Have you made your will - and is it up to date ? We have been making wills for clients for the last 100 years and still come across estates where there is no will.

We can advise on all aspects of will drafting including international wills, appointment of executors and guardians, legacies, life interest and discretionary trusts, rights of residence, how to save Inheritance Tax and more.

If you are married and have children, a will gives you the means of saying how your family should be provided for. If you do not make a will, the law will dictate how your possessions are distributed. What the law dictates may be very different to what you would wish. If you have no spouse or partner or children, your will is the only way you can benefit friends and charities after death. Without a will, the law may dictate that your estate passes to the government.

Many people assume that, when they die, all their property and possessions pass automatically to their spouse or partner. This is not so, as it will depend on the value of the estate, and on which relations are alive at the time of your death, and partners are in a far worse position than spouses. This may mean that your spouse or partner has to make a claim on your estate. The uncertainty and the expense of settling how the estate is to be distributed is likely to be substantial, and vastly more than the cost of a properly prepared will.

If you have children you will need to consider how they are to be looked after if both parents die while they are still young. There may be other people whom you want to remember in your will, not necessarily relatives but friends, church and charities.

We are often asked for a "simple" will. We have administered literally thousands of estates. We know from experience what problems commonly occur. What might appear as simple may in law be inadvisable, or unachievable, or devastatingly wrong. We can advise you not only on how to achieve what you want but how to save on inheritance tax in the process.

We also offer a pre-probate check to enable you to identify your papers, valuables and possessions to ensure so far as possible that your executors are able to locate these when the time comes.

Tel 0118 9573425 Fax 0118 59573902