Do I need a Solicitor to make a Will?
Having made the sensible decision to make a Will, you then need to decide whether to write your own Will or instruct a professional to prepare it for you. Midwinters Partner, Mark Lynham (mark.lynham@midwinters.co.uk ), explains the risks involved in not using a Solicitor:
There is no requirement for a Solicitor to be used to make your Will. There are obviously benefits to making a Will yourself – you save yourself a few hundred pounds and you don’t need to meet a Solicitor at their offices or at home. However, before you go down this route, you should consider the consequences of getting it wrong.
It is incredibly easy to get even a simple Will wrong. In an area of law where the use of the correct language is very important, Solicitors know how to word your Will to achieve what you want. Even if you use the correct wording, failure to adhere to the legal requirements for a valid Will, for example in respect of how it must be executed, can leave you with an invalid Will.
Making a mistake now can result in problems after your death which would need to be resolved by your loved ones at a most difficult time. Resolving such issues can result in lengthy legal disputes which might incur considerable costs and deplete the estate for your Beneficiaries.
Solicitors know what questions need to be asked in order for a comprehensive Will, meeting your wishes, to be prepared and also know how different life events, such as divorce, marriage or the death of an intended Beneficiary, can affect the terms of a Will.
There are alternatives to Solicitors when it comes to making a Will. Any Google search will promptly identify any number of Will Writing companies offering their services, often at seemingly incredibly low prices. Before deciding to use such a company, you should appreciate that these are not Solicitors, are not subject to the same regulation as Solicitors and often have no insurance in case anything goes wrong. In the event of such companies going out of business, there would be no-one left behind to deal with the mess that might have been created by a badly-drafted Will. On the other hand, Solicitors are required to be insured and so, if something went wrong, there is a safety net of insurance which does not apply to a Will without the help of a Solicitor.
This is a brief summary of the many good reasons for using a Solicitor to make your Will.
At Midwinters, we can offer an obligation-free initial appointment and can tailor our services to suit your particular circumstances. Please call us on 01242 514 674 to discuss further.