Plain English Advice + The Right Will For You

A Will is a legal document allowing you to specify who should benefit from your property, money and possessions after you’ve died. It’s very important that the wording used in your Will is clear and legally effective. 

A Basic Standard Will enables you to state WHO you want to inherit from your estate and WHAT you want them to inherit. 

The "Right" Will is more comprehensive and tailored specifically to your needs and wishes. It can give you additional control over HOW people inherit and, with appropriate planning, can provide protection to your beneficiaries from avoidable loss, where possible, to "unintended others".

If you die without a Will in England or Wales the strict government "Rules of Intestacy" decide who gets what. The recipient may or may not be the person or persons you may have chosen.

If you have no living family members or relatives all your possessions and property will go to the Crown.

Executors are the person(s) you name in your Will to administer your Will after you die. They will be responsible for Probate and all aspects of administering your estate (everything you have left behind) and distribution of your estate. 

Their duties include things such as notifying people that you have died, arranging your funeral, dealing with any tax bills, paying debts, collating information about your assets and liabilities, and then distributing your estate to your chosen beneficiaries in exact accordance with your legal Will.

Your Executors are personally responsible and liable for your Will administration.

If you have children who are under 18 years of age, then it is really important to consider who you would want to raise your young children if there was no surviving parent ( who has legal parental responsibility) to take care of them.

When making your Will you can have a Guardianship clause included. This enables you to legally state who you want to raise your young children if you were no longer here.

If you wish, you can also go one step further and nominate person(s) who you would want to manage your young children's inheritance. They could then use their inheritance for your children's beneficial interest ( education, medical, special requirements etc) until they reach the legal age (18 years old) to inherit in full. You can even nominate that your children are 21 or even 25 years when they inherit in full.

This is called a Parental Trust and you will appoint a minimum of two Trustees ( often the same people as your guardians) who will have the legal right and responsibility to manage your young children's inheritance until they reach the age you want them to inherit in full.

It is vitally important that your WIll is kept in a safe place so that it can be easily found in good condition when it is needed. If it cant be found at the time then your estate will be distributed in accordance with the Government "Rules of Intestacy" 

It is also very very prudent to have your Will reviewed and updated regularly, especially if when there is a significant change in your life.  This ensures your latest wishes are in your Will when it is needed.

We provide a very affordable safe Will storage service including free Will review and basic updates for our clients who want that added peace of mind.

Yes, they can. There is no reason why any family member, friend or anyone else benefiting from your Will cannot be an Executor, as long as they are over 18 years old.

Perhaps a more important question to ask is, are they willing and able to be an Executor?

Your will can't be witnessed by anyone who stands to benefit from it. This includes:

• Anyone to whom you have left a legacy or part of your estate.
  This means that, if you've chosen to leave your estate to your partner and children, they can't witness your will.
  
  
• The spouse or civil partner of any beneficiaries.
  So, if you've chosen to leave part of your estate to your daughter, your daughter's husband can't witness your will.

Your Executor will need to locate your original Will. We recommend that you tell your Executor where your Will is kept. You may want to give them a copy of your Will whilst you are still able. 

If your Will is held in safe storage with Secure Inheritance then your Executor will need to contact us to inform us that you have passed away. We can then arrange to get your original Will out of our safe storage facility and to your Executor. 

If at that time, your Executor doesn't feel they want to carry out their duties for whatever reason, we can carry out the Probate for them.

We also offer an easy-to-use Digital Executor Support Tool Box with everything your Executor will need to carry out their duties safely and with ease. This can be pre-purchased at the time of making your Will  at a discounted rate making it probably the best gift you could give your Executors.

Yes - all Wills can be challenged. Nothing can prevent someone from trying to invalidate it. The real question is 'Can my Will be successfully challenged?' and this really does depend.

If your Will includes your nearest relatives and dependents such as your husband, wife or civil partner and your children, there is little reason why your Will should be challenged.

But, if you exclude someone who might expect to benefit from your Will, or there is a suggestion that you do not have the mental capacity or have been influenced or coerced whilst making your Will, then there is an increased possibility your Will could be challenged.

You can try to avoid any disharmony by talking to your family and loved ones about your Will. This is particularly important if you are going to exclude them. This prevents questions about your motivation after you've died.

Alternatively, you could write a letter to your Executors which sets out the reasons why you've excluded a particular person from the Will. This letter can be stored with your Will.

It's possible. Future Care fees can have a significant impact on the value of the inheritance your beneficiaries will actually receive. Strategies can be put in place to manage and minimize that impact.

We can help you. With appropriate planning and the use of the correct legal trusts you may be able to protect all or part of your estate.

Two witnesses are required to be present at the time your Will is being signed and dated

A witness to a Will when it is being signed must:-

• Be 18 years old and over.
• Of sound mind.
• Not be visually impaired in any way.
• Not be a beneficiary or potential beneficiary of the Will.
• Provide their address.
• Provide their telephone number.
• State their occupation.

Both witnesses must be present at the moment the Will is signed and they must sign the Will as witnesses in the presence of the person whose Will it is.