Most DIY wills are standard form documents that do not cater for your individual needs. As well as this, it is important to take advice on how to minimise your potential inheritance tax bill before making a will.

I will tailor-make your will according to your needs and wishes and I will also hand deliver your will to you and oversee you signing it to ensure it takes effect in the correct legal manner.

As well as this, I will advise you on where to store your will, which life events will trigger a revision or addition to your will and how future changes can be made – and more importantly how they should not be made!

I understand there are many choices available to you online, so thank you for stopping at my site.

Sharing your personal details and having someone visit you at home to plan your estate requires a relationship of trust and honesty.

I believe transparency from the outset is very important which is why I will personally visit you twice and my charges which are inclusive of VAT are listed Here.

Our relationship will not stop here, I will be available to you at any time you wish, to answer any queries, whether it’s about your will or changes in your life.

It’s important to make sure that after you die, your assets and possessions (known as your ‘estate’) go to the people you choose, such as your family members, charities, or people you live with but are not married to or in a civil partnership with.

If a person dies without having made a will, or there is a will but it is later found to be invalid (see next question) the law will intervene through the rules of intestacy.

This means the law uses a set list of people that could benefit from a deceased person’s estate and uses that to distribute assets on death.

The result of this is that the deceased person’s wishes are not considered.

If you don’t legally qualify as being able to make a will, for example, if you have a certain illness or you fail to follow the legal requirements on how a will should be signed, for example, you choose the ‘wrong’ witnesses – then your will is going to be invalid.

There are many other factors that could make your will invalid.

Your assets and possessions account for more than just your home.

Your estate is made up of savings and investments, life insurance, pension policies, a business, and any property abroad.

Don’t forget you may want to leave certain personal items to named individuals.

More and more people are now living together as ‘cohabitees’ rather than getting married/civil partnership.

If a person dies without a will and has a cohabitee, the cohabitee will receive nothing from the estate, making them potentially homeless.

The courts do have limited powers to redirect property or assets of a deceased person to their cohabitee, but there are limitations as to who can apply.

An important life event such as having a baby, moving house, or getting divorced are just some of many reasons why you should review your will and possibly update it.

Getting married has the effect of cancelling a will made previously, unless the will names the person you are marrying.

A trust is a legal arrangement where you transfer one or more of your assets to a person you have chosen to act as trustee. The trustee will then manage the assets for your loved ones.

Once the transfer of property to the trustee occurs, you no longer own those assets, and if you no longer own them, then usually, no inheritance tax will be payable upon your death.

Every adult in England and Wales has the freedom to make a will on whatever terms he or she wishes, this is known as testamentary freedom.

However, the law recognises that a person who makes a will understands that he or she may be morally obliged to provide for their children.

You can leave your children out of your will, but this would need to be done in a way that minimises the likelihood of claims from your children after your death.

You can set up a trust where your partner will have the benefit of living in the home after your death.

On her death the home will pass to your children.

You can set up a trust where your trustees can manage your assets for the benefit of your children until an age you specify your children need to reach.