Wills Solicitors
A Will is probably one of the most important documents you will ever make in your lifetime and Peter Peter & Wright have a team of Will Writing experts on hand to assist you in making your Will.
We can help guide and support you through the Will making process and assist you with your estate planning.
It is essential to ensure that you have an up-to-date Will in place to ensure that your estate passes in accordance with your wishes. If you sadly die without a Will in place, then your estate may end up passing in accordance with the Intestacy Rules, which means that your assets could go to those family members that you would not necessarily want to inherit from you.
We offer a unique and individual service that is tailored to your needs.
Our private client services include:
- Will writing
- Reviewing and amending Wills
- Preparation of Wills and Trusts
- Lasting Powers of Attorney and Deputyships
- Obtaining Grants of Probate and other Grants of Representation
- Administration of estates
- Trust creation, administration and termination
Contact our Wills solicitors today
Please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be pleased to assist you with your Will requirements. You can either telephone us or please fill out our enquiry form and someone will get back to you soon.
Our Wills services
Wills writing
Whether you think you have a small estate or a large estate, or whether you think your Will is straightforward or complicated, we have a wealth of experience on hand to ensure that your Will is made in accordance with your requirements.
There are strict legal requirements to make a Will, and we will ensure that your Will is properly signed and witnessed to make sure that it is legally valid.
We would always advise you to have an up-to-date Will in place and we do not recommend DIY Wills. Having your Will properly drawn up by a professional could help prevent disputes that could be made against your estate or if a challenge was made against the validity of your Will and or your testamentary capacity.
We know that sadly families do not always get on and if there is a particular reason why you are excluding a potential beneficiary, we will advise you on the implications of doing so and how you might try to reduce a claim that might be made against your estate and or a challenge to your Will.
Reviewing and amending Wills
Once you have made your Will it is essential that you regularly review your Will as and when your circumstances change or when the law changes. Marriage or a Civil Partnership will revoke your Will so it is essential to review your Will if this event occurs. A divorce can also affect your Will so you should review it if you are going through a divorce.
You can contact us anytime to find out whether you need to review and update your Will.
Preparation of Wills, Trusts and Deeds
Wills often incorporate a Trust and there are various types of Trust that can be used for all sorts of situations. Life Interest Trusts are often used in Wills to try to ring fence or protect assets i.e. the family home and can be extremely useful when dealing with second marriages/protecting assets for the children of a previous marriage/relationship.
A Discretionary Trust is a useful way to provide for someone who is a vulnerable/disabled beneficiary or if there is another reason why their inheritance needs to be protected for them, by their Trustees.
Trusts can be extremely complex and often require separate advice from an accountants so that the tax implications can be carefully considered.
As well as Will Trusts we also specialise in the creation of lifetime Trusts.
Deeds of Variation are another specialism of our Private Client Department and can be put into place for a variety of reasons.
Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA)
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a very important document that enables you to appoint someone else (called an Attorney) to ‘step into your shoes’ to make decisions for you if you are unable to make decisions yourself. There are two different types of LPA and you can choose to make one or both types of LPA. The two types are:
- Property and Financial Affairs LPA – This allows you to choose someone (you can have more than one person) to make decisions about, for example, managing your bank accounts, paying your bills, dealing with investments, selling your property etc
- Health and Welfare LPA – again you can have more than one person as your Attorney, and this LPA enables your Attorney to make decisions about your health and welfare including making decisions for you about whether your Attorneys can give or refuse consent to life sustaining treatment. This LPA can only be used by your Attorneys if you were mentally incapable of making health and welfare decisions yourself.
We hope we may never need to use a LPA but having them in place can make things easier and much less stressful for our loved ones if they have to make a decision for us.
Obtaining Grants of Probate
When someone dies there is a legal process to be followed and very often the Grant of Probate must be applied for. If there is no Will a similar application is made for a Grant of Letters of Administration and the Intestacy Rules will apply. Depending on the situation there are various other Grants of Representation that may be required that we can assist with.
