Woman jailed for forging wealthy partners Will

Karen Phillips, aged 46, has been sentenced to 8 months in prison after being found guilty of forging a Will after the death of her wealthy partner, Stephen Chambers, who died in 2011 aged 56.

After the death of Mr Chambers, Ms Phillips advised his family that he had written a Will and lodged it with her solicitor. The Will left an inheritance of £10,000 for each of his children, £15,000 for his mother, and the remaining hundreds of thousands of pounds were supposedly bequeathed to Ms Phillips as the main beneficiary. The family suspected that the Will was forged and alerted the police.

Despite an initial denial, Ms Phillips admitted the offence when she realised that police would examine her computer as part of their investigation. In court she admitted fraud by false representation and was given a prison sentence of 8 months. Two women, aged 74 and 29, were given a caution by police for signing the Wills as witnesses.

If you write a Will it is prudent to advise at least two people in your family of its existence and what solicitor it has been lodged with. Estates are often divided according to the rules of intestacy because Wills cannot be located, or in some occasions, families only discover one was written several years afterwards.

If you live in Northern Ireland and would like to speak to a Will writing solicitor about making a Will, contact Wilson Nesbitt solicitors in Belfast or Bangor by calling 0800 840 9293 .

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