Joint Wills

What is a joint will?

It is a will of two or more people who decide together on the content of the will.

Amongst whom is a joint will most popular?

Between husbands and wives, who agree on a "plan" about what should be done with their estate.

Should a joint will be in the same document, or in separate documents?

Either, but drafting a joint will in separate documents makes it easier for each party to change his will.

Do a husband and wife who wish to make a joint will have to do so at the same time?

No. A joint will can be made in two separate documents, on two different occasions.

When will a joint will become a mutual will?

A joint will made by a couple will become a mutual will when they make an instruction that if one of them does the estate will pass to the other, and upon the death of the surviving spouse, it shall pass to their mutual children.

Is there any difference in the law applying to a joint will, and that applying to a mutual will?

No!

Will an undertaking in a mutual will whereby each testator promises not to change the instructions be binding?

This controversial subject has not been resolved completely by the Supreme Court. On the face of it such an undertaking runs counter to the principle of a testator's freedom to bequeath property, and to change, cancel and make a fresh will, under the Inheritance Law of 1965.

My parents both made wills leaving their estate to the other, and after they both died, to us, their three children, in equal parts. My mother died first and my father made a but new will, leaving his estate to only two of us after his death. Can his will be cancelled?

If the father's new will meets all the requirements of the Inheritance Law of 1965, then it is valid, and cannot be cancelled because it violates the joint wishes that he and his late wife incorporated in the original will. While a mutual will is binding, either party is free to make a new will, with different instructions.