Cheap/DIY Wills: A False Economy?

Wills are offered as a loss leader by many solicitors and will writers in the hope that they will eventually profit from being the ones to deal with your estate. As a result, this important service has been devalued to such an extent that many clients are reluctant to pay for something that they assume involves nothing more than ‘filling in the blanks’. If only it were so easy!  

In order to give you good advice, we have to ask you questions. Lots of questions. You might find some of them awkward or intrusive but, without this information, we can’t do our job properly. 

So, what do we need to know? Well, it may seem obvious but we need to get an idea of your financial position. Clients notoriously undervalue their estates by forgetting life assurance policies; death in service benefits; sums payable under pension policies; a potential inheritance from a relative etc. By asking the right questions, we can give you the right advice. Take some recent clients: their combined estates amounted to c.£750,000 but individually, the husband’s was worth £50k and the wife’s £700k. By removing just a few words (‘provided s/he survives me for 30 days’) from their existing wills, we potentially saved them £130,000 in Inheritance Tax.

Even if your estate is far more modest, we’ll still ask you questions. Things like, ‘do you have any children from previous relationships?’. You may have been thinking that the only way to balance the needs and expectations of both parties would be to leave everything to the surviving spouse on the understanding that they provide for your children in their will. We can talk you through other options.

And, the crux of it all – what do you want to achieve? Do you want to ensure a child doesn’t have access to their inheritance until they’re, say 18 or 21? To simply include a direction that funds shouldn’t be paid over until a child reaches a certain age will be completely ineffective, unless you include further trust provisions. 

Of course it’s tempting to go for the cheapest option, especially if you think your circumstances are pretty straightforward. In my experience, there are lots of things clients don’t even realise they need to think about and the examples above only scratch the surface.

What I’m really trying to say is, don’t mistake ‘cheap’ for ‘good value’. You should leave our office feeling confident you’ve made the best possible provision for the people you care about.

Sophie