If you haven’t got around to writing your will, you aren’t alone. In fact, current figures suggest that around 55% of people in England don’t presently have a Will in place. However, as Attwell Solicitors explain, it doesn’t have to be a stressful process.
Getting a legally enforceable will completed by a professional only takes a few days, won’t cost the earth, and means you’ll have peace of mind that lasts a lifetime.
Should I use a solicitor to write my Will?
Whilst it’s possible to draw up a will yourself, this can sometimes lead to complications. Without a thorough knowledge of relevant law, it’s easy to make mistakes when creating the document, and this can lead to disputes occurring after you pass away. This could involve considerable legal costs and cause friction amongst those who are mentioned in the will.
In some cases, when a dependant doesn’t feel they are adequately provided for in your Will they can make a claim from your estate, and overturn the provisions you’ve made.
A solicitor will ensure all the formal requirements that enable a will to be legally valid are met. They will be able to check that all of the property, assets, and money in your estate are taken into account. A legal professional will also be able to take into account various eventualities, such as making provisions in the event that any of your named beneficiaries pass away before you do.
When things are complex:
Not everything in life is straightforward. For instance, what if you share ownership of a property with someone to who you either aren’t married or in a civil partnership? Or do you have dependants who are unable to care for themselves? This is where consulting with a solicitor really is important. Similarly, navigating the territory of several different dependants, such as children from a previous marriage, or a spouse you may still be married to, but are no longer in a relationship with, takes careful legal consideration of your options, and shouldn’t be handled alone.
Not only will a solicitor be able to help you with wording, but they will be able to offer you relevant legal advice to ensure your affairs can be put in an order with minimal opportunity for problems to arise between competing dependants.
The Attwells approach to will writing
We understand how easy it is to put off writing a will. After all, thinking about the end of our lives isn’t exactly something that most people want to do.
However, we believe that having access to straightforward, transparently priced legal will writing services should be available to everyone. This way, people can have the help they need to clearly set out their funeral wishes, appoint executors and identify who will be the guardians of their young children.
Which is why we make things easy. Our will writing service starts with a simple questionnaire which you can complete online. After that, you’ll receive an initial meeting with a lawyer who will check your will with you. Depending on the levels of complexity involved in writing your single person or married couple will, they will then be able to advise you on related issues, such as care home fees and inheritance tax law. Meanwhile, the peace of mind you’ll receive from knowing your dependents are covered, your funeral wishes are stated and your executors have been named will last for the rest of your life.
