Reasons To Use Our Will Services?

We offer a friendly, no fuss service making the process as simple and stress-free for our clients as possible.

Our Wills are written in clear language and to the Institute of Professional Willwriters standards. We support you throughout the process to ensure you fully understand your Will before signing and tailor your Will so that your wishes are clearly defined and carried out exactly as you want.

A Will specialist trained by the Institute of Professional Willwriters is skilled in the crafting of a professional and legally binding Will and have the expertise to provide and support multi-generational Estate Planning guidance. Our objective is to provide the very best advice when creating your Will and ensure it delivers what you want to achieve. All too often we see poorly drafted Wills that just fail to adequately protect you and your legacy.

Making a Will can seem complicated and for lots of people, writing their Wills is a very daunting and emotional prospect, filled with legalised jargon, so it is hardly surprising that so many keep putting it off! Ultimately everyone would want to protect their loved ones from the financial and emotional impact that their passing can bring if they die Intestate (without a Will). We are here to make sure you are comfortable and that the process is easy and straightforward from start to finish so you can tick this important task off your to-do list.

There are many reasons why we all need a Will. If you haven’t written a Will the government have effectively written one for you. It’s called the law of intestacy. The effects of this law might not be what you would expect or want. A professionally constructed Will means you get to choose who will inherit what and will help avoid legal challenges and individuals inheriting who you would not wish to.

Our top five reasons to make a will are:

Group of children playing in a playground

If you die without a Will, the law decides who gets what. This includes your money, property, all possessions and even your children! A Will allows you to decide who will bring your children up and at what age they inherit. Every parent would want control over who should look after their dependants in the event of their death. To do this you must appoint the children’s Legal Guardian for anyone under 18 years of age. Without this you risk your children being raised by someone you wouldn’t choose as the decision would be left to the Family Courts to appoint a Legal Guardian.

Instructions for a trust can be drafted into your Will. This provides the opportunity for new parents to ensure their children are provided for financially in the event of their own death. Giving instructions to trustees about putting money aside for the children to buy a house or financing for their education, clothing or hobbies. Setting up a Trust to provide for your children will give you an element of control over when your children receive the money, and what it gets used for. We can also discuss how to appropriately provide via trusts for vulnerable or disabled beneficiaries.

Not many people realise that the law currently states that only spouses, civil partners or blood relatives can automatically inherit if there is no Will. But there is no mechanism for stepchildren, foster children and any other dependants who may rely on you for support to inherit through intestacy laws. You may be surprised by the number of loved-ones close to you who are not automatically entitled to anything under the law but may be a big part of your life or even be your only children. So, if you want to provide for them, it is vital to get a professionally tailored Will that includes them.

Couple sharing food on their sofa

By writing a Will you ensure spousal protection which is essential if co-habiting. Not many people appreciate that an unmarried partner is not entitled to inherit anything from your Estate, regardless of how long you have been together.

Without a Will, under the Rules of Intestacy, your Estate could pass to your young adult children, your parents or siblings who could choose to remove your partner from the property and even sell it! A professionally written Will means your partner will receive whatever it is you wish to gift them. You can specify the right for them to occupy the property for life or another term, even if you bequeath the house to your children.

Many couples we talk to are surprised that if the family home is in your name, your unmarried partner and stepchildren who may live in the property will not automatically inherit it should you die without a Will.

When you marry, any existing Will automatically becomes invalid in England and Wales. According to the Rules of Intestacy, this means your Estate would pass to your new partner and then subsequently could then pass to any children they already have from a prior relationship.

It is also important to note that getting divorced does not override your Will. This means your ex-partner may still be in line to inherit from your Estate.

Woman shouting in a megaphone towards a man

Having a Will in place will bring peace of mind to you and your loved ones. If you die without a Will, they will have all the extra stress and expense of applying to court to be allowed to tie up your estate, all this while they’re going through one of the most difficult times in their lives. A Will is a set of instructions that helps guide your loved ones with how to handle your final estate and funeral wishes. A professionally worded Will should also avoid legal challenges and prevent individuals from inheriting who you would not wish to. Not every family has a harmonious relationship and all too often we hear of squabbles and arguments among surviving family members if there is no Will or the deceased’s wishes have not been made clear.

Contested Wills can be damaging to relationships among your family and expensive to resolve if decisions about your Estate are legally contested. A well-prepared Will can help avoid these arguments and avoid making your passing even more stressful for your survivors.

It is therefore important to put the people you trust and competent in charge of your affairs. Through your Will, you can state who you would like to settle your affairs when you have passed away. You will nominate named Executors to oversee carrying out your final wishes. Choosing your Executor in advance allows you to select the people you most trust and allows the Executors to understand their role and again should help reduce conflict.

Puppies sitting on a grassy lawn

In the UK we love our pets, and this is always a hotly debated topic when talking to clients. People often worry about what will happen to their much-loved pets if they were to die. You can specify in your Will who you want to look after your pets and any allowances you want to make available for their care and upkeep.

While there are cases of animals who have inherited entire fortunes through an owner’s Will, it is more common to choose someone to look after them and put some money aside to feed them and look after their health.

