One More Good Reason To Have a Proper Will

One of the main reasons to have a will is to provide who will inherit your estate. It is truly amazing what can happen if you dont take the time to make proper provisions. Take for example the case of Mr. B. His wife, R, left him and married another man. Her second husband died a number of years later and she inherited his estate. A number of years after that Mr. B. passed away. He did not make a will and therefore he did not make any provision as to who would inherit his estate. Amazingly, a claim was made by R, even though she had left him over 20 years earlier. She claimed that she was still legally married to Mr. B. and therefore, under applicable law, she should inherit his estate in her capacity as his wife. In making this claim she of course had to admit her illegal marriage to her second husband. The court found that she never legally divorced Mr. B., and even though she had committed bigamy by marrying her second husband while still married to her first husband, she was in fact still legally married to Mr. B. at the time of his death. The court applied the laws governing estates in that province, which stated that the estate would go to Mr. B's spouse.

This seems like an unjust result considering that she had left him over 20 years before and married her second husband, but the court was bound to apply the statute governing those who leave no will.

This case points out two things: firstly, just how far people will go if there is money in it for them, and secondly, if Mr. B. had made a proper legal will none of this would have happened.

This article is not legal advice and a lawyer should be consulted on any specific case.