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Planning for the eventuality of your death is subject we might all rather avoid. However, we can bypass a great deal of misery for our loved ones by doing so early.

Once you have decided to write a Will, understanding the legal complexities and ensuring your provisions are ‘fit for purpose’ can be very daunting. This list of frequently asked questions will guide you through the concepts and considerations, to give you the peace of mind that your loved ones will be provided for and your assets distributed exactly as you intend.

FAQs

A Will is a legal document that enables you to detail how you would like your assets to be managed and distributed after your death. You get to specify who should get what, when, and how. This includes how to provide for your surviving spouse / partner while ultimately protecting your assets for your children; specifying the age children should inherit outright, and how they should benefit before then. Your Will enables you to appoint the people you trust to deal with your estate and manage your assets as you have set out, and to appoint who you would want to look after your minor children.

Mirror Wills are prepared for couples who want to make almost identical Wills, for example leaving everything to each other respectively on first death, and thereafter to their children, or where there are no children, to other named beneficiaries or to charity. They are separate legal documents with provisions that “mirror” each other. Mirror Wills are normally drafted for couples who have children together.

Our clients make Wills for a variety of different reasons, which include:

  • Protecting their wealth: making sure their assets pass where they want, when they want and how they want. This includes making provisions for children at an age when they are old enough to manage rather than waste their money, or protecting assets from potential third parties in the event the surviving spouse or partner remarries or goes into care
  • Appointing guardians for their children. If you have children under the age of 18 you need to appoint guardians for them in case a tragedy should occur. Failure to do so will result in social services and the courts deciding who will look after them, potentially appointing someone who you would not have chosen
  • Providing for complex family circumstances; such as ensuring disabled beneficiaries do not inherit outright and lose entitlement to means-tested benefits, or making provision for children from previous relationships, or providing an individual with a ‘right to occupy’ the family home
  • Leaving a legacy to charity. A Will provides the opportunity to benefit your favourite charity free of tax and, in certain circumstances, doing so may also reduce the amount of tax paid on the rest of your estate
  • Looking after a family pet. When you’re no longer around, your Will can help ensure that your much loved pet will be looked after by the people you choose

A comprehensive and plain English guide to writing your Will exists, written from Rachael’s years of experience. Download your copy here.

If your estate is worth more than £5,000 then your next of kin must apply to the Probate Court for the power to deal with your estate.

If you die without a Will they must apply for ‘Letters of Administration’. This can take months and in some cases years to sort out, meaning your family suffering financially for a considerable amount of time. With a Will in place, your Executors will apply to the Probate Registry office for a ‘Grant of Probate’.

In addition, when there is no Will, contrary to popular opinion, your estate will not necessarily pass to your spouse or partner after your death. The Government’s ‘Rules of Intestacy’. state who  will get what amount of your estate, depending on their relationship to you, how you own your assets, and the total value of your estate.

Unless you own your assets jointly in a particular way, an unmarried partner will be entitled to nothing and even a spouse may not receive sufficient to maintain their current lifestyle.

Most solicitors do a ‘little bit of everything’ rather than being specialists – a bit like your local GP. As a general rule, they will only have had a few hours training on Wills prior to qualifying, if any, as Will Writing is only an ‘option’ in a law degree – and most opt to do things that will generate more fees! Solicitors generally know very little about estate planning which is why they will not give advice, but simply do what you ask them to do. However, because “you don’t know what you don’t know” you’re unlikely to get the provisions you need, and should instead look for a specialist to advise you.

A good Estate Planning consultant will give comprehensive and cost-effective advice, and in plain English not legal jargon. They are also more likely to be flexible, offering to visit you in your own home or via video conference at a time to suit you, rather than you having to go to their office.

Before you chose someone to advise you, you must check that they carry Professional Indemnity Insurance for your protection. If they are members of ‘STEP – The Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners’, ‘The Society of Will Writers’ or ‘The Institute of Professional Will Writers’ this is a requirement of membership, as is adherence to a strict Code of Practice, and a minimum of 18 hours structured training in Wills and estate planning each year, for your benefit.

