You work hard all your life to keep a roof above your head and food on the table. You pay every penny in tax and do your level best to have enough left in the pot to indulge in the things you enjoy.
So, why should the government decide what happens to the money you have left once you die?
That doesn’t seem fair, does it?
Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way; you have a right to decide what happens to your estate once you pass away, and there are fortunately some very useful services you can use to make the process as simple as possible.
The risks of not having a will
According research by Prudential and Unbiased.co.uk, nearly 60 percent of Britons haven’t written their will.
If you number among that majority, you could be putting your family and loved ones at risk. Without a will, you could encounter one (or several) of the following issues:
- Your home may end up being given to the ‘wrong’ people.
- Your entire wealth could be eaten up by lengthy and expensive legal disputes.
- You may be subjected to further inheritance tax, with 40 percent of your life’s earnings and estate simply handed to the government.
Despite these risks, this subject isn’t an easy one to broach. For many, the thought of writing a will is uncomfortable, and a task that is usually ushered to the bottom of the queue.
Who, after all, wants to talk about or make plans for their own death?
The common mistakes made when making a will
A will isn’t the most complicated of documents, but if you’re inexperienced (as most people are) in writing them, you may fall foul of some common mistakes.
These range from the less serious, such as minor inaccuracies, to the more serious stuff, such as being unaware of the legal requirements needed to make a will valid.
You also need to take account of the possibility that a beneficiary might die before you, and of the many effects a marriage or civil partnership can have on a will.
It’s perfectly legal to draw up your own will and there are advantages to undertaking it yourself, but the amount of time required to research and cover every possible outcome inevitably results in human error of some form.
Get your will wrong and you could face multiple trips to and from the solicitor. Those costs will quickly mount up, thus eating into the estate you’re trying so hard to protect for the people closest to you.
Only undertake the writing of your will if you’re confident you’ve done your homework and if your situation (i.e. relationship, assets and homeownership) is relatively uncomplicated.
The benefits of employing a will writer
Will writing is no small task. There are several things you’ll need to investigate and identify. You’ll need to:
- Choose an executor (or executors);
- identify your assets;
- limit your exposure to inheritance tax costs (legally);
- create trusts for any infant children;
- find and notify guardians of your infant children; and
- confirm your funeral wishes and arrangement.
Listed in that manner, it looks like a rather cold, business-like process, but by undertaking will writing in this manner, you’ll create the best foundations from which your loved ones can move on after you pass away.
Considering what you would like to happen to your family is vital, but it sometimes helps to look at it the other way; can you imagine what life would be like for them if you didn’t have a proper plan in place?
Without a proper will, the law will decide what happens to your money and that could add unnecessary stress to an already highly emotional situation for the people you leave behind.
As TrustPilot.com’s top rated UK will writer, we know how valuable it can be to employ someone else to do the hard work for you and we’ve helped tens of thousands of people protect their loved ones and assets.
We can do this in just 30 days, which is a fraction of the time it would take for someone to do it themself. What’s more, it’s all done from the comfort of our customers’ homes, making the process as convenient as it should be.
If you’re ready to write your will but feel you need an experienced hand to guide you, our team can call you to take your last will and testimony over the phone.
Let’s get your will sorted, because today will one day be tomorrow.
