A WORCESTERSHIRE law firm is warning that the number of disputed wills is on the rise as family relationships become ever more tangled.

Julie Fisher, head of litigation at Redditch law firm Kerwoods, said multiple marriages, cohabitation and the number of children and step-children from different partnerships meant rows over wills were becoming more commonplace.

It is thought that up to three in four cases of disputed wills relate to families with complicated structures.

Added to this increased property values make potentially successful outcomes more attractive while badly-worded, self-written or DIY wills may encourage challenges to their validity.

She said: “At one end of the spectrum you are getting claims of forgery, which, if proven, are of course illegal and hence a police matter.

“There are cases where a second will is written just days before someone dies producing allegations that the person was influenced, coerced or, given the difficulty in diagnosing early stage dementia, not of sound mind.

“Then there is simple family estrangement – there was a comparatively recent case where a daughter, written out of her late-mother’s will, was awarded roughly one-third of the estate, reversing the mother’s explicit wish for her daughter to receive nothing in favour of bequeathing her assets to animal charities.

“It is hard to exaggerate the fury that can be engendered if the inheritance turns out to be headed for the local cat and dogs home.”

Ms Fisher said official figures did not truly reflect the full extent of what was happening.

She noted: “In 2015, 116 cases were brought, an 11.5 per cent increase from 2014.

“The difference from 2005 is however more significant, eight times higher than the 15 cases heard then.

"Also, only a tiny fraction of disputes reach the High Court, with the majority being settled beforehand."

Ms Fisher added: "Many estates with a house in them will be of significant value and therefore viewed by some potential claimants as worth disputing, given the rewards at stake.

“Indeed, with so many people reliant on borrowing and with a ‘live for today’ mentality, they increasingly expect and rely upon inheritances to provide for their own later years.

“DIY wills are frequently a disaster, saving a few pounds by doing it yourself is a false economy.”