Making your Will and Will writing Services
Wills are an essential legal document if you want to make sure that your estate goes to those who you love according to your wishes in the event of your death. Without one, your property will be disposed of by someone else, not always how you expect. Without one, your family may face a complicated, costly legal process and lengthy disputes, and indeed, some family members may get nothing at all. Without one, some people you might want to benefit could have no right to inherit anything – such as a partner you are cohabiting with but not married to.
Consequences of dying with no Will
When someone dies without having made a will, this is called ‘intestate’, and it can have several consequences.
For example, if you have a spouse and children, only they can inherit any money or assets up to a certain amount. Therefore anyone else you might have wanted to benefit will miss out. This distribution might be particularly damaging for anyone who has had more than one marriage. For example, your current spouse may inherit everything – leaving children from a previous marriage or relationship with nothing.
There can also be severe consequences for tax, especially the Inheritance Tax (IHT). But by making a well written Will, you can include provisions to reduce your chances of paying tax and possible future care home fees out of your estate. At the same time, you can ensure that your estate will go to your family and those who you want it to go to – rather than the taxman and the care homeowners.
By making provisions in your Will, such as placing money within the nil rate band (£325,000 at present) and the individual nil rate band, your IHT bill can be kept down. Without a properly drawn Will and a little bit of some planning, some tax reliefs, will be lost. These are things that a “Will writer” service will not cover. For example, how to get the 100% relief on any business premises you own, can be lost.
How to make your will
You can draw up a Will yourself, but that may lead to you making a Will that falls short of what you want; for example, it may not include the detailed trust arrangements you might require to avoid a large IHT bill.
For this reason, it is important to have a solicitor who is skilled in probate matters to handle this for you. This will go a long way to ensuring your Will both reflects your wishes but is legally enforceable and up-to-date.
Make an appointment with us. We can talk this through with you and together we can get the right Will for you.
Staying up to date – your current Will
As important as making a will is, it is also vital to ensure it is updated to deal with changing circumstances. These may include:
- You may have more children after making your original Will, and the new child is not in your Will;
- Your marital situation changes, invalidating your existing Will;
- You may enter a cohabiting relationship with a partner you are not married to;
- Someone listed on your Will to receive an inheritance dies;
- You buy an expensive asset like a property or car;
- There are changes to IHT law;
- Adding of Lasting Power of Attorney provisions.
Too busy to make a Will?
Simply book one of our virtual home visits online for a Skype or Whatsapp meeting. We can then sit around a virtual table and discuss your Will and how you want your Will to be – exactly as you like it. We are available for virtual home and hospital visits. Appointments don’t need to last long and are available both out of normal hours and at weekends.
Too busy for a virtual home visit?
Not a problem. Simply fill in our on-line questionnaire below and let one of our will writing team contact you. Let us start making your will online. Just complete our simple online questionnaire and once we receive it one of our team will then start the process of preparing your Will. We can then start preparing your own professionally drawn.*
*As part of this service we will also need to arrange with you an agreed time for us to telephone you to finalise your will instructions.
Yes. Without any legal status or recognition of your relationship, your partner will have no formal rights, so you should add them to your Will so they can inherit what you wish them to.
No. But a DIY Will kit could leave you excluding something significant that should be there, especially anything complex relating to tax. Also if your family or finances are not straight forward then a simple will as drawn up by a DIY Will or a budget “Will writer” may not be able to help with what you really need. You will need a solicitor to draw up your Will where:
- Have children from a previous marriage;
- You have a risk of a claim against your estate;
- You need advice on inheritance tax;
- You don’t want your estate to be charged care home fees;
- You want to set up a trust for someone special;
- You share a house with someone who you are not married to;
- You have a dependent child or are responsible for a person under a disability.
Trust wills are wills that include a trust to offer extra protection for the beneficiaries. It can help protect against things like future care fees being charged to your estate, decide who gets what when you have children from a previous relationship and ensure you can leave an inheritance to a vulnerable or disabled person.
Yes. Without a doubt, you should do this. Divorce proceedings can be delayed by the court or by a hold up while matrimonial finances are sorted out. If you don’t change your Will then until your actual decree nisi is pronounced by the court, the person you are divorcing from is going to receive everything as though you were married – despite the divorce proceedings already started at court.
These are another form of trust that means one spouse can leave in their Will the full value of their assets to the other, protecting against costs such as care home fees. This, in turn, can ensure money is held in trust for other beneficiaries such as children after your spouse dies.
A living will is a document outlining how you want to be treated by medics and doctors if you become incapacitated, for example, whether you would be resuscitated or whether treatment should be withdrawn.
To start the process of making a living will please contact us, and we will discuss your needs and requirements.
Lasting power of attorney gives the appointed attorneys full and permanent legal authority to manage your finances.
These nominated persons (your Attorneys) will have the power to manage your financial affairs on your behalf in a situation arises where you are still alive but have no capacity to manage. This would include examples such as dementia or an accident, leaving you mentally impaired.
An ordinary power of attorney, however, is different. An ordinary power of attorney is only really to be used while you are of sound mind. They are usually used for set tasks, and just cover that set task. If it is to manage your affairs, it is only for a set time.
Yes!
Please start by clicking the Green link bar above. Submit your basic instructions and one of our team will then contact you to discuss your Will at a time of your choosing.
We also provide other Will services such as:-
- Registration of Wills at the High Court.
- Will Witnessing Services.
- Will Storage.
- Trust Wills.