This Bank Holiday weekend, while everyone else was enjoying baking in the sun, I went adventuring in the cool and dark rooms of the British Library’s Treasures collection. While most people in that room flock to see the Magna Carta, for a wills and probate solicitor, there is a far more interesting document tucked away: the will of Wynflæd.

Wynflæd was a lady in Anglo-Saxon Britain. The British Library’s explanation card next to her will explains that Wynflæd was widowed and left most of her estate to family members and various nunneries, also leaving some personal belongings and ‘small objects’ to Æthelflæd, who is believed to be her daughter.

As regular readers of the blog will know, we have scrutinised historical wills before, with the Ancient Egyptian will of Naunakhte. Others and I have praised Naunakhte, so let’s have a think now about Wynflæd.

When reading Wynflæd’s will, a few things jumped out to me as potential pitfalls if Wynflæd walked into my office today:

1. Who is Æthelflæd? I have blogged before about the importance of describing who your beneficiaries are in your will. People reading the will now are just guessing that Æthelflæd was Wynflæd’s daughter, and while it may not matter with such an old document, one can imagine a similar problem today if you simply leave something in your will to ‘Alice’ when you know several Alices. Best practice is to state your relationship, the person’s full name and their address at the time of making the will (e.g. ‘my daughter Alice Smith of 123 Main Road, London, SW1 AB’).

2. What are ‘small objects’? The translator may be doing Wynflæd a disservice and the term she used may have been very accurate, but we can all see that the term ‘small objects’ is very vague. If you are leaving something to someone in your will, particularly if it is an item rather than a cash lump sum, it is important to describe that item clearly so that there can be no doubt later what you are referring to.

3. How is the inheritance tax being divided? Naturally, this was not a concern to an Anglo-Saxon, but if, like Wynflæd, you are thinking of splitting your estate between family and charitable causes, then you need to think about who is going to bear the burden of any inheritance tax on your estate. Of course, not all estates are subject to inheritance tax, but if there is inheritance tax to be paid on your estate, then this is an important consideration.

If you are giving charities a percentage share of your estate, rather than just an outright cash lump sum, then there are broadly two ways the inheritance tax on your estate can be calculated. One is by the rules in ‘Re Bentham’ and the other is by the rules in ‘Re Ratcliffe’. These are two different ways of calculating the burden of the inheritance tax, with the difference centring on whether the percentages stated in your will apply before or after inheritance tax is deducted. 

The calculation you use affects how complicated the inheritance tax calculation will be on your estate (because of whether the complicated rules of ‘grossing up’ will apply) and also can result in materially different amounts ultimately going to your family after tax. It is therefore important if you are thinking of splitting your estate into percentages between family and charitable causes that you get proper advice on this point and make it clear in your will whether you are applying the rules from Re Bentham or Re Ratcliffe.

For further information about preparing a will, please contact our estate planning and wills team.