Hav­ing to plan for the time when you’re no longer around is a daunt­ing thought, but some things are unfor­tu­nate­ly inevitable which is why cre­at­ing a Will is a neces­si­ty. Whilst some are will­ing to pay for a pro­fes­sion­al, oth­ers are tak­ing mat­ters into their own hands.

The cost of hir­ing a Solic­i­tor to write up a will could extend to hun­dreds of pounds if it is par­tic­u­lar­ly com­plex, so why not do it your­self? You can buy DIY Will kits from for around £20, but should you real­ly trust all your mon­ey and Estate to some­thing writ­ten by a per­son that does not have any legal knowledge?

If you make your own Will, you’ll be under the assump­tion that every­one inter­prets your words as you meant them, but that’s not always the case. If the Will is mis­in­ter­pret­ed then your pos­ses­sions may end up going to the wrong peo­ple and unfor­tu­nate­ly, there’s legal­ly noth­ing your intend­ed recip­i­ents can do. To make mat­ters worse, there’s the risk that your Will is declared invalid and it will be left to the law to decide who your mon­ey and prop­er­ty should go to. 

You may save some mon­ey at the time by not hir­ing a Solic­i­tor, but in the long run it could turn out to be a lot more expen­sive. Changes may need to be made, whether it’s a change of Ben­e­fi­cia­ry or choos­ing a dif­fer­ent Execu­tor, and you can’t just scrib­ble out one name and replace it with anoth­er. When mak­ing changes, there are two main options; cre­ate a new Will or cre­ate a Cod­i­cil (a doc­u­ment that adheres to the same legal rules as a will but only used for small changes). Both of these options require sig­nif­i­cant time and can be costly.

It is also very impor­tant that you out­line who the Execu­tors are in your Will. An Execu­tor is some­one who you have cho­sen to car­ry out the direc­tions of the Will and such an impor­tant job respon­si­bil­i­ty should not be left to just any­body. There are few restric­tions in choos­ing an Execu­tor and they may even be some­one men­tioned in your Will (as long as they’re over 18.) Com­mon Execu­tors include chil­dren and Spous­es; how­ev­er, it is usu­al­ly advised that you have mul­ti­ple Execu­tors in case one dies before you.

If you have your will cre­at­ed by a Solic­i­tor or bank, then a copy will be kept secure­ly with them. This is extreme­ly handy if any back­up copies are need­ed. All too often those who cre­ate their own Wills hide them away where they won’t be found and fail to divulge the loca­tion. Seek­ing legal advice also ensures you don’t pay more Inher­i­tance Tax (IHT) than nec­es­sary. By hav­ing an expert over­see the writ­ing of your Will, you can rest assured that your loved ones receive as much as they pos­si­bly can.

It’s your Will and the cre­ation process is entire­ly up to you. DIY options are avail­able but a Solic­i­tor will ensure your Estate gets to where it needs to go, whilst you can be con­fi­dent that there will be no mis­takes and even if some­thing does go wrong, you’re pro­tect­ed. By instruct­ing a Solic­i­tor, the whole inher­i­tance process can be made eas­i­er for you and those close to you.

To arrange a dis­cus­sion about a new or exist­ing Will, please get in touch with Paul Clark on 01625 523988 or mail@​JBGass.​com