Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I asked the lady who made the will with me the procedure solicitors follow. After making the will, they learn of the deaths of clients by reading the death notices in national newspapers. They then contact the family of the deceased. Given that many people do not put death notices in the newspapers, but rely on local radio, solicitors may miss deaths. After a person makes a will, 30, 40 or 50 years may pass before his or her death. Law firm staff change, law firms may be dissolved and files can be lost. When a person dies, a relative may report the death to a solicitor and ask if a will exists. If no will was made with that solicitor, he or she may write to other solicitors in the county inquiring whether a will exists. If that yields no result, the solicitor advertises in the Law Society Gazette, which usually gets a result. There is scope for a person's will to be missed if relatives are not aware that it has been made.

I do not have full confidence in solicitors. There has been the recent disgraceful cases of overcharging abuse victims and, unfortunately, all professions have the potential for corruption, greed and human error. Therefore, the Bill makes perfect sense. Central registration of wills would allow the relatives of a deceased person to be notified and to know where and when the will was made and the name of the solicitor.

Senator Leyden raised the important point of the issue of the legibility of wills. I am aware of many wills that contained illegible writing and signatures. This causes even more confusion and distress at the time of death. It is important that we have a central registration office and wills can then be clearly read and understood.

I am concerned about the confidentiality of wills. We must ensure that copies of wills kept in the central office remain confidential. There will be some risks. One disadvantage of a central registration system would be that relatives would know if a person has made a will. For example, nieces and nephews might suspect their unmarried aunt or uncle has cut them out of the will. This could cause resentment in families. I recently attended two very sad funerals in Carlow. An elderly man died intestate and due to a family disagreement his land was sold. The person who bought the land was shot dead and the killer then committed suicide. This shows the importance of making a will.

The State should take an active role in encouraging people of all ages to make wills. People often think they have nothing to leave, but even if they have no property they may own items that can cause division in their families after their deaths. I am amazed in particular by farmers who do not make wills. I am aware of a recent case of a farmer who died suddenly intestate. His wife inherited everything because the property was held jointly, but had it not been, she would have inherited only two thirds while the remainder would have gone to his family. The main difficulty in the division of property is not with brothers and sisters, although that can cause problems, but occurs when what may be described as "in-laws and outlaws" are involved. Rumours of unfair treatment lead to the horrible stories such as the one I mentioned.

On the question of a fixed fine, we should move towards index linking fines. A fixed fine goes out of date quickly. The solution is to index link the fine so that it increases each year. I understand the maximum fine for using fireworks is IR£5, which shows the danger of setting a fixed amount, unless the amount is reviewed annually. Perhaps we could use this Bill as an example of an index linked fine.

What will be the fee for using this service? Most solicitors do not charge for making a will, but for discharging it. Will there be a maximum or minimum charge? Perhaps this will be discussed on Committee Stage. If signed into law, will the Bill apply only to wills made from that date onwards or could it include recently made wills?