If you marry or enter a civil partnership after the date of your Will it will be automatically revoked (unless made in contemplation of the specific marriage or civil partnership). If you become a parent or adopt any children, then you must consider updating your will.

If you divorce, have your marriage annulled or declared void after the date of your Will then in most cases any appointment of your former husband/wife as Executor will be automatically cancelled and any devise or bequest to him/her will lapse. 

If you change your name or anyone mentioned in the Will changes theirs.

If an Executor dies or becomes unable/unwilling or unsuitable to act.

If you have specifically bequeathed any item/property which you then sell or change in nature.

If your estate increases in value advice may be required regarding Inheritance Tax liability and ways to minimise this during your lifetime.

If you wish at any time to revoke or amend any clause of your Will. 

If you own or acquire assets in a foreign country or make or amend a foreign Will. In such cases we advise you to make a will in each jurisdiction or country where you hold assets or property. Therefore any UK will should be limited to your UK assets only.

If you own property jointly as joint tenants then the property e.g., a house or a bank account will pass automatically to the surviving co-owner. This will bypass your will and in other words would mean that your will would not determine to whom that asset passed. If that were the case then you should serve in your lifetime a notice of severance on the other co-owner. This would then mean that you owned as tenants in common and your share will pass under your will. It is important that you notify us of these assets which may be jointly owned so that we can take if you wish the necessary steps to sever the ownership. 

English Law provides an opportunity for a wide variety of people to claim financial provision from an estate if they feel that a deceased’s will or intestacy does not make reasonable financial provision’ for them. To bring a claim, an applicant must fall into one of the following categories: surviving spouses and civil partners, former spouses and civil partners, children (including adult children and anyone who was treated as if they were a child of the deceased), cohabitees and dependants. If you believe there are people who may make a claim against your estate and for whom you have not provided for in your will then please let us know and we can advise you accordingly.

Unless we are specifically instructed to do so we will not advise on inheritance tax and the ways of mitigating it. We usually charge at an hourly rate for such work and if you wish to obtain an estimate please let us know.  

You will note in our wills, that we have the standard STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) provisions. These are a body of rules drawn up by the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners to enable trustees to act as efficiently as possible in the administration of any trust and cover things such as charging, investment and insurance. If you want further advice in relation to these powers we will do so and advise you of the costs of providing the detailed advice. 

Please note that the children are defined as natural children and adopted children but not stepchildren although many clients regard stepchildren as their own they need to specifically mention them in their will if they wish them to inherit.

We prepare what are often referred to as “mirror” Wills – Wills which are nearly identical and which both leave assets to the same beneficiary or beneficiaries. The most common example of mirror Wills would be couples who leave everything to the survivor of them, and then to their children. Either testator can always revoke their Will during their lifetime, provided they have mental capacity. It is important for people making complementary Wills to consider whether the survivor is free to alter or revoke their Will following the first death. If the survivor is not to have this freedom, consideration should be given to a more formal testamentary trust being incorporated into the Will. Should it be agreed by the parties that the Wills are to be binding mutual Wills, this fact should be recorded preferably in writing and within the Will itself. If you wish to have prepared anything else apart from a will which is not binding then we would have to charge extra for that service, as it involves much more responsibility.