Do I need a Will?

According to the National Wills Report 2025, nearly 70% of UK adults do not have a Will. Wills are optional; you don’t have to have one, but the consequences of not having one can be detrimental and expensive at a time when your loved ones are grieving.

Do I need a Will?

In short, yes. If you own assets and/or have children, you really should have a Will.

According to research by The National Wills Register, there are several reasons why people put off making a Will.

Top reasons why people don’t make a Will:

• They don’t understand how they work
• Wills are too expensive
• They haven’t found the time to sort it out
• They think they have too few assets to warrant having a Will

No one likes to think about their own death, but proper estate planning can help ensure you decide what happens to your hard-earned estate when you die, whether that is to benefit your family, your friends or the charities you’ve supported over the years.

Why do I need a Will?

By preparing a Will, you make it absolutely clear to whom you want to leave your estate and possessions.

There are many myths and misconceptions when it comes to Wills and what happens to your estate after you die. A common one is that the estate of a married person passes entirely to their spouse, irrespective of whether there are children from the marriage and whether they have a Will or not.

Making a Will is the only way to be sure that your property and possessions will be passed to your loved ones.

Key reasons to make a Will

Avoid intestacy

If you die without a Will, you have died intestate. The law dictates that assets are passed to Beneficiaries; however, the Beneficiaries may not be those you’d choose to benefit if, say, those nearest family members have not had contact with you for many years!

Without a Will, you would have no Executors. Therefore, your estate cannot be administered until personal representatives have been appointed by the court. If you have a Will, you choose who your Executors will be, and they can then act with authority given to them under the terms of your Will, upon your death.

Appoint Guardians for your children

All parents should consider making a Will so that they can appoint Guardians to formally undertake the responsibility of raising their minor children, should they die before they attain the age of 18 years, where no other person has parental responsibility for them.

Cohabitees have no inheritance rights

Another misconception is that, when you die, all will pass to your ‘common law wife/husband’. If you and your partner live together and you are not married or in a civil partnership, the law regards you as single for the purpose of inheritance. This means that you and your partner do not inherit from each other in the event of death, without a Will stating that this is your wish.

You need to create a Will to protect your partner should you die. Your partner does not have an automatic right to inherit from you and vice versa.

If you die without a Will, your blood relations stand first in line to organise your funeral, deal with your personal property and effects and to inherit assets which you (and potentially your partner) have worked hard to achieve over the lifetime of your relationship. This is irrespective of how long you and your partner have been together, or even if you have children together.

Avoid partial intestacy

Inexperienced Will Writers or people who choose to write their own Wills often get things wrong. They may not consider the ‘what ifs’, so that if one or several beneficiaries in the Will die before you, there are no clauses setting out who the estate or relevant shares will pass to.

If full consideration is not given to the age, nature and relationship of the beneficiary to you, and if the Will is not drafted to take account of all possibilities, you could die partially intestate, and the law takes over again. This is why it is so important to ask a professional and qualified lawyer to draft your Will.

Protect inheritance for children from previous relationships

If you and your partner/spouse have children from previous relationships, you might want to provide for your new partner/spouse but still protect the inheritance for your own children.

You need to seek advice from a legal professional who understands the complexities of Trust law; Trusts can also help to protect assets in later life for care fees.

Avoid sideways disinheritance

If you die and your spouse remarries, what happens to your estate? If they should die following their new marriage and haven’t made a Will to protect your respective children, your estate may pass to the new husband/wife, effectively disinheriting your children. This is known as ‘sideways disinheritance’.

A Will can be drafted to protect against this happening to your joint wealth.

Protect vulnerable Beneficiaries

If you have a Beneficiary who is disabled or has additional complex needs, and they