There are millions of adults in the UK who don’t currently have a will. In fact, over half of UK adults are yet to write one. That statistic is quite shocking, but seeing as though ‘death’ is somewhat of a taboo, or a topic of conversation we often avoid in the average UK household, it may not come as a surprise to many.
It’s extremely important you make a will. Many people are under the impression that creating a will is very expensive, or not entirely necessary – when actually, it’s incredibly essential.
We’ve found an insightful, interactive webpage which highlights some common reasons why people don’t make wills.
Here’s some common excuses for not wanting to write a will;
- “It’s too time consuming” – although the whole process can take a few weeks, it’s unlikely that you’ll have to dedicate more than a few hours to the process yourself.2. “I won’t die anytime soon” – hopefully not – but it’s still better to get something in place, just in case. You don’t want to leave your loved ones with financial details to sort through when they’re dealing with grief.
3. “I have life insurance” – it’s important to make sure that, the people who you want to leave assets to, are specified and that there is no ‘expiry date’ on the policy.
4. “It’s too expensive” – there’s never a good time to spend money, but setting up a will can save your loved ones thousands in taxes and legal costs. In addition, setting up a will is relatively inexpensive – unless you have a particular complicated situation with overseas assets etc.
5. “I don’t have anything to leave” – what you have may be worth a lot more than you think, in either a monetary or sentimental sense. Whatever your financial situation is now, that could also change in the future.
Another way to look at the issue of making a will, is examine what impact NOT making one can have. For example, if you are not married to your partner, if you haven’t written a will, it is unlikely that he or she will receive anything. Not having a will could also lead to family disputes, and the legal and tax costs could amount to thousands. Finally, if you die without a will, your estate could be divided according to intestacy rules – which again could cause problems within the family.
The main reason for making a will is so that your loved ones do not have to deal with financial and legal issues whilst they are grieving the loss of a family member. There’s no better time than the present to make enquiries and get one put in place. You can contact specific Will Writers, or even create a DIY will. However, for complete peace of mind, we would normally recommend contacting a local solicitor, as they are regulated for the legal ombudsman, and will ensure that the will is compliant from a legal point of view.
