When it comes to creating Wills in Kelvedon we have to answer the following question more than any other –
Why do I need to pay to create a Will using your service, when I can get a Will downloaded from the internet, or even buy a blank Will template from somewhere like WHSmith and fill it out for a couple of pounds?

In answer to this question, there are actually many different reasons why just downloading a Will from the Internet or filling out a blank Will template is an incredibly bad idea for writing your Wills in Kelvedon and other locations throughout Essex.

First, if you insist upon downloading a will template from the Internet, have you ever stopped to think who prepared the template in the first place? The website itself could have been created in around 2 hours, a decent domain name could have been purchased for around £10, the will template could have been created for about £25 and a few random templates could have been made up so they may then start processing orders within a day. Additionally, if you take the time to view one of these templates you will typically see typographical errors at the very least and, far more seriously, significant legal errors that may mean the final document is unenforceable.

In addition, jurisdictions issues may potentially arise with the template that you choose to use since it may not actually be enforceable in the UK. One can only wonder how many people have used a template that was actually meant for one of the states in the US, by way of example.

Furthermore, there is also a need to note that laws do change and the templates themselves sadly do not evolve at the same time to cater for matters including same-sex marriages.

However, it is not just the templates themselves that can be problematic. it is also the fact that the form itself can be completed incorrectly.

Although you essentially have the freedom to do whatever you want with your estate, this principle still needs to be understood in line with the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1938 which means people need to take care of their family and dependents.

Listing all of your property and possessions is not a good idea because you will not remember everything you have and so you are usually not going to die the very day that you make your Will and so you will typically acquire and sell your possessions throughout the course of your life. Therefore, there is a need to write a Will that will work for you in ten years, twenty years and beyond unless something significant changes in your life like getting married, divorced or having children and deals with all of your property and possessions.

Another common problem is that we often hear people say “My Will is very simple, I just want everything to go to my spouse” but what happens if both of your pass away? Also, if your estate is to be divided between your children but one of them predeceases you then what will happen with your estate? What about if your first choice executor is unable or unwilling to act?

Basically, to resolve such problems you need to imagine every possibility to ensure your Will works. This means everybody that you refer to in the Will itself needs to be uniquely and unambiguously identifiable so it is not enough to, for example, refer to your three cousins because you could actually have more by the time of your passing

You also need to know that your estate will firstly pay out debts, taxes owed and funeral expenses, it is then necessary to pay out any specific bequests to beneficiaries before then paying out your residual estate which is not just everything other than the specific items but also everything that cannot be distributed according to your preferred wishes.

Speaking of a person’s residual estate, you may not believe this but we have actually had people ask how their estate can be divided equally between 7 children when expressed as a fraction. Somewhat sadly for those that distribute their estate by listing specific items and then a residual clause, they often get tripped up on the division of that residual clause can take some head scratching for some people.

Often when using a Will template you may be required to handwrite parts of the document as neatly as possible because you would be surprised how often things like ‘£30,00’ is written into a Will. With the position of the comma is this £30, £300, £3,000 or £30,000 with just a missing 0?

It is also important to note that a well drafted Last Will and Testament usually runs for about 5-7 pages and includes a number of powers being granted to the Executor which involves legal wording that is impossible for the layperson to produce.

If any of your children are under the age 18 they cannot inherit anything directly so anything they are likely to inherit must go into trust until this age is reached or even older like 25; although a well written Will will permit children under the age when they can inherit to gain access to parts of the trust for their medical care or education.

There is also a need to recognise the fact that many Will templates do not prompt you to do things like name guardians for your children which is something that is very important in the event that both you and your spouse or partner pass away together if you want to avoid them falling under the care of the authorities.

It is also a common misconception that your Will is meant to set out your funeral wishes for your funeral service which is wrong because they are just that – wishes – and so they are not legally enforceable. Moreover, certain procedures need to be followed to provide for the administration of your Will including proving it is the final document to be administered which usually means your funeral will likely have long since been dealt with. Therefore, aside from stating whether you want to be buried or cremated and have a religious or non-religious ceremony, we recommend that you get your funeral wishes sorted with a prepaid funeral plan to remove the additional worry for your family and loved ones that you leave behind.

Also, where you have used a will template, how do you update it? The worst thing you can do is cross something out and re-write a portion of your Will because the whole document could be invalidated since nobody will know when the change was made and under what circumstances. You may have heard of a codicil which is a separate document that refers back to the original Will for dealing with this problem but the reality is that you are better off getting your Will updated with a professional Will writer particularly if they wrote the original document for you since they are likely to have saved a copy for you as part of the service they provided to you.

As an additional note, witnesses cannot gain anything from the contents of your Will since they may end up forfeiting their inheritance if they are beneficiaries and could even damage the authenticity of the Will itself.

Finally, if you take the time to prepare a Will it is vital that you tell someone else where it is stored otherwise you will effectively die without a Will and so this is another reason why it is important you get a Will produced by a professional Will writer like Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services that will stress the importance of storage and will actually store the Will for you.

Contact Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services today via www.andrewdouglaswills.co.uk to see how we could help you to get your affairs in order to protect both yours and your loved ones best interests when it comes to writing Wills in Kelvedon and throughout Essex.

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