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Extraordinary Testaments in the United Kingdom
Sam Cox

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How is a ”Testament” or ”Will” defined in UK law?
•Wills are legal documents stating how a persons money and property will be distributed after their
death •Wills are also tools to state preference who will be the guardian(s) of any minors
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What makes a will legal?
•For your will to be legally valid, you must:
•be 18 or over
•make it voluntarily
•be of sound mind
•make it in writing
•sign it in the presence of 2 witnesses who are both over 18
•have it signed by your 2 witnesses, in your presence
•If you make any changes to your will you must follow the same signing and witnessing process.
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When is a will not valid?
•A will is not valid if it doesn’t meet the requirements of the previous slide
•But also historically a will may be invalid in whole or in part, for many reasons, which may be
divided into
•1)those arising from external circumstances and those arising from the will itself. The main
examples of the former class are revocation by burning, tearing, etc.
•2) Undue influence is a ground upon which frequent attempts are made to set aside wills. Its
nature is well explained in a judgment of Lord Penzance's: "Pressure of whatever character, whether
acting on the fears or the hopes, if so exerted as to overpower the volition without convincing the
judgment, is a species of restraint under which no valid will can be made."

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Types of Extraordinary Testament
•Privileged testament those who are in active military service, which means that they are either
working in the Forces or are just about to be posted to one. This does not just apply to soldiers
on the front line, it is also possible for civilian support staff to execute a privileged Will if
they are being posted into an operational area.
•A privileged Will is usually written down but can even be an oral declaration. There is no
requirement for any witnesses, although an oral declaration must of course be witnessed for there
to be any evidence of it. The executor of the Will can be a minor, which is especially important
given that many troops are ordered into combat before they reach the age of 18.
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Joint and Mutual Wills
•A joint will is two single wills made by two people (usually spouses) giving instructions about
how their properties are to be distributed. This is mostly for convenience purposes and they can be
called ‘mirror’ wills.
•Joint wills can be revoked by either party at any time before death and are valid as long as they
follow the format of standard wills.
•Mutual wills are two or more wills made by people giving instructions based on agreement about how
their properties are to be distributed for each other’s benefit. Mutual wills are deemed
irrevocable. If revoked after the death of one party and new provisions are put in place, any
disadvantaged beneficiaries under the first will who do not benefit under the later will can
‘enforce’ the terms of the first will.
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Other extraordinary Wills in the UK
•As long as the will is valid and not void by these conditions…
•Even extraordinary wills can be be valid
•I will now show some examples of some extraordinary wills which come from the United Kingdom
•These come from a genealogy firm called Fraser and Fraser, based in Central London. They have been
putting together a list of the strangest requests they have seen on wills in the UK
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Anonymous donation to clear national debt
•Anonymous donation “to clear the national debt” A public-spirited donor made a half-million pound
bequest to Britain back in 1928, which is now worth more than £350m. Unfortunately, the anonymous
donor was very specific about how the money should be spent: it should only be passed on once it is
enough to clear the entire national debt. Sadly, the total national debt currently stands
at £1.5tn and so the country can’t touch the money.

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The will of Stephen Cuthbert, from Wiltshire, who wrote his will in 2002 with strict instructions
that his estate paid for the 'p*** up' after his funeral

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The will of Kenneth Gibson, born in 1923 in Lincolnshire, who requested in 1999 that his
step-daughter should get the 'price of half a pound of pork sausages that she claimed in my
presence that her late mother Ann Cox had not paid her for

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Thank you for listening!
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