Important to Know What Not to Write in a Will.

In drafting a Will, one’s instinct to be thorough is natural. You want everything on record - how you acquired the property, from whom, and what the current status of documentation is. Transparency feels responsible and gives a sense of satisfaction/peace to the will-maker (testator) of creating some sort of a ‘testamentary evidence’.

But in a Will, an over-disclosure may work against you.

A common scenario

Consider a common scenario: a testator inherits property under a grandparent’s will but mutation records were never updated. Property tax has been paid by you in the grandparent’s name for years. The testator, wanting to be upfront, narrates all of this in the Will - the inheritance, the pending mutation, the tax payment history.

The problem? This hands a potential contestant a powerful line of attack: “The testator himself acknowledged that records were not in his name.”

Legally, this argument is weak - ownership vests by operation of the prior will on the testator’s death, regardless of mutation. But in contested proceedings, an admission like this creates doubt. Doubt creates delay. Delay creates cost.

The better drafting approach

The better drafting approach: assert ownership confidently. Cite the chain of title - the prior will, with its date. Stop there. Pending mutations and tax payment history are evidentiary matters to be established if and when a challenge arises. They do not belong in the instrument itself.

A well-drafted Will is confident and clean. State the ownership, establish the chain, move on.