young persons will and solicitor

MS.ing

I am a young person, If I make a will can the solicitor I make it with tell family members especially parents without my consent that I have made one, and legally is it breaking the equivilant of the hapocratic oath for doing so

can you point me to some law or legislation which will answer it for me please.

Victor

Solicitor's clients are entitled to privacy. However, there is a risk in small communities of word getting around that you went to see a solicitor, via the usual local gossips. Just say to your solicitor that you want the matter kept private. The will would have to be disclosed in the event of your death.

If you are under 18, I'm not sure that your will is binding.

Could I ask why you are worrried that your parents will be told?

nompere

Section 77 Succession Act 1965:

77.—(1) To be valid a will shall be made by a person who—

(a) has attained the age of eighteen years or is or has been married, and

(b) is of sound disposing mind.

coylemj

If you're worried about word getting out, you can always go to another town where nobody knows you and engage a solicitor there, the process shouldn't take more than half an hour, you don't have to use a local solicitor.

The primary purpose of a will by the way is to deal with the disposal of your property, anything else to do with things like funeral arrangements are not binding on your family.

dats_right

The problems if nobody; a) knows you have made a will, or; b) knows its whereabouts, are that upon your death your wishes as expressed in your Will may not be implemented and your estate may pass under the rules of intestacy.

aujopimur

You can buy a will form in a stationary shop and make your own will, you need 2 witnesses to make it valid.

coylemj

MS.ing wrote: »

I am a young person, If I make a will can the solicitor I make it with tell family members especially parents without my consent that I have made one

dats_right wrote: »

The problems if nobody; a) knows you have made a will, or; b) knows its whereabouts, are that upon your death your wishes as expressed in your Will may not be implemented and your estate may pass under the rules of intestacy.

Good point, there's no point in making a will if nobody knows you have made it.

OP, you will need to tell a close friend or someone in your family that you have made a will and where the original is kept so that it can be acted upon after your death.

BTW, if your estate consists of money only then you can lodge it in a credit union and nominate someone to receive up to 13,000 euros on your death and there is no will or probate required, the credit union will hand over the money to the nominee on production of a death cert. Anyone over the age of 16 can make such a nomination.

nuac

Coylemj, while Credit Unions do have the right to accept the nominations you describe, many have stopped doing so. there have been some disputes about the validity of such nominations.

Delancey

nuac wrote: »

Coylemj, while Credit Unions do have the right to accept the nominations you describe, many have stopped doing so. there have been some disputes about the validity of such nominations.

+ 1 , one Credit Union employee described those nominations to me as an absolute '' nightmare '' to deal with when a dispute arises and as a result the CU they work for has ceased operating them.

coylemj

Thanks, wasn't aware that some CUs had stopped doing them. I can understand how people in the family would get upset when they suddenly discover that up to €13,000 from the account of the deceased is going west regardless of what's in the will.

I'd say a lot of them involve gifts of cash to mistresses and other such 'friends' that in a lot of cases are unknown to the family, hence the aggro that erupts when the family find out.