Dangers of the DIY Will

You may be tempted to use an online Will template and save the cost of going to a solicitor.

The problem with that is, that there is a good chance you will cost your family much, much more than you save in solicitor’s fees.

A recent survey shows that 38,000 families a year suffer because of DIY Wills.

The main risks of the DIY Will are:

1. you don’t follow properly the rigid rules for executing a Will, and what you end up with is not a Will at all;
2. you succeed in making a valid Will but, because you don’t know how the law works, money goes to the wrong people;
3. you succeed in making a valid Will and leaving money to the right people but, because you don’t know how the law works, winding up your estate is more complicated and expensive than it should have been;
4. you succeed in making a valid Will and leaving money to the right people, and you don’t leave any legal landmines but, because you don’t know how Inheritance Tax works, the Treasury gets more of your money than it should have.

If you get any of this wrong, the cost to your family in money and in heartache will be out of all proportion to your ‘saving’.

Writing a Will needs a good understanding of your personal circumstances, and of the laws of equity, succession, property, and family, and of the workings of Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax.  A ‘one size fits all’ paper form or online template may fit you, but it may not.

Why gamble with your family’s future for the sake of a few hundred pounds?

At Colemans, we have a team of solicitors who specialise in this demanding area of the law.  For more information on Wills email us on PrivateClient@colemans.co.uk, or call on 01628 631 051 to ask to speak to a solicitor in our Private Client team.

Categorised in: Wills, Probate and Trusts

This post was written by Colemans Solicitors LLP