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Here’s something else to consider that will save major hassles - financial and unpleasant one’s at that; remember to revise your Will if you get divorced/widowed and remarry. Especially if you have children with your new spouse/partner. You will want to protect the inheritance rights of your older children.

Be specific in who gets what…

If you want to preserve family heirlooms or items of special sentimental value, (for example, a grandfather clock, or a wedding or engagement ring), you should leave these items as a specific legacy to a named beneficiary.

Create a Trust to save tax…

We all know that inheritance tax is becoming a burden for many families, particularly where the value of a property pushes the value of an estate above the nil rate band for inheritance tax. If you are married, you can include a discretionary trust in your wills, which could save your children more £110,000 in inheritance tax at current rates.

Signing the Will…

It’s all very well having your will drafted, but if you don’t sign it in front of two independent witnesses, it will not be valid. A witness cannot be anyone mentioned in the will or anyone married to anyone mentioned in the will.  A solicitor serves this purpose best. And it must be witnessed!

Store your Will safely…

Once your will has been correctly signed and witnessed, have it stored in a proper safe storage facility. This will protect it from fire, flood, damage, or loss. Your executors will be provided with a certificate showing them where your will is stored and how to get hold of it if you die. Whatever you do – don’t hide your will! Your will is no good to anyone if it cannot be found after your death. Again, your solicitor can assist you with this.

You can make amendments to your will whenever you wish but any of these must be witnessed and signed otherwise they will not be legal. And one last thing…do not use your will as a means of getting revenge on a family member; be sensible and fair.

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Now one likes to talk about death, especially their own. But if you don’t make plans on how you want to distribute your worldly wealth while you’re still alive, you can leave a host of problems and hardships for your grieving family to sort out. Don’t assume that if you do not have oodles of money and assets to leave that it is not worth the trouble - it is! Actually, the wealthier you are the more complicated it is - us ordinary folk with just a small amount of cash and a few odds and ends have an easy time of it. But bear in mind that lawyers make a lot of money out of sorting out the estates of people who do not leave a Will and it can sometimes take years until everything is sorted. Avoid making lawyers rich at your own expense!

Your Will - solicitor or a DIY kit?

You can make your own will using a DIY kit available from the local stationers but the process is full of hazards and errors are easy to make. Badly drafted Wills can cause unending problems. DIY is OK for home improvements, but, unless you’re extremely confident and knowledgeable, it’s really not suited to Wills.

Who will be your executor…choose wisely

Executors are responsible for organising your estate in accordance with your instructions after you have died. It is a responsible and demanding role, and can involve handling large sums of money. And don’t forget to check that the people you choose are happy to take on the role.

Appoint a ‘deputy’ executor…

If you are married, you will probably want your spouse to be your executor, but don’t appoint them as your sole executor. If you both died together in a plane crash or a car accident, neither of you would have an executor living. Always appoint a default or substitute executor as a fall-back in case your spouse is unwilling, too distressed or unable to act. 

Do you have children?…appoint guardians

If you are the last living parent and you die leaving children under age 18, a guardian will be appointed by the court if you have not specified who this should be in your will. If you are unmarried but you and your partner have children, you might not even get guardianship of your children! If an unmarried man dies, his female partner automatically gets guardianship of their children, but if an unmarried woman dies, her male partner does not. This is a vital point to keep in mind. You should appoint each other as guardians in your wills to overcome this problem.

Trust your Trustees…

This might sound obvious, but if you are setting up a trust in your will or if your beneficiaries could be aged under 18 when you die, you will need to appoint trustees. Trustees will be responsible for managing and investing any money, or looking after property until it passes to the beneficiaries, so make sure they are people with a good grasp of financial matters - and that they are still young enough so they don’t die before you do. It has happened!

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If you are a woman then most likely you would answer no. And that’s a sad fact of life - many women, especially those at home mothers, tend to ignore doing anything about this vital part of life. Just because we stay at home with our kids rather than go out to work it does not mean that you do not have issues that need to be dealt with on your death. Everyone does. Women tend to neglect their own details, not through ignorance, but simply because we never get around to actually doing anything about it. Now is the time to act.

Death. None of us like to dwell on the fact that one day we will no longer be around and sometimes the throught of drawing up a Will makes us feel as though we are tempting fate…we aren’t, we are preventing it. Think of it that way.

Even you if you haven’t got any money if you die without a Will a stranger in a suit in a court will decide who brings up your children. If that’s not enough to scare you into action, if you have no Will your estate is likely to be divvied up among your relatives, some of whom you may not even like. And if you’re not married…huge problems.

Your Estate does not have to consist of large amounts of money and property - your Estate could simply be some cash in your savings account; your personal items such as mementoes; any jewellery, rings, bracelets…anything that you hold special and would feel better knowing that they will go to whoever you decide. That’s all it comes down to really. If you have children it is especially important that you have made arrangements for their welfare even if it just assuring yourself that their other parent will care for them. Maybe you want an extra guardianship arranged or continued contact with grandparents - put it down in writing! Make your wishes known.

There is no work involved - just on average an hour at the solicitor’s and then you will have peace of mind. For the rest of your life.

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