Introduction

At English Wills, we recognise that a will is a crucially important document- both to ensure that your testamentary intentions are correctly carried out, efficiently and in accordance with your wishes; and also to ensure that the basis is provided for the legal and administrative process of probate to be as convenient and straightforward as possible. This avoids the risk of leaving your family and loved ones with uncertainty, delays, stress and unnecessary expense, just at the very time they could most do without those problems.

As such, it is an extremely worthwhile investment of your time and energy thoroughly to deal with the process of the preparation of your will. Furthermore, we fully appreciate the trust and confidence you have placed in us to deal with this highly important and personal matter for you. We are here to ensure that any questions or concerns you may have are addressed to your entire satisfaction, ahead of proceeding to complete your will.

We will take your detailed instructions from you either in a meeting or over the phone. In the meantime, the purpose of this summary is briefly to run through a few of the key areas in which instructions will be required, in order for you to give some thought to these issues and gather together the appropriate documentation and information, before giving us your instructions.

We confirm our undertaking to you to maintain the strictest confidentiality (and other than in the production of your will and the procedures for your execution of it), not to pass your name and address or the details of the will to any third party without your express permission.

History

We will need to know if you have any (UK and/ or other) wills in place which remain valid. If they are to be superseded, although we will not necessarily need to see copies, it will be helpful for us to understand the nature of the changes you seek to make and reasons why.

Health

Without wishing to appear indelicate, we will need to be satisfied that your health and condition are such that there are no aspects (memory / mental health issues) which could affect your ability legally to make a valid will. In the extremely rare cases where either you or we feel that there are doubts, a medical opinion can be sought, in the interests of certainty. 

Identification Details

We will need to include full identification details, including: full name and address including postcode; marital status; details of previous marriages; details (names, addresses and ages) of children from current and previous marriages.

Assets

In order for us to be sure we are providing the best advice possible, we need to ask you about the nature and approximate value of your assets, wherever they are situated. We will also need an approximate figure for any mortgages or other loans which are outstanding and details of any life assurance cover you may have.

Inheritance / Succession Tax Saving

Once we have information regarding the nature and structure of your estate, we can consider with you whether any of the will- based inheritance/ succession tax saving options we offer would be beneficial to you.

Business assets

Please let us know at the outset if you have any business assets, as these may be an integral part of your estate planning. 

Testator

This is the legal expression for you, the person signing the will.

Anticipated Marriage

You will automatically invalidate your will if you get married after you have written it. However, if you are planning to marry shortly after making your will, we can insert a clause in the will to ensure it continues to be valid, notwithstanding the marriage.

Trustees and Executors

Executors administer the estate while trustees manage the ongoing business. For convenience, the executors and the trustees are usually the same people.

Their duties normally include obtaining a UK Grant of Probate, which is usually required before your assets can be distributed to your beneficiaries. The role of executor carries with it a considerable responsibility- for example, they can be held personally liable for any debts or taxes that are not fully paid before the distribution of the estate. Also, they can be liable for assets distributed incorrectly, if they cannot be recovered.

You can appoint anyone who is over the age of 18 to work with them. We need a minimum of two people and a maximum of four.

We work with Kings Court Trust Corporation in Bath ( www.trustcorporation.com ) and can provide full details, if you feel you need a professional executor to administer your estate. They would count as one executor / trustee.

Following a bereavement, English Wills can co-ordinate the probate process for you, to minimise delays and inconvenience.

If you wish to create a Discretionary Will Trust, of which a surviving spouse is a potential beneficiary, in order for the trust to retain its discretionary status, a spouse nominated as a trustee can only have a minority say in the proceedings.

Please check with all your nominees that they feel able to and are prepared to take on the responsibility. It is also important to consider their potential age.

Guardians

Children under the age of 18 can: have parents; or they can be Wards of Court; or they can have legally appointed guardians. They become adults on their 18th birthday and from that day, they are legally responsible for their own affairs.

