A family member has decided to rewrite her will. For many years, she and her husband had a will that had been drafted (I think) by her bank, back when they got their mortgage (long since paid off). Her husband is no longer with us, and she has decided to rewrite the will herself to better reflect current circumstances.
The original will, which she is more-or-less copying, contains the following phrase: “I declare for the avoidance of doubt that this will which I have today executed is not in any way to be in law mutual.”
While totally accepting that any legal advice given on a message board is general at best, can anyone shed some light what “not in any way to be in law mutual” means?
It means that the will was not being executed to give effect to an agreement between her and her husband (or between her and anybody) to make mutual wills.
Its common for spouses to make “mutual wills” under which each leaves everything to the other, provided the other surives. And, if the other does not survive, both wills have identical arrnagements about what happens to the estate, which could e.g. involve dividing it between the families of both.
Under this arrangement, if I die first my estate goes to my spouse but, on my spouse’s death, a chunk of her estate comes back to my family. You can see why people would make such a deal.
Of course, people can also welch on such a deal. I can make a new will at any time so, a few years after entering into this cosy mutual arrnagement I can make a different will. I may not think to mention this to my spouse. The matter may not come to light until we are both dead. At that stage her family may feel hard done by, if her estate came to me in the expectation that, in due course, some of mine would come back to them, but I have made other arrangementgs. Hilarity ensues. Or, at least, lawsuits ensue.
What happens in this situation isn’t important. The point is, the OP’s family member’s original will is stated *not *to have been made pursuant to such an agreement. Her husbands will likely contained a similar statement. This would represent an attempt to head off, or at least reduce, the possiblity of family litigation after they are both dead. It’s hard to argue that there was an agreement for mutual wills between Bob and Jane if Bob’s will and Jane’s will both say that there wasn’t.
Does she want such a provision now? Hard to say, not knowing her circumstances or family situation, or the laws of the jurisdiction in which this will is likely to be admitted to probate, or even the name of that jurisdiction. Which illustrates why - no offence to the OP’s family member - writing your own will without professional input can be a false economy.