Our Estate Planning Assessment will give you valuable insights into the concepts and provisions which might be applicable for your situation. Complete our free Estate Planning Assessment.

Yes you can, but there are significant risks in doing so. Unfortunately, any errors made in a Will won’t be discovered until the Will is needed (i.e. after your death), so you will have no chance to correct the mistakes. This could mean emotional upset and financial loss for your family. It is perfectly fine to write your own Will if you have the skills to do so, just as it would be fine to re-wire your own house if you were an electrician. Should you not possess the relevant skills, however, then either project is quite likely to lead to disaster!

A Will is the most important document you make in your life, as it controls what happens to all your assets after your death. Solicitors make more money out of sorting out incorrectly compiled DIY Wills after death than writing Wills for their own clients!

DIY Wills and Will packs are fine if you have very simple requirements, if you don’t own property, have under £5,000 of assets, and no spouse/partner or children. Anybody else should have a professionally drafted Will.

If it looks too good to be true it probably is! Every industry has its cowboys and rather than pretend that they don’t exist we’d rather warn you about them as many people have been caught out by scams such as these and have ended up paying far in excess of £39.

Unfortunately anybody can set themselves up as a Will Writer, with little or no formal training or Insurance, and there are a lot of ‘Will writing companies’ who employ salespeople who are totally unqualified to give legal advice and are employed primarily to up-sell vastly overpriced Prepaid Probate and support services.

LET THE BUYER BEWARE! As a general rule of thumb, always check them out through the trade bodies (Society of Will Writers and Institute of Professional Will Writers) beforehand. I personally advise you not to let anybody into your house until you have spoken to them directly beforehand – to ensure they answer your questions in a manner that gives you confidence. Otherwise, don’t buy from them!

“Don’t come to me for a loan, and don’t go to your Bank for a Will”. Ask yourself WHY your Bank would give you a free or cheap Will. Is it because they are rewarding you for being a valued customer? No, it is more likely to be that they appoint themselves as your Executors, giving them the absolute right to charge vast fees of generally between 4-11% of the value of your estate, on top of their hourly rate for their efforts!

Executors are responsible for dealing with your Estate after you’ve died and putting it through Probate; the legal procedure to establish that a Will is valid, and that your estate has been valued correctly for tax purposes. The Executors have the authority to carry out the terms of your Will and deal with your assets in accordance with your instructions.

Your Executors have the authority to arrange your Funeral, collect in all your assets to pay your debts and estate expenses including inheritance tax, deal with any specific gifts and legacies you have left and then distribute the remainder – your Residuary Estate – in accordance with your Will. It is an onerous, time consuming and responsible task and should not be taken on lightly.

If you are a named Executor, because of the heavy admin and time burden of the task it may make sense to speak to a Professional Executor before you start. At Heir Tight Wills, we partner with some excellent Professional Executors and can refer you for an initial free consultation to outline everything for you.

You can appoint up to 4 Executors to act when the time comes. If appointing only 1 or 2, it is advisable to also appoint ‘replacements’ in case they are unable or unwilling to act when the time comes. Your appointed Executors will need to sign an ‘Oath’ to be authorised to act on your death.

You must appoint people you absolutely trust to carry out your wishes. Due to the nature of the role, they should have sufficient spare time to carry out the duties involved.

Beneficiaries can be Executors, and unless there is good reason not to, your surviving spouse/partner would normally be included.

If you appoint family or friends, they will not be paid for their efforts unless you leave something in your Will to them for acting for you. They will be able to reclaim their ‘out of pocket’ expenses incurred by them in the administration of your estate, including the Probate fees, as until they get the Grant of all your assets are frozen.

If you appoint a Professional Executor in your Will, they are absolutely entitled to act and charge whatever they like for their services at the relevant time, and their fees will come out of your estate. We instead recommend referring to a firm your Executors may wish to consult in the first instance, in the Letter of Wishes accompanying your Will.

