What does lemon juice have to do with your Will?
Last verified: March 2026 (England & Wales)
In the 1990s, a bank robber reportedly rubbed lemon juice on his face and thought CCTV would not see him. Whether every detail of the story matters is not really the point. The bigger lesson is simple: confidence and correctness are not the same thing.
A badly prepared Will can be a bit like buying a lemon. It may look fine at first, but the real problems only show when someone has to rely on it.
That is what makes Wills different from most everyday documents. You usually do not get a second chance to explain what you meant, correct what was missed, or tidy up a technical mistake after the Will is actually needed.
If you already have a Will and are not sure it still works, the best next step is a Will MOT.
Quick-read summary
• Many homemade or low-cost Wills look plausible but miss important details on signing, witnesses, property ownership, family structure, or backup planning.
• The real test usually comes only after death, when it is too late to ask what you meant or fix what was missed.
• A Will can be legally valid and still be a poor fit for your life now.
• LPAs raise a similar issue. They can look complete until registration or use exposes a problem.
• A professional review is usually far cheaper and simpler than leaving your family to discover a hidden problem later.
Practical checklist — read this first
If any of the following apply, a Will MOT is sensible:
• You wrote the Will yourself, or used an online template or shop packet.
• A friend or relative “helped” because they had done their own.
• You are not fully sure the signing and witnessing were done correctly.
• Your family circumstances have changed since the Will was signed.
• You own a home, a share of a home, or have property arrangements that may not match what the Will is trying to do.
• You have children, stepchildren, an unmarried partner, a blended family, or anyone you particularly want to protect.
• You are relying on assumptions such as “my sister did hers like this and it was fine”.If you also have LPAs prepared without professional review, it often makes sense to check those at the same time.
Why Wills are hard to self-test
A Will is one of the hardest legal documents to test in advance.
You cannot run a practice probate. You cannot ask the family to “see how it goes” and then fix it afterwards. By the time the document is actually needed, the person who made it is no longer there to clarify what they meant.
That is why false confidence is such a risk here. A Will can feel perfectly clear to the person signing it, and still produce delay, confusion, or the wrong outcome later.
The question is not just “Does this look like a Will?” The real question is “Will this still work properly when my family actually needs to use it?"
Where homemade Wills commonly go wrong
Signing and witnessing
A Will can fail, or gifts within it can fail, because the signing process was not handled properly. Sometimes the wording is not the real problem at all. The difficulty is how the document was executed.
Property ownership does not match the plan
This is a common one. A Will may say one thing, but the way the home is owned may pull in a different direction. That is especially important with jointly owned property.
Family complexity has been oversimplified
A basic template often works only for a very basic situation. Once you add an unmarried partner, children from different relationships, vulnerable beneficiaries, or a wish to protect the family home, the document usually needs more careful thought.
No sensible backup planning
People often name one executor, one beneficiary, or one simple outcome, and do not properly deal with what happens if that person dies first, cannot act, or circumstances change.
The Will is old, but no one has checked whether it still fits
A Will may have been perfectly sensible when it was signed. That does not mean it still fits your assets, your family, your property ownership, or your wishes now.
LPAs have a similar trap
This article is mainly about Wills, but LPAs can suffer from the same basic problem.
They can look complete until registration or later use exposes an avoidable mistake. That is why many clients sensibly review Wills and LPAs together. The principle is the same in both cases: a document is only useful if it works properly when the time comes.
Cases
The helpful sibling
Mrs A asked her brother to help with her Will because he had “done ours before”. The wording looked sensible on a first read. The problem only appeared later, when the family discovered the home was owned in a way the Will could not override. What looked like a straightforward plan turned into delay, cost, and frustration.
The cheap online Will
Tom used a low-cost online template because he thought his estate was simple. In fact, he was unmarried, owned a home, and wanted his partner to have security while still protecting what ultimately passed to his children. The template gave him a basic document, but not the structure his situation actually needed.
The out-of-date Will
Mrs K had a Will that was not obviously “wrong”, but it had not been reviewed for years. Since signing it, her assets had changed, one executor had died, and the family dynamic was no longer the same. The Will still existed, but it no longer reflected the life she was actually living.
The witness problem
A homemade Will can look neat, signed, and complete, yet still cause problems if the witnessing was handled badly. Families are often shocked to discover that the real weakness was not the intention, but the execution of the document itself.
The LPA that stalled
Mr B’s DIY LPA looked fine until it had to go through registration. It was then delayed because parts had not been completed in the right way. The family were left waiting at exactly the point when they wanted certainty. Different document, same underlying problem: no proper review before it mattered.
I used an online Will template. Does that automatically mean it is bad?
No. Some very simple situations can be dealt with quite simply. The problem is that many people think their situation is simple when it is not. Owning a home, having children, being unmarried, having a blended family, or wanting anything other than a very basic outcome usually moves the document into territory where a proper review is worthwhile.
My friend says theirs was fine. Why is that not enough?
Because “fine” often just means “nothing has tested it yet”. A Will is not really tested until it has to be relied on after death. That is exactly why reassurance from someone else’s untested document is a weak comfort.
Can a signed Will be patched up later?
Sometimes, but often the cleaner and safer answer is a fresh Will. Patchwork fixes can create confusion, especially if the underlying problem is wider than one clause.
What if I already have LPAs as well?
Then it is often sensible to review those too. The issue is not whether the document exists. The issue is whether it will work properly when it is needed.
Optional technical notes
• A Will must be prepared and signed with care. Technical mistakes in execution can cause major problems later.
• The way your home is owned can affect what your Will can actually achieve in practice.
• A document can be legally valid and still be poorly matched to your real family or asset position.
This article is general information only, not individual advice.
If you’d like help applying this to your circumstances, we can guide you through the options.
Related Fern Wills & LPAs articles
• Will MOT (Review and Update)
• LPA MOT: Lasting Power of Attorney Review
• Property Life Interest Trust (PLIT)
If you already have a Will, a Will MOT is usually the right place to start. It gives you a clear answer on whether the document still fits your life, your family, and the way your assets are actually arranged.
If you also have LPAs that were prepared without proper review, it often makes sense to check those at the same time.
If you do not have the documents in place yet, we can draft them properly from the start.