A will is an ideal document for appointing guardians for any minor children you may have. They only need to be appointed when both natural parents have died. The request is not necessarily legally binding on the courts, although they will respect your wishes in the vast majority of cases.

Guardians need to be someone the children know and get on well with (provided they are old enough), someone who is capable and willing to take responsibility for them. They must be over eighteen and be based in the same jurisdiction as the child. It is often their favourite uncle or aunt; someone you can trust. We need more than one nomination because there may be a need to name an alternative.

You may consider whether appointing guardians from different sides of your family could give rise to disagreements. Conflicts of interest may also arise if you nominate the same people as trustees, executors, and guardians.

Please check with anyone you propose to appoint that they are prepared to take on the responsibility.

We will need full names and addresses (including postcodes) of any guardians and their relationship to you.

Our standard UK will clauses allow funds from an estate to be used for children’s upkeep and education, at the discretion of the Trustees.

Specific legacies

These are specific items, usually of sentimental value, that you wish to pass to identified individuals.

We do not need to include a catalogue of small items here. You may write a separate letter to your Trustees and Executors in which you can make a list of minor legacies. It should be left with your will, but not attached in any way. Don’t forget to sign and date it.

Gifts of Money

These are gifts of money to specific people, for example godsons and goddaughters; friends; or charities. It may be a specific sum, or a certain fraction of your estate.

If you are leaving money to minors, please specify at which age they should inherit. The minimum age is eighteen, although people often stipulate twenty one.

You cannot leave anything to a pet. If you wish to make provisions for an animal, leave someone (or possibly the pets’ home) some money in trust to look after them.

If you wish to leave something to a charity, please find out the official registered Charity Number and description, clearly to identify the charity to which you wish to donate.

This is the remainder of your estate, beyond any specific legacies and/ or gifts of money. By law, the estate is divided naturally as it passes through the generations. We will need to name all children including those (if any) from previous relationships.

If minors are to inherit, the estate needs to be held in trust by the trustees until the minors reach the age designated by you. The minimum age is eighteen, although people often stipulate twenty one.

Reserve beneficiaries

All your legacies would fail if (for example) you and all the beneficiaries named above were involved in the same road accident. It would be the equivalent of dying intestate, which means that your will and its provisions would not take effect. It is therefore important in appropriate cases, that we include reserve beneficiaries.

Whilst it is in theory possible to cover a large number of eventualities in a will, in practice, we recommend nominating only one layer of reserve beneficiaries.

The odds against this scenario are very long and we would therefore suggest you do not spend too much time thinking about this.

Exclusions

Is there anyone who you think may have a claim on your estate but who you wish deliberately to exclude for any reason? We do not need to know why.

We also need to know if this is a deliberate exclusion or an agreed omission.

We recommend you also make a note of this and keep a record in your personal papers.

Funeral requests

It is common to include funeral requests in your will although these are not binding on your trustees and executors. Quite often, a will is read after a funeral, so only general wishes should be included.

You may specify if you wish to be buried or cremated, and if you have any personal funeral requests.

For those to whom it is of interest, it should be noted that it can be very expensive to be buried at sea, although there are fewer restrictions as to where ashes may be scattered.

Attestation

A will is not valid unless it has been signed and the attestation witnessed by two independent witnesses.

Full signing instructions will be sent out with each will, and it is essential that these are precisely followed. We will be available to deal with any queries you may have.

Also, if you wish, you may return your signed will to us so that we can examine its attestation.

Storage

There is only one copy of a will. Photocopies are not ordinarily admissible in UK courts. Thus all planning would be wasted if a will were lost or destroyed, when needed, following a bereavement.

Our Lifetime Secure Storage facility can therefore be essential in many situations, especially (as is almost always the case) if your will features provisions which would not be consistent with the UK Intestacy Laws. An example would be: if you are married but have children from previous relationships, or if you are married with children and wish to leave UK assets with a value of in excess of ₤125,000 to your spouse. Although you have written your will, it would be meaningless if lost or destroyed.