Pen and Calculator on a desk

A well-written Will should keep Inheritance Tax to a minimum. The amount of Inheritance Tax charged against your Estate will depend on how much you have and who you leave it to. Without effective multi-generational Inheritance Tax Planning, you could well be kicking the Inheritance Tax problem down the line to a younger generation. For example, your adult children may have an Inheritance Tax issue of their own and your generous bequest could simply be inflating their problem. Creating the right kind of Trusts within your Will for the Inheritance to pass down in a more tax efficient way can easily mitigate this problem for generations to come.

Watch Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis on This Morning discussing the importance of having a Will in place.

Our Pricing

What’s included?

  • If you instruct us, our service includes:
  • Initial telephone consultation for us to check what you need and make sure we are best placed to support you.
  • Consultation meeting, this is usually 1 to 1 ½ hours and can be either at your home, office or online
  • 1st draft shared within 2 weeks of talking instructions, (assuming we have all necessary information).
  • Confirmation you wish to proceed to signing
  • Attestation (signing), with two witnesses (not beneficiaries in the Will!)
Standard Single
Will		 Standard Mirror
Wills		 Trust Single Will Trust Mirror Will
Telephone/Video
Consultation		 £150 £275 £175 £300
Face-2-Face
Consultation		 £175 £300 £200 £325

Bespoke Options

All options within our bespoke offering are priced on an individual basis

When should you update your Will?

A well drafted Will should futureproof for life changes which may have been predicted and allowed for through the structure of the Will. However, it is good practice to have a periodic review of your Will with a professional. The key triggers to initiate a Will Review are:

  • You re-marry. A marriage revokes a Will in England and Wales
  • You get divorced. A divorce will not revoke a Will
  • Additional children, grandchildren or stepchildren
  • You want to change who receives what, or to add an additional legacy
  • A Beneficiary or Executor named in the Will has died or needs changing
  • Your Will has already been amended with a Codicil and your wishes are becoming unclear or could be mis-interpreted

Significant changes are better served through the creation of a new Will. When you make a new Will, you are automatically revoking any existing Will. Making a new Will provides you with the opportunity to consider what you want to happen with your Estate when you die from a fresh perspective, while still carrying over those wishes you liked in your original Will. It is the perfect time to think about any significant life events that have occurred since you last drafted your Will and if those events have changed what you now want to happen.

Have your children married and divorced for example? Maybe they have married again and have new partners and dependants you would now like to see included in your Will. There is lots to consider, our team will support you through the entire process from start to finish and give you plenty of thinking time to ensure you are confident you have made the right decisions for your situation.

Why Use Our Will Services?

You can choose to include a Trust in your Will, which provides added asset protection for those you leave behind. A Will Trust is only created upon death.

Through a Will Trust you can:

  • protect your estate against potential future care fees
  • leave assets to a vulnerable or disabled person
  • ensure children from a previous relationship inherit even if you have a new spouse/partner
  • mitigate Inheritance Tax liabilities
  • Protect your beneficiaries from divorce and relationship breakdowns

There are different types of trusts to consider:

Childs hand holding an adult hand

This Trust gives the trustees discretion to decide which of the beneficiaries to pass trust assets on to, how much they will receive and when they will receive it. This protects a beneficiary’s money if they are financially unstable for any reason, and it means money does not have to pass to a beneficiary who has become wealthy and no longer needs the inheritance.

Old english village with cobbled street

A property Trust helps to protect property from being used to pay for long-term care fees. For the property Trust to work you and your partner must own the family home in joint names as tenants in common. It is very common for couples to own property as joint tenants and this can be quicky and easily changed to tenants in common by severing the tenancy, we can help with this.

Each partner would set up a Will with each of you leaving your share of the property in the property trust. When one of you passes away, that share of the property passes into the trust. Then if the survivor needs long-term care in the future, only their share is used by the local authority for a means-test when calculating contributory fees, because the other share is protected in the property trust. The protected share will eventually pass to the Will beneficiaries.

Two ladies laughing and chatting together

Life interest trusts are a type of trust written into your will commonly used in estate planning to safeguard assets and ensure financial security for loved ones. A life interest trust allows you to specify who will have the rights to your property after you die. It is very similar to a property trust in that it offers protection from care fees. The main difference is that a life interest trust protects all your assets and not just your property. It also enables you to choose somebody to benefit from the trust whilst they are alive and at the same time to protect the underlying capital for other beneficiaries after their death.

One of the most common scenarios in which you might use a life interest trust, and the easiest to understand, is in relation to property. A life interest trust of property occurs where a house is left to a surviving spouse to live in during their lifetime. The surviving spouse would not be able to leave the trust property in their own Will because they do not own the property, and their interest ends on their death. When the surviving spouse dies, the property passes to the original settlor’s beneficiaries.

This type of trust is commonly used in estate planning to balance the needs of the surviving spouse and the desire to pass on assets to future generations while protecting against potential issues such as care home fees or remarriage. We have used property in this example but it is important to note this could be used against any asset.

Volunteers giving out drinks to people

A Charitable Trust enables you to support the people and things you believe in, to make a difference and to leave a lasting legacy. This is a trust in which the beneficiary is also a charitable trust.

Most large charities in this country are ‘charitable trusts’ and are free of Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax because they are for the public good.