If you choose not to draw up a will, then who decides who acquires what? It may not turn out the way you would have liked. To make sure your preferences are fulfilled, you should to make a will.

If you perish without leaving a probate will it’s the courts that decides how your estate is divided. The intestacy laws will be applied and it could not be how you’d have expected or wanted.

If you are legally married or have a civil partner but no children and your property is valued at a predefined amount or less then your partner would get the total of the property including any life assurance cover . If the estate is valued above this threshold and you have existing family, your spouse would still get this figure, in addition to 50% of the remainder. There is an priority in which family would inherit, with existing parents situated at the top of the list, followed by brothers and sisters and so on.

Should you have a civil partner and offspring then your spouse would receive the specific amount as above and half of the excess. The children will inherit half of the total over the excess right away and the remaining 50% on the death of your spouse.

Should you have offspring but no legal spouse, then your offspring would share the inheritance. This could not be as you’d have wanted. You might have a companion who relies on you and who you might have wanted to get at least part of your estate, who’d receive nothing.

To remove all potential apprehension about your assets, regardless of how straightforward it may appear, you should write a last will and testament. There are many ways to do this. You may make it on your own or hire a trained will agent or a solicitor.

Often people build their own last will and testament, generally using a form which can obtain from stationers. Be wary should you proceed down this route – it’s deceptively easy to make a mistake and you could even make it invalid. The expense of having a will constructed, especially a comparatively basic one, is not prohibitive and you can be sure that your wishes will be fulfilled.

A skilled will agent or a solicitor will be experienced with dealing with all forms of queries and will be able to aid you. You might have enquiries about starting trusts and maybe inheritance tax.
Now you’ve constructed your will, it’s a good decision to reassess it periodically, as your situation changes. If you decide to alter it, then it is probably better to nullify your earlier one and have it redone. If the amendments are small, it might be simpler to write a codicil to make a section of the last will and testament and to be used in conjunction with it. Any codicil will have to be made in the same way as the will in relevance signatures and witnesses.

Please be aware that any health insurance cover will terminate on the death of the will holder and no value will be attributed to It in the will.