Christmas, cricket and your Will – an unusual combination

Christmas and cricket are not always combined in people’s thoughts (much to my dismay!).  The only link that immediately comes to mind is the Boxing Day test match in Melbourne.  But a little bit of digging shows that test matches have been played on Christmas day before, albeit last in 1972, and that some with the surname ‘Christmas’ have graced the hallowed turf at Lord’s.

However, a recent case regarding a Will written partly on the back of a mince pie packet has added another, admittedly tenuous, link.

Cricket, lovely cricket

In the case in question an avid cricket fan wrote his Will on two pieces of packaging – a box of Mr Kipling mince pies and Young’s fish fillets.  His signature was witnessed by two neighbours who signed on one of the two unbound pieces of cardboard. The deceased named Diabetes UK as his principal beneficiary and stated that his ashes should be scattered at York Cricket Club, one of his favorite spots. The estate was worth c.£180,000 and included a house, jewellery and cash. The family agreed that the estate should go to charity so there was no dispute over the intended beneficiary, but the nature of the document, and the fact that it was spread across two separate packets, brought its legal validity into question.

The Wills Act 1837

The Wills Act was enacted just 50 years after the Marylebone Cricket Club was formed and 45 years before the first Ashes series was played.  Yet it is still the Act which governs the requirements for executing a valid Will in the UK.

It requires the following:

• The Will must be in writing and signed by the testator, or by someone else in their presence and at their direction.
• It must appear that the testator intended by their signature to give effect to the Will.
• The signature must be made or acknowledged in the presence of at least two witnesses present at the same time.
• Each witness must sign the Will, or acknowledge their signature, in the presence of the testator (but not necessarily in the presence of any other witness).

In this case, these requirements were satisfied but the witnesses could only recall seeing one packet, not two, and the Court had to decide whether the deceased intended that both packets formed the Will or not.

The signatures were not on the part which left the legacy to Diabetes UK which meant the estate would have been intestate if the Court held that the Will was only formed of the signed packet.

Umpire’s call

There is a presumption in UK law that a Will is valid and that the document submitted for probate constitutes the whole Will.  This can be rebutted by evidence to the contrary – in much the same way that an umpire’s decision can only be overturned by DRS (the Decision Review System) if there is strong evidence against the decision they made on the field.

The Court held that there was no evidence which conclusively showed that the two parts were not present at the time of execution or that the deceased did not intend both parts to form his Will.  Both packets could therefore be admitted for probate and the gift to Diabetes UK stood.

The decision is a welcome reminder that the Court will uphold the presumption that a Will is valid.

But it is also a reminder that executing a Will is a formal process and, although it may be tempting to write your Will on the nearest empty packet of snacks (or perhaps the back of the scorecard from your most recent cricket match), we strongly recommend that you sign a bound document as this will ensure your family avoids costly Court proceedings establishing its validity.

How we can help

Please contact us if you need advice on the formal requirements of executing your Will.