Larry King's handwritten Will

TV personality Larry King, who died earlier this year, left a handwritten Will leaving his entire estate to his children. His wife, who he was divorcing at the time of his death, is not happy with being left out of this new Will, and the case is heading to probate court.

Since he left a handwritten Will, he was unlikely to have sought professional advice, which has left a messy estate, and untold drama for his family to deal with.

Professional advice would have gone a long way in solving some of the problems left behind by King’s handwritten Will. An adviser could have told King that leaving his spouse out of his Will was likely to lead to a court case. Considering they were divorcing, it may have been a better idea to leave her at least something, as this would show the court that she was not being left financially vulnerable. The rest of the estate could then have been left to his children. Although this wouldn’t necessarily have stopped a challenge by his wife, it would have helped his estate’s case in court.

Mrs. King alleges that Larry was ‘of questionable mental capacity’ when he signed his new Will. An adviser would have assessed his mental capacity when he made the Will. This would lead to some protection against this allegation, as a good adviser would not have written the Will if there were any concerns, and could also testify in court as to their opinion of his capacity.

There’s a whole load of other problems with handwritten Wills - a lack of legal clauses and language, and the high chance that it won’t be signed and witnessed correctly. Some people don’t want to pay for the advice, but the financial problems caused by not getting your Will correctly written can be much more costly.