Trustees are the people appointed in your Will to be responsible for making the decisions that maintain the estate whilst it is held ‘on trust’. An estate is held ‘on trust’ before it is given over to the beneficiaries, for example until a child is old enough to inherit. Other examples of a Trust in your Will are to give a beneficiary a ‘right to occupy’ a property, or to give a surviving spouse the right to use your assets during their lifetime without them passing under their own Will on their death. In these circumstances the Trustees would be the legal owners of the relevant assets, before they pass to your ultimate beneficiaries at the end of the appointed Trust period.

Executors and Trustees are usually the same people, however if your Executors are all beneficiaries of the Trust it is advisable to appoint an additional ‘Independent’ Trustee (who doesn’t need to be a professional). You may also wish to appoint separate Trustees to manage any businesses you own at the time of your death. They should ideally have some understanding of business management.

If you have any children under the age of 18, your Will is the place to nominate Guardians, – the people you would want to look after them. If you are separated or divorced and the other parent has ‘parental responsibility’ then the appointment for a Testamentary Guardian will not come into effect until the surviving parent dies.

If both parents with parental responsibility die without appointing Guardians, their children become ‘Wards of the State’ meaning Social Services and the Courts will decide where they should live.

Your parents may be ideal choices, if they’re able to cope with your young family, or your siblings or close friends, but it is important to seek the Guardians consent before you consider appointing them as they do not have to act when required.

The Guardians should be acceptable to both sides of the family and to the children if they are older. The Guardian takes on parental responsibility for your children, ensuring they are properly cared for. Normally the child / children will go to live with the Guardian so it is unwise to appoint Joint Guardians living separately, for example both sets of grandparents jointly.

It is a good idea to appoint Supporting or Secondary Guardians to give the Primary Guardians some respite, for example during school holidays, or in case at the time they are required your Primary choice is unable to act. If your Guardians are resident overseas you may need to consider a ‘Temporary Guardian’ until they arrive.

Only the birth/adoptive parents of the child or children will have parental responsibility, unless by order of a Court. Previously, unless the father of a child was married to the mother, only the mother had an automatic right to appoint Guardians, but for births since December 2003, as long as the father is on the birth certificate he will have automatic parental responsibility, whether or not he is married to the mother of the child.

It is very common for the Guardians to be appointed Trustees, as it normally follows that if you trust someone to take care of your children then you would also trust them with access to the assets to be used to provide for them. However, there may be instances where you would not want the Guardian to have direct access to the assets, for example they may be your ex-partner or ex-spouse. In this case they will have to go through an alternative Trustee.

When appointing Guardians as Trustees, it is advisable to also appoint an additional Trustee who is independent of the Guardian. This is to avoid potential conflicts of interest, for example, the Guardian may need a larger car and the Trustees need to decide how much should be funded by your children’s trust fund and how much the Guardian should contribute.

Under your Will, any reference to the class of beneficiary ‘my children’ will not include your step-children and hence they will not be provided for. Step-children do not come into the definition of ‘children’ for the purposes of making a Will, which includes natural children (bloodline including illegitimate children), adopted children and children born to you by IVF. It is also possible to draft your Will so that it provides for children that may be born after the date of your Will or even those born after your death who would have been conceived beforehand.

If you wish to ensure step-children do benefit from your estate you need to include ‘my children and step-children’ or name them individually.

If you are maintaining step-children at the time of your death and have not included them in your Will, under the terms of the ‘Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependents) Act 1975’, they could contest your Will in court on the grounds they have not been sufficiently provided for. This could be devastating for your own family and result in substantial delays in the execution of your estate.

Heir Tight Wills offers a free Will audit to review your current Will for situations like this, request yours here.

In general, children cannot inherit until they reach 18; below this age the funds are held ‘on trust’ for them and can be used for their maintenance, education and general benefit. The Trustees decide what income and/or capital can be used and for what purpose e.g. to pay school fees.

If you think that 18 is too young for your children to inherit a large sum of money, you can specify in your Will that they should not receive the capital sum until a later age, e.g. 21 or 25. They will, however, be entitled to receive any income from the Trust Fund as soon as they reach 18 and there will be tax consequence for ages of receipt over 18 – but this may be preferable to them inheriting too early!

