“Impenetrable (…) Gobbledegook”: Knowing and Approving of the Contents of Your Will

Have you ever signed your name to a document without fully understanding what it says? Judging by the number of people who tell me they have in the past signed wills without really understanding all of it, I would say the signing of unclear documents is not that unusual.

Sometimes the lack of clarity arises from the language of the document. There's a reason we have the word "legalese". I recently came upon a discussion of a case (not a particularly new case, but still very interesting) that talks about the effect of having language so "impenetrable" that it becomes nothing more than gobbledygook. This comment was made by a judge in reference to a will.

In this case, the court said that even though the will was read over to the testator, it was unlikely that the testator would have understood it without further explanation. Click here to read a blog post by the Vancouver law firm of Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang that discusses the case in more detail. Judge for yourself whether you'd understand that wording without a lawyer!

Part of my approach to drafting is that wills need to be understood by people who are not judges and lawyers. Testators, executors, and beneficiaries all need to work with that document so it needs to be accessible. I'm not talking about dumbing it down because intelligence is not the issue. The issues are run-on sentences, Latin words, and legal jargon. Accuracy is the prime goal, with readability right behind it.

Personal drafting style varies from lawyer to lawyer. Some like more formality than others. Some are more comfortable with Latin terms than others. Some are just good at figuring out better ways to say things. Just make sure that the will you end up with makes complete sense to you, and that you can read and understand it without your lawyer in the room.