Making a Will – Lessons learned from Meave Binchy

As you might expect making a will is not something that people generally like to talk about but when it comes to the will of the rich and famous people take a huge interest in how these people distributed their estates. One such example was the will of popular Irish writer, Maeve Binchy. After her death in 2012, aged 72, Maeve left two thirds of her €10m estate to her husband and one third of her estate to friends, former work colleagues, charities – and even to a Dublin golf club!

But it\’s the other third that caught the attention of the public, as Maeve divided it among a number of relatives, eighteen friends, plus the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation and Saint Luke\’s Hospital. She also stipulated gifts of €10,000 to a total of 20 individuals or groups – including Foxrock Golf Club.

Making a Will Tip – Update Your Will Regularly!

These gifts amounted to over €3.3m, and were obviously very carefully thought out by Maeve when she was making a will. It’s believed that she re-wrote her will over forty times throughout her lifetime, and was very proud of the fact that she has made a will every year since the age of 21.

The benefits of such a diligent approach to will-making are clear to see. By constantly looking to review what her wishes were, her final will was a very accurate statement of who she wanted to remember. Maeve was also very thoughtful in that many of the bequests she made were of a sentimental rather than a financial value

The moral of the story is that life changes – and changes pretty quickly, at that. Genuine-held wishes from twenty years ago may well be completely out of date when you eventually pass on.

We’re not necessarily suggesting that, like Maeve, you need to make a new will every year, but there’s certainly a lot to be said for reviewing and possibly revising your will every three to five years.

Of course, if a major life event happens – like marriage, divorce, a new child etc. – you should immediately look to update your will with your wills and probate solicitors.

If you have any queries about reviewing your will, or you don’t have a will and have questions about making a will, contact our Wills and Probate Solicitors on 01 234 3732 and we would be delighted to help you.