Going through a bereavement can be an incredibly difficult and upsetting time. We have a specialist team of Private Client lawyers who can act for you in obtaining the Grant of Representation to ease the administrative burden on you at this sad time.
Winding up Estates
As well as applying for the Grant of Representation our specialist Private Client team can deal with an administration of a loved one’s estate. No two estates are the same, but we can guide and support you through the process. We can deal with as much or as little of the estate administration as you wish. We can deal with encashment/transfer of assets, deal with the sale/transfer of property, liaise with legatees and beneficiaries, prepare estate accounts and deal with distribution of the estate in accordance with the Will/in accordance with the Intestacy Rules if there is no Will.
Why choose our Wills solicitors?
Our Wills department will help guide you through each stage of the Will making process. We will explain things to you in plain English and we will not bamboozle you with legal jargon. We will take our time and listen to your needs and if you are unable to travel to one of our offices, we are always willing and happy to come and visit you at home.
We know that many clients put off making a Will for all sorts of reasons. We pride ourselves on being here for you, to help you with your Will so that you have the peace of mind in knowing that your Will is in place for the future.
Frequently asked questions about Wills
What is a Will?
A Will is a legal document that sets out, amongst other things, who inherits your estate when you die. When you make your Will, you can decide who will be your Executors (they are the people in charge of sorting out your estate in accordance with your Will). If you have young children, you can name those people who you would want to look after your children if you sadly died and they were under 18 at the time of your death. You may also want to include your funeral wishes in your Will which may make decisions about burial/cremation easier to make for your loved ones who would know of your wishes.
What happens if I die without a Will?
If you die without a Will then your estate may not pass to who you would want it to pass to. The Intestacy Rules (a legal set of rules) would apply and this decides who would be entitled to share your estate. The person entitled to administrator your estate (an Administrator) would also be decided upon in accordance with the law and again, this may be someone you would not want to be involved in your estate.
Some intestacies can be extremely complicated, especially where there are no near family members and in such cases specialist tracing agents are required to track down potential beneficiaries. This can lead to long delays in the estate administration and vast costs being incurred.
An intestate estate may also give rise to a claim by a beneficiary who has not been adequately provided for.
What is the difference between a Will and a Trust?
The main difference is that if a Will leaves specific assets to a named beneficiary or beneficiaries and if the gift is ‘absolute’ then the beneficiary becomes the legal owner of it. Whereas a Trust gives an asset i.e. a Property to the Trustees who hold the Property on trust for the benefit of a beneficiary for an intended purpose, for example for a minor child/grandchild until they reach 21 years or, for a specific time i.e. for a spouse for their lifetime.
A Trust can take effect on death i.e. a Will Trust or it could be a lifetime Trust and created during someone’s lifetime.
How often should I update my Will?
You should keep your Will regularly reviewed and you should update your Will if your situation changes, for example if your assets alter or if your personal circumstances change i.e. you marry, enter a civil partnership or if you separate or divorce.
If there is a change in tax laws i.e. following the last Budget announcements with the proposed changes to the Inheritance Tax laws and Agricultural/Business Property Relief, anyone affected should review their Will.
What are the costs involved in making a Will?
A single straightforward Will costs from £350 plus VAT. Simple ‘mirror’ Wills for a couple are from £475 plus VAT.
If you are considering have a Trust in your Will then the cost is from £950 plus VAT for a single Life Interest Trust Will or from £1,075 plus VAT for ‘mirror’ Life Interest Trust Wills and from £1,075 plus VAT for a single Discretionary Trust Will and from £1,250 plus VAT for ‘mirror’ Discretionary Trust Wills.
Contact our Wills solicitors today
If you haven’t yet made your Will or if you want to review your Will then please call us today and we will be happy to help you. Or please fill out our enquiry form and someone will get back to you soon.