In certain circumstances and if the Trustees deem it appropriate, it is possible for children to receive their inheritance from the age of 16 or for it to be forwarded to their Guardians to manage for them with the Trustees having no further responsibility for how it is used.

Where you wish to leave an inheritance to a beneficiary who is not capable of managing their own money, maybe as a result of learning difficulties, through an addiction or where they may be subject to pending divorce or going through bankruptcy, it is advisable to utilise a Trust in your Will. This will enable them to benefit from your estate without holding the assets themselves, thus preventing their inheritance being wasted or lost to unintended third parties.

Similarly, where a disabled beneficiary is in receipt of means-tested state benefits they should not inherit outright, as they would lose their benefits and corresponding support network.

There are specific Trusts with tax exemptions for certain vulnerable beneficiaries – please contact us for more information.

Will Trusts are legal entities set up by the Will which come into effect upon the death of the Testator / Testatrix (the person creating the Will). They are often used to provide asset protection or tax benefits.

A Trust will be administered by Trustees (usually two or more) nominated by the Testator and these are the people who will act on behalf of the deceased in accordance with their wishes. So that there are no binding obligations upon Trustees, Trusts are often discretionary, i.e. it is down to the discretion of the Trustees as to how and when the intended beneficiaries receive the assets or income. (This can also have tax and other benefits for the beneficiaries).

For example; Mr. Smith leaves £250,000 in a Discretionary Trust for the benefit of his three grandchildren, Tom, Dick and Harry. As the Trust is discretionary, the Trustees may decide that as Tom is a wealthy Investment Banker he doesn’t need any of the Trust Funds. Unfortunately, Dick is a gambling addict so the Trustees decide to purchase what he needs out of the Trust without giving him any money and as Harry has 3 children of his own, the Trust will pay for their private education.

There are many different permutations to this scenario and you can leave guidance as to how you wish the Trust funds to be used without binding your Trustees or restricting their legal discretion. The use of Trusts is a complex area and specialist advice must be sought from an Estate Planner experienced in their use to ensure your get the provisions that are right for your specific circumstances and requirements.

To receive a free report on the provisions that are likely to be most suitable for your situation, please complete our free Estate Planning Assessment.

If you have not properly provided for any of your dependants who are unable to maintain themselves, or if you have not fairly provided for your spouse or civil partner (or even an ex-spouse who has not remarried and you didn’t get a ‘clean break’ divorce), the Court can alter your Will, under the Inheritance Act 1995, to make provisions for them if your Will is contested.

In other situations, for example where you have excluded an estranged adult child who is maintaining themselves and you know they are likely to challenge your Will, you can deter them by leaving a ‘token legacy’ to them in your Will, with a ‘Forfeiture clause’ stating they will lose this legacy if they contest your Will or cause issues for your Executors and intended beneficiaries.

Excluding beneficiaries can be a complex area and specialist advice must be sought from an Estate Planner experienced in this area, to ensure you avoid these pitfalls.

Heir Tight Wills can help you navigate situations like this, contact us.

The residue of your estate is everything that’s left after all your outstanding debts (e.g. credit cards), liabilities (e.g. mortgages), estate expenses (e.g. your funeral and Probate costs) and taxes (e.g. income and inheritance taxes) have been settled, and the specific gifts and legacies in your Will have been distributed.

If being split between multiple residuary beneficiaries, your residuary estate is best left in either percentages (adding up to 100%), in fractions (adding up to 1), or in any number of total shares split between them in whatever portion you want.

Your estate is everything you own at the time of your death which you are beneficially entitled to give away and which will pass under your Will. It may include properties, bank accounts, personal possessions (legally known as ‘chattels’), investments, and any businesses you own.

Your estate does not include money in a joint account or other jointly owned assets such as the family home held as ‘beneficial joint tenants’ with your spouse/partner. These jointly held assets will pass automatically ‘by survivorship’ to the other joint owner/s.

