Will Solicitors

Preparing or writing a Will is often one of those tasks that gets forgotten or overlooked until it is too late. However, there comes a time when you want to ensure that your personal affairs are in order.

One of the most important elements of your Will is to ensure the security and peace of mind for those you care about. It is impossible to predict our future but when preparing a Will, it is essential to obtain up to date advice on the current Inheritance Tax position and how best to structure your Will in order to carry out your wishes in the most tax efficient way.

A professionally written Will covers:

• Provision for your spouse or partner
• Provision for your children, including the appointment of guardians for any children who are under the age of 18. A Trust may be included for the benefit of your children, not only to ensure their everyday needs are met, but also to protect them from the dangers of inheriting large sums of money at a young age.
• Alternative gifts to cover a “worst case scenario” of the whole family being in an accident
• Provision for the appointment of Executors

Our Private Wealth & Inheritance solicitors are experts in the preparation of Wills and will ensure that your new Will is suitable for your circumstances.

The cost of making a Will with us is broken down as follows:

Initial Will meeting: £350 plus VAT

Standard Will: from £200 plus VAT in addition to the meeting fee

Will with Trust: From £700 plus VAT in addition to meeting fee

More complex Wills incorporating multiple gifts, Trusts or Tax planning can cost more depending on the type of Trust. We will be able to assess the overall costs of your Will at our initial meeting.

Our fees for making a Will include storage.

Our experienced Private Client solicitors are specialists in Living Wills – sometimes called Advanced Decisions.

The idea behind a Living Will is that you are able to specify in advance the extent of medical treatment that you would not want to receive in the event of suffering a severe medical condition and being unable to give instructions about your care in the future.

Living Wills can include (amongst other things):

Whether you would like to be cared for in a hospice or at home;

How your medical treatment might be affected by your beliefs; and

Refusal of treatment the you would not wish to receive, such as CPR or life support

For a long time it was thought that Living Wills had no validity, but in recent years the opinion of the legal and medical profession is that they are valid so long as there is proof that the writer still feels the same way about their care at the time when they become ill.

Are you looking to contest a Will or perhaps you are experiencing a probate or inheritance dispute? Our specialist lawyers can advise you on all types of disputes relating to Wills, Trusts and Estates.

Contesting a Will is undertaken when individuals question the validity or fairness of its provisions. Common reasons for contestation include suspicions of the testator’s mental incapacity, undue influence, fraud, or errors in execution. To initiate this, interested parties typically file a petition, presenting evidence to substantiate their claims.

Grounds for challenge may involve inadequate witnessing, ambiguous language, or the omission of rightful beneficiaries. Legal proceedings follow, allowing both sides to present arguments, leading to a court decision on the Will’s legitimacy. Successfully contesting a Will can result in revisions or the complete invalidation of its stipulations.

When someone dies without leaving a valid Will, their assets (the Estate) must be shared out according to certain rules. These are called the Rules of Intestacy.

 The laws of intestacy vary by jurisdiction but generally prioritize close family members like spouses, children, or parents. The court appoints an administrator to manage the deceased’s affairs and distribute assets according to legal guidelines. The lack of a Will can lead to complications, delays, and potential disputes over inheritances.

 Without a Will’s guidance, the probate process becomes more intricate, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive estate planning to ensure one’s wishes are honored.

Our Intestacy Rules Flowchart will help you to understand what will happen to your assets if you die without having a valid Will.

Our experienced Private Client solicitors are specialists in Living Wills – sometimes called Advanced Decisions.

The idea behind a Living Will is that you are able to specify in advance the extent of medical treatment that you would not want to receive in the event of suffering a severe medical condition and being unable to give instructions about your care in the future.

Living Wills can include (amongst other things):

• Whether you would like to be cared for in a hospice or at home
• How your medical treatment might be affected by your beliefs
• Refusal of treatment the you would not wish to receive, such as CPR or life support

For a long time it was thought that Living Wills had no validity, but in recent years the opinion of the legal and medical profession is that they are valid so long as there is proof that the writer still feels the same way about their care at the time when they become ill.

There is no harm in making home-made Wills using standard forms you can buy from any stationery shop. In the simplest of cases they may be enough for some people. 

From our experiences, the majority of homemade Wills have defects which can involve delay and extra expense and, at worst, result in the Will being totally invalid. We always strongly recommend that you should take professional advice about making a Will.

You should also have a plan for where your Will is stored. Professionals, like ourselves, will store your Will for you. 

A professionally written Will covers:

• Provision for your spouse or partner.
• Provision for your children, including the appointment of guardians for any children who are under the age of 18. A Trust may be included for the benefit of your children, not only to ensure their everyday needs are met, but also to protect them from the dangers of inheriting large sums of money at a young age.
• Alternative gifts to cover a “worst case scenario” of the whole family being in an accident.
• Provision for the appointment of Executors.

Choosing your Executors can be difficult. After your death, Executors become the temporary “owners” of all your assets while they carry out the wishes expressed in your Will. As this is an important and responsible task, it is imperative that the Executors are trustworthy, responsible, competent and willing to work together. We can offer guidance and help you to clarify any issues or concerns you may have about who you choose.

The first thing to say is that most Wills automatically cover your digital assets. It is the responsibility of your Executors to deal with these and unless they are specifically given away, they will form part of the Residue of your estate.

The general rule is that digital assets are property which vests in the Executors of a deceased person. However, as a general rule the duty of an executor is to deal with those assets which have value, and while things like social media accounts may well vest in the Executors, it is questionable whether they have an obligation to chase up these assets. Given this, one increasingly widely held view is that a will should appoint a “digital manager” to deal with non monetary assets. However this alone may not be enough.

Looking firstly at what are probably the easy items, namely bank accounts and loyalty schemes. Generally it is a matter of dealing with these using traditional methods, which is producing a death certificate and probate. Bitcoins and crypto currencies are the nightmare asset. Unless the executors have access to the deceased’s public and private keys, they simply will not be able to access them and there is a widespread belief that there are Bitcoins going unclaimed.

Social media assets are also something of a nightmare. Action to deal with these is to a great extent determined by the terms and conditions of the different providers. Some providers state that it is possible to in some way memorialise an account but this has to be set up in advance. Others simply provide that an account is closed, others are frozen. Occasionally the executors may be able to obtain some sort of access but this can prove to be a slow and painful process.

In most cases where a dispute over a Will occurs (typically between family members), it is best to seek to resolve any disputes amicably. Where this is not possible then Court action may be the only alternative, but it comes at a cost both personally and financially.

If you feel that you have not been adequately provided for in a Will or under the Rules of Intestacy, our Dispute Resolution lawyers can assist. We provide a brief explanation of who may claim and on what basis when they have been excluded from a Will in our article ‘Unfairly left out of a Will?’.