Wills

A will is a very important legal document. It can prevent unnecessary discussions among your family members, but it can also lead to conflicts if it is not clearly formulated. It is therefore important to carefully consider what the will should contain and ask for expert help when creating the document. 

Why write a will? 

If you do not have a will, your property will be distributed according to the order of inheritance set out in the law. That means that the property is inherited by the surviving husband or whife and thereafter the children. If there are no children (or grandchilldren) the property will be inherited, in turn, by the parents, the siblings, the grandparents and aunts and uncles. This succession order can be changed through a will and you can also add certain conditions that attach to your inheritance. Some of the inheritance rules can, however, not be deviated from. A child, for example, always has the right to his legal share, in other words, half of the property that he should have inherited through the legal inheritance order. There may be many reasons for drawing up a will:

• If you are a cohabitee, a will is very important if you want your cohabitee to inherit your estate, as the law does not provide for inheritance of cohabitees.
• If a husband or wife has a child from a previous marriage, the child has the right to obtain the inheritance from his mother or father immediately after the death. In the will the parent can ask the child to abstain from demanding his or her inheritance until both spouses have passed away.
• In a will you can decide that your children will inherit your estate as private property. This means that your child does not have to share half of the inheritance with his or her husband/wife in case of a division of property in connection with a divorce. 
• You may want to give someone the right of use of a property while giving the right of ownership to someone else. In a will you can for example give the right of use of your house to your spouse for as long as he/she lives, while giving the ownership of the house to your children.
• You may want to donate a part of your estate to a friend or an organisation. 

What is required when drawing up a will?

A formal will needs to be in writing and must be signed. It must also be certified by two unbiased witnesses. The witnesses have to be at least 15 years of age and cannot be closely related to the person who draws the will. The witnesses cannot be beneficiaries of the will or closely related to these persons. The witnesses must be aware that the document constitutes a will, but it is up to the person who is writing the will to decide whether they should also know the content of the document.

There is also a possibility to create a so called emergency will if the testator is sick, or because of any other reason, is unable to draw up a formal will. He can either formulate his will orally in the presence of two unbiased witnesses or make a handwritten will, which he also has to sign. These emergency wills become invalid if the person recovers and is healthy enough to create a formal will for a period of three months after drawing up the emergency will.

Ordering a will

We would be happy to give you advice and help you create a will on the basis of your specific needs. The price for the will is 1500 SEK. Any advice you may need in connection with the drawing up of your document is included in the price. If your matter is very complicated, it is possible that the fixed price listed above is not applicable. In that case we will give you a new proposal for a fixed price that reflects the added complexity. Send us an  e-mail and describe you matter and we will contact you as soon as possible. If you prefer to discuss your matter over phone, call us at +46(0)8 559 25 309.

This article describes wills as regulated by Swedish law. It is for information purposes only, and neither contains any legal advice, nor should be construed as such. Every case depends on its specific facts, so if you are planning to prepare a will, contact us or another lawyer.