By Sarah McDermott, Paralegal
You do not necessarily need to use a solicitor to draft your Will, you can make it yourself. However, the law surrounding Wills is especially complex and so it may be helpful to receive some expert advice. Would you want to risk getting your Will wrong?
By instructing a solicitor to make your Will for you, you will receive more advice than “just making your Will”, including inheritance tax advice, the use of trusts, possible claims against your estate, and other complexities of the law, which may help you decide on what you with to achieve in your Will. Solicitors consider all aspects of your estate and what is contained within it. There is a specific way of signing a Will, and if this is not carried out correctly, then your Will will not be valid, and your wishes may not be carried out. By using a solicitor, you can guarantee that your Will has been signed correctly.
You can be sure that there would be no mistakes in your Will, which could have huge repercussions for your family and other beneficiaries. However, on the extremely rare occasions when something does go wrong, solicitors hold professional indemnity insurance, so there will be funds available to pay to your estate for any loss suffered. We are also highly regulated, by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which means that you or your beneficiaries would have someone to complain to if we have made a mistake. Solicitors quite often offer storage of Wills, to make sure that they are safe from fire, flood or simply getting lost. Here at Onions & Davies, we do not charge for storage, and we also register all our Wills on the Certainty National Wills Register, which means that, if, upon your death, your executors do not know if you have a Will or where it is, then they can carry out a search of the register to find it.
It is possible for a Will to be challenged upon your death. Two common causes of this are that the Will was made under pressure from a third party, or that you did not have sufficient mental capacity when you made it. Using a solicitor ensures that these doubts are removed, and full attendance notes are kept of the meetings between you and the solicitor, documenting your instructions.
Making a Will is one of the most significant legal and financial things that you will do. Here at Onions & Davies, we can ensure that you are fully advised on all the implications, and we can guarantee that this will give you and your beneficiaries the peace of mind that everything is correct. Please contact Sarah at sarah@onionsanddavies.co.uk for an appointment.