Payments from Life Assurance or company Death-in-Service policies are also not included in your ‘estate’. You need to ensure you have nominated who you wish the beneficiary to be with your policy provider or employer. Likewise, pensions are not included in your estate as these are held ‘in trust’ by the pension provider for whoever you should have nominated to them.

No. Wills are not shopping lists. If you want specific objects, collections or even amounts of money to go to particular people, then yes you should specify exactly what you want to leave and to whom, but anything you don’t specifically identify or gift is dealt with through distribution of the residue of your estate.

You should review your Will at least every 3-5 years as standard or sooner if there are major changes to your circumstances, such as:

  • Marriage/divorce – all or part of your Will may be revoked.
  • Trouble in a marriage or civil partnership – either yours or your beneficiary’s.
  • Arrival of a child making the appointment of Guardians necessary.
  • Birth of further children or of Grandchildren.
  • Changes to choice of Guardians or Executors – maybe due to death or age implications.
  • Estate Planning requirements – an increase in your asset values which affect your Inheritance Tax liability, a wish to protect your family home to avoid it passing to your surviving spouse’s next partner or be lost to their care fees.
  • A need to assure the housing situation of an adult child who has not left home or has unexpectedly returned e.g. due to a relationship break-up.
  • About to go on holiday, or imminent surgery / sudden illness.
  • You have wayward or problematic beneficiaries and need to protect their inheritance so they don’t waste or lose it.

For more guidance on writing your Will, download our free guides for personal Wills or business Wills.

A valid Will remains valid until it is revoked (normally by you) or it becomes invalid, which can occur in a number of ways:

  • By destruction – physically destroying your Will usually revokes it. Your Will can be destroyed by another person but it must be at your request and in your presence. Accidental damage of a Will does not revoke it but there might be difficulty in proving that the Will is
  • Rubbing out or cutting off the signature of the testator or witnesses may be enough to revoke the Will, similarly water damage obliterating the signatures. By contrast, crossing out the Will or writing ‘revoked’ across it may not be adequate to revoke it. If just part of a Will is destroyed, generally only that part of the Will is revoked (unless it is the signatures).
  • Missing attachments – staple/paperclip marks on a Will can automatically revoke a Will – as it will look like something was attached to it which is no longer there, and which might have been significant. It is very important nothing is ever attached to a Will.

Making a new Will automatically revokes your old Will, but if you don’t destroy the old Will it might come back into force if your new Will isn’t found or is later proven to be invalid.

Unless your Will states that it is made with your approaching marriage in mind, your Will is automatically revoked by a subsequent marriage.

If your Will is revoked without another being validated, or it is found to be invalid on your death, you will be deemed to have died ‘intestate’ meaning the Government’s Rules of Intestacy will govern how your estate is distributed.

In England and Wales, if you get married or remarried after you made a Will, it is automatically revoked unless it specifically details that it was made ‘in contemplation of’ the marriage – as you have become a different ‘legal entity’. Since the introduction of new legislation in December 2005, the annulment of a Civil Partnership is treated the same way.

If you get separated your Will is not invalidated, but you should amend it as soon as possible, as if you were to die before your divorce/annulment was finalised your estranged spouse/civil partner would still benefit under the terms of your Will – which is unlikely to be your intention.

If you get divorced, any appointment (e.g. Executor) or gifts in favour of your former spouse / civil partner will fail (unless the Will states otherwise) and therefore your Will would be read as if they had died before you. However, you should always review your Will in these circumstances to ensure you have made provision for alternative appointments or beneficiaries.

IHT is a ‘death tax’ payable as a percentage of your estate to the Government. Each individual currently has a tax-free allowance (known as the ‘Nil Rate Band’ – NRB) of £325,000 they can leave free of IHT to any taxable beneficiary, effectively anyone other than a spouse, charity, or the government.

In 2017 the government also brought in an addition to the NRB, specifically for residences that are ultimately left to ‘direct descendants’ (the ‘Residence Nil Rate Band’ – RNRB) of £175k. As of September 2024, this gives individuals who own a property worth at least £175k the potential to leave up to a total of £500k tax free to their direct descendants (which definition in this legal situation only, includes children/grandchildren, step-children and foster children, and anyone for whom you were a guardian).

