WILLS
1. Service personnel are strongly encouraged, and provided with the opportunity, to complete a Will (QRs Ch 7 Pt 7 and 2018DIN01-091).
2. The intention of a Will is to ensure that a deceased person’s estate (money, possessions and property) is distributed to beneficiaries in accordance with the deceased person’s wishes. If a person dies without a valid Will they are termed intestate and their estate will be divided up according to a standard legal formula. This might not be what the deceased would have wanted.
3. The recommended methods of making a Will available to Service personnel (SP) can be summarised as follows:
a. As for Civilians:
(1) By drawing up a Will on expert advice.
(2) By using one of the printed forms which can be purchased.
(3) By writing a simple Will on a sheet of paper.
b. Methods available to Service personnel only:
(1) Use of the MOD Form 106.
(2) Exceptionally, usually during war time, by making informal unwitnessed wills, but these should be replaced with a formal Will at the earliest opportunity.
4. There is a Service requirement to record the status and whereabouts of a person’s Will on JPA, or the fact that the Service Person (SP) has chosen not to make a Will or declare their intentions to the Services.
