Making a Will

A Personal Note from Roger Mallatratt

While my note about LPAs suggested that those who want to take the time and trouble can make their own I very strongly advise clients that they should have their Wills prepared professionally.

 

A Will is not a form; it is a blank sheet in which you have to set down exactly what you want to happen to your estate when you die. It only becomes a valid document on your death at which point there will be nothing you can do to correct any mistakes.

 

The starting point is to assess in broad terms what you own at the moment and how your estate would be distributed if you died reasonably soon. It is quite easy to get even that first stage wrong. For example, many people see their jointly owned house as belonging equally to each party forgetting that the law of survivorship means that on the first death the entire property passes automatically to the other.

 

The next stage is to start to consider, as far as you can, what you might own if you die some years in the future. Might you have had an inheritance? Might you need residential care which could  result in your house having been sold before you die?

 

Giving a house to a family member in your Will might go completely wrong for that person if the house was no longer yours when you died.

 

Family life is much more complicated than it was; many people are in second marriages or partnerships and one or both have children from other relationships. That usually needs some thinking about.

 

Who are you going to appoint as executors? Usually these can be drawn from immediate family. There is generally no need for the solicitors or a Will writing company to be executors. Such appointments lead to increased and unnecessary cost for your estate.

 

I do not advise clients to appoint us as executors unless there is some very good reason for doing so.

 

We do not charge a massive fee which allegedly incorporates Probate work. We charge reasonably for the Will, we do not charge for storing it and we make no charge for getting it out of storage and handing it to your executors when the time comes. If your executors want help from our excellent Probate Department they can have it but there is no obligation or hard sell.

 

These are just a few of the areas that I and my colleagues at Hadgkiss will help you to deal with when we are making your Will. I am delighted to work with such a friendly firm and hope to be of service to you.

 

To contact Roger please call our Moseley office on

0121 449 5050 or email enquiries@hhb-mo.co.uk