way of ensuring that your assets are distributed in accordance with your wishes after you die.