• March 28, 2024
 High Court rules “Bad English can still make a good will”

High Court rules “Bad English can still make a good will”

The High Court has upheld a homemade will despite much of the wording being unclear.

Although Veljko Aleksik had lived in England for a number of years, his written English never became fluent. However, during his time in the country, he managed to acquire properties in both London and Cardiff, as well as purchasing land in Montenegro which he had developed alongside two of his siblings.

Following his death in 2014, one of his friends asked two solicitors to apply for a grant of letters of administration, given that no clear executor had been specified. These were obtained on July 2016.

However, Veljko’s will was holographic, meaning that it has been written and signed by him. It had also been drafted in a very informal style, with much of the text being vague and absent of attestation clause.

As well as a lack of clarity, there had also been amendments made with some of the text being altered or crossed out completely.

Although the technical defects were simpler to resolve, the vagueness of the wording proved a more difficult obstacle when it came to validating the will. Whilst an affidavit of due execution provided a way around the absent attestation clause, the administrators chose to seek the court’s advice where the less traditional issues were concerned.

A practical approach was taken by the judge, who used a variety of documents and existing literature on unclear wills, in addition to Montenegrin law. Matthews HHJ stated that the task of ascertaining the intention of Veljko has been confused by his lack of grammatical fluency. However, this will not necessarily infringe on the validity of a will.

“Bad English can still make a good will, as long as the testator’s meaning can be understood.

“Despite the difficulties, most of what the will provides is clear.”

Based on this, the distribution of the estate was determined, avoiding any partial intestacy.

The case can be accessed here.

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