Protects — your wishes
A will is the only document that lets you decide who inherits, who's in charge, and who raises your children. We draft yours after a proper conversation about your family, face to face, in plain English — and we make sure it's signed and witnessed so it's valid.
Die without one and the rules of intestacy decide everything: who inherits, in what shares, and who administers your estate. Those rules ignore unmarried partners entirely, ignore stepchildren entirely, and can split an estate between a surviving spouse and children in ways nobody would ever choose. If you want to see exactly what would happen to yours, our intestacy checker will show you in under a minute.
A will puts you back in charge. It names your executors, appoints guardians for children under 18, sets the age at which young people inherit, records specific gifts and funeral wishes, and can include trusts where an outright inheritance would be the wrong answer.
For one person — whether you're single, divorced, widowed, or simply have different wishes from your partner. A single will covers everything above and is the right answer more often than people expect, particularly in second relationships where each side wants to provide for different people.
A pair of wills for a couple with matching wishes — typically each leaving everything to the other, then to the same beneficiaries after the second death. They're two separate legal documents, and either of you can change yours at any time, which is worth understanding: mirror wills are a shared intention, not a binding contract. Where you want certainty that your share ultimately reaches your own children — particularly in blended families — a will containing a trust usually does the job mirror wills can't.
Sometimes an outright gift is the wrong shape. A trust inside your will can let your spouse live in the home for life while your share is preserved for your children; protect an inheritance from a beneficiary's divorce or creditors; provide for a disabled or vulnerable person without disturbing their means-tested support; or hold money for young people beyond age 18. We'll tell you honestly whether your situation needs one — many don't, and we won't sell you complexity you don't need. There's more on our trusts page.
Executors and substitutes. Guardians for children under 18. The age at which young beneficiaries inherit. Specific gifts of money or possessions. Charitable legacies — including the reduced rate of inheritance tax where 10% or more of your estate goes to charity. Funeral wishes. What happens if a beneficiary dies before you. And where it's relevant: business interests, foreign property, and provision for pets.
A will only works if it's signed and witnessed correctly, so we supervise that stage rather than leaving you to get it right alone. We store your documents safely, and we recommend a review every three to five years or after any major change — marriage, divorce, births, deaths, a house move, a business sale. Reviews of existing wills, ours or anyone else's, are part of the free consultation.
At your home, our office or by video. Fixed fee agreed in writing before any work begins.
Wills
You can, and for a genuinely simple estate it may hold. The difficulty is that most people can't tell whether theirs is simple — joint property, previous marriages, business interests and foreign assets all create traps that only show up after death, when it's too late to fix. A badly drafted will is often worse than none, because it can be valid enough to bind and wrong enough to hurt.
Executors deal with your estate — collecting assets, paying debts and tax, distributing what's left. Guardians raise your children. They can be the same people, but they're different jobs and often suit different people; part of our conversation is helping you choose well for each.
Broadly yes — there's no forced inheritance in England and Wales. But certain people, including spouses, children and anyone financially dependent on you, can bring a claim if reasonable provision isn't made. If you intend to exclude someone, tell us: how it's documented can make a real difference to whether a challenge succeeds.
Straightforward wills are usually drafted within days of your instructions being confirmed, and the whole process — consultation, drafting, review, signing — typically completes inside two to three weeks. Where there's genuine urgency, tell us and we'll prioritise it.