The rate of IHT is currently charged at 40% of everything over the available tax-free allowances. It quickly becomes more complex, however, if you have made gifts in the 7 years prior to death or if you have remarried after the death of your first spouse. If your estate is over the £325k NRB you will benefit from seeking advice from a specialist Estate Planner on how best to mitigate IHT in your personal circumstances.

If you die without a Will a sizable amount of your Nil Rate Band could be lost and your Estate could pay tax that could so easily have been avoided.

Your Will is a legally binding document, and your Executors must act on the provisions you make in it. As all your assets will be frozen until after your estate has been put through Probate, any substantial gifts must be accounted for in the valuation of your estate and they, as well as monetary gifts, cannot be gifted until after Probate is granted and all expenses and taxes have been paid. For this reason, all legacies and most gifts should be detailed in your Will.

If you are leaving the proceeds of an account or policy to an individual or organisation you should include full details like the account/policy number and provider. If you are leaving gifts to charity it is important to include the full name and charity registration number in your Will as they may have changed name by the time of your death. Gifts to charities are tax-free and they can be useful to reduce an Inheritance Tax liability.

It is generally better to leave significant bequests of money as a proportion or percentage of your Estate. This is due to the technical rules of English Law by which gifts and legacies are paid out of the estate first and are paid free of inheritance tax (which will be taken off the Residue, or what is left). By the time you die it is possible that your estate may be considerably less than it was when you wrote your Will (for example, due to the payment of care fees), so if you have left someone a few thousand pounds thinking it is only a small sum, it could end up being a significantly greater proportion of your estate.

For smaller gifts of personal possessions which have sentimental rather than financial value, it is possible to leave them in a ‘Letter of Wishes’ that sits with (but NEVER attached to) your Will. You must give a detailed description (or even a photo) of the item so that it is easily identifiable from the rest of your estate. You can also leave detailed guidance in the Letter, such as in relation to your funeral or to your Guardians as to how you wish your children to be raised and educated.

The existence of this Letter must be referred to in your Will, but its provisions are not legally binding on your Executors, hence why you should only appoint Executors who you trust to carry out your wishes. The main benefit of leaving a Letter of this nature is that you can amend it as often as you like without having to change your Will, as the signing of your Letter does not need to be witnessed as your Will does.

Whether the gift is made via your Will or a Letter of Wishes, it should be noted that unless specifically stated otherwise the Beneficiary will have to pay the cost of transportation. This is an important consideration if the beneficiary lives abroad or you are leaving a large item. You should also consider whether the gift is appropriate. A beneficiary living in a top floor flat is unlikely to want your gardening equipment or your piano!

Normally, no. However, a ‘Deed of Variation’ may be exercised within two years of your death to alter the terms of your Will with the agreement of all the affected beneficiaries. These are often used to reduce inheritance tax or to protect assets from, for example, the potential future care fees of the surviving spouse. This is an expensive option and is dependent on gaining all the relevant beneficiaries’ agreement, so it is far better to ensure your Will is kept up to date and contains the relevant estate planning provisions before you die.

There may also be instances where a Court could make a judgement, such as if you have excluded someone who has a beneficial entitlement to contest your Will. This can result in substantial delays and additional costs and stress for your remaining beneficiaries, so you should always take specialist advice before excluding someone potentially entitled to inherit from your Will or providing them with only a token gift and including a Forfeiture clause.

If you are taken into care, under the Community Care Act 1990, the local council have the right by law to seize your home, put it up for sale and use the proceeds to support your long-term care costs.

If this happened then it might mean that when you eventually die there could be very little of your estate left for your surviving family. It is illegal to deliberately deprive yourself of assets by transferring your property to relatives or Trusts if your prime motive is to avoid paying long-term care costs.

