Just watched a TV programme which had a typical British will reading scene, with all the family sat around a posh drawing room with no idea of what’s in the will.
I’d assume IRL most of the family would already know the breakdown of the will and any ‘reading’ would be merely a legal formality but am happy to be educated
by Exchangenudes_4_Joke
12 comments
Yes, but they’re typically in colour these days
Oh yes, all the time. The whole village gathers ‘neath the eaves of the meeting hall and quaff scrumpy.
Thought you meant someone called Will Readings at first. 🤦
Yes of course these happen. How old are you?
Sorry to disappoint, they don’t happen 🙁
Source: am a widow and executor of late husbands will. It involved 0 readings and a lot of sending copies of the death certificate to banks, pension companies, mobile phone providers, credit cards, utility companies….
I suppose you could put in a will that you wanted it read to the potential beneficiaries. It isn’t a requirement though. (Source: an executor and a beneficiary)
It could rebound too. If the nature of the circumstances of the reading, and the will contents, are notably weird, then disgruntled relatives might feel entitled to challenge the will on the grounds that the deceased was obviously loopy when they wrote it. Being of sound mind could be called into question.
No, generally the executor will contact you to explain if you’ve been left anything.
It’s unusual for sentiments to be left in a will, they’re normally quite dry documents about provisioning assets, from my admittedly limited experience.
No, there’s no need for a will reading and they’re just a good plot device.
Usually a person with a will tells someone they left a will and where (I know which lawyer to go to when my parents pass, for instance). People often know what they’re getting too.
After a grant of probate (the right given to deal with a deceased person’s assets and such) a will becomes a public document and anybody can get a copy for a couple of quid or something.
In practice, only a few people are likely to read a will and they’ll do it privately.
I have attended a will reading I was summoned to by a solicitor of an unmarried old school friend with no relatives who died. I discovered I had been named as executor (not beneficiary) and none of the beneficiaries knew or had expected anything. Was quite a big estate worth several hundred thousand but no cash. To get probate and pay IRH I had to lend estate over ten thousand pounds for over a year to pay for for funeral, house insurance, etc. Moral of story is no good deed goes unpunished
Depends on how wealthy they are and how they want it to be distributed. I, and my family, each inherrited large sums and had to sit through a reading. No legal issues to resolve, as everything was done “above board”, with no inheritance tax issues either – though one of my aunts as given a token sum of £499, as she had pissed off to Lanzarote with her life partner.
I saw something somewhere that said they were a thing once, but now that most people can read they basically never happen.
They’ve been a things in stories since before everyone could read though, so they still get treated like a real thing in fictionshire.
Nope the solicitor just contacts you saying X person has left you Y assets