A Will is a legal document which sets out the people responsible for dealing with your estate after your death and specifies the individuals or organisations you wish to benefit from your estate.

It is more important than ever to make a Will, with the diversity of families, including children from more than one relationship, second marriages, and the increasing number of unmarried partners living together.

People are also finding themselves with an increasing level of personal assets making them more susceptible to inheritance tax than ever before.

By having a Will in place, you can have peace of mind that your property and affairs will be dealt with in accordance with your wishes when you die.  Making a Will is the only way that you can ensure that your wishes are taken into account.

For a Will to be effective it must meet very strict legal requirements, both in how it is drafted and how it is signed and witnessed.  Even the smallest mistake in the writing and or execution of a Will can make it invalid.

You should also consider the impact of inheritance tax and whether this may be payable on your death.  If your children will be your beneficiaries, you should consider at what age you would like them to inherit and what would happen to your child’s share if they died before you.  If you have children with special needs then your Will can ensure that their needs are properly provided for.

Without a Will, the statutory rules of intestacy apply and the result can be that the persons who you thought would inherit from your estate can lose out.  These rules are impersonal, inflexible, and do not reflect today’s family structures.

Unmarried couples who are living together, including partners who have not registered a Civil Partnership, have no automatic right to a share of their partner’s estate on death under the intestacy rules.  If you are separated or your divorce has yet to be finalised, your spouse is still entitled to inherit from your estate on intestacy.  Intestacy rules also do not make provision for stepchildren of the deceased.

It is also important to note that marriage or entering into a Civil Partnership revokes a Will and it is therefore essential that you re-make your Will immediately after marriage or entering into a Civil Partnership, or before your marriage or Civil Partnership takes place, which can be done by making your Will specifically in contemplation of the upcoming nuptials.  The impact of divorce or dissolution of a Civil Partnership on a Will is that the appointment of the former spouse or Civil Partner as an executor becomes null and void and any gift to that spouse or Civil Partner lapses.

A Will can also save time and costs in administering your estate after your death and it can help reduce the effect of inheritance tax, and in some cases, care costs.

We provide practical guidance throughout the Will making process and we help you focus on the important points to be included to ensure that your Will is tailored to your specific circumstances.