However, it is not illegal for you and your spouse/partner to each make a provision in your Will, that upon the 1st death, the deceased’s half-share of your family assets and home, can be placed in a Trust for the benefit of their surviving spouse and children or other beneficiaries, instead of passing directly to the surviving spouse.

In this way, if your surviving spouse ends up in care, your estate held in Trust on 1st death will not be taken into account for their care fees and will ultimately pass to your children on 2nd death.

Read more about our Trusts and Estate Planning services.

If you are a shareholder in a Limited company, you need to think about who you (or your fellow shareholders) would want your shares to pass to in the event of your death. Without a formal arrangement in place, the shares would fall into the deceased’s estate and would more than likely go to his or her family who could then end up with a controlling share and a say in how the company is run.

It is quite likely that this would not be a satisfactory outcome for anyone. The death of a shareholder, or of a valued and skilled employee, can have a major impact on a business. It is essential the right decisions are made in advance to ensure the right provisions are in place to come into effect on death, to ensure the business can continue with as little disruption as possible.

If a shareholder in your company is responsible for repaying a specific loan or debt, how would you repay it in the event of their death? If you are in a Partnership, what would happen in the event of a fellow partner dying?

Download your FREE Guide to Business Will writing.

The first step to take is to find out what provision your Company documents (Memorandum & Articles of Association for a Ltd Company, and preferably a Shareholder Agreement) make in the event of the death or loss of mental capacity of one of the Shareholders. Speak to your company Accountant if they set them up for you and agree the necessary amendments. If you have no Shareholder Agreement, or Partnership Agreement for an LLP, and you wouldn’t want to work with your fellow Shareholders’ family(!) you need to get one drafted – ASAP!

You can provide some protection for your Business immediately after death by including a Business Continuity clause in your Will. You can restrict the decision-making authority in a business by leaving your shares into a Business Trust to benefit your family, but if its provisions are contrary to your company documents, they will trump the Will.

This is a very important and specialist area and to protect your loved ones, fellow shareholders/partners and staff, you should seek advice with an estate planning professional experienced in this area such as Heir Tight Wills who provide a review service for your existing company documents to ascertain whether they will do what you need them to. Contact us for more information.

You should also all put in place Lasting Powers of Attorney to ensure the business can continue without a hitch in the event of a loss of mental capacity by one of the shareholders/partners, for example through an accident, illness, dementia or a stroke.

Find out more about our Will writing and estate planning services, and Lasting Powers of Attorney.

Generally, anyone over 18 can witness the signing of a Will provided they are not a beneficiary of your Will or married to anyone who is, otherwise any gift to that beneficiary will fail.

You need two witnesses who must be sober, of sound mind and must be present together at the same time. They do not have a right to read the Will, they are purely witnessing you sign the document, and acknowledging by their signature (in your presence) that you know what you are doing (that it is your Will you are signing), you are doing it of your own free Will, and that you have the mental capacity to do so.

There is no legal requirement determining where a Will should be stored but you should inform your Executors where it is so they can find it when they need it after your death.

It is NOT advisable to keep your Will in a bank or other safety deposit box, because after your death your Executors will not be able to open that box without obtaining a Court Order.

Likewise it is NOT advisable to keep your Will at home, in case of fire or water damage, loss or theft, or in case at the relevant time it is found by someone who does not like what it says, and it ‘disappears’.

Heir Tight Wills provide our clients with a professional secure document storage service, including registration of your Will on the National Will Register and providing Registration and Storage Certificates for your Executors, so even if they can’t find the copy documents we provide you with in your home after your death, a simple online Will search will identify where it is stored.

Rachael Rodgers

Secure your family, business and your peace of mind

Why leave things to chance? Our free guides Personal Guide to Wills and Estate Planning and Business Owner’s Guide to Wills will help you to ensure your legacy is secure.

Download your free personal guide Download your free business guide

Complexity made simple

Secure your family, business and your peace of mind

Rachael Rodgers

Why leave things to chance? Our free guides Personal Guide to Wills and Estate Planning and Business Owner’s Guide to Wills will help you to ensure your legacy is secure.

Download your free personal guide
Download your free business guide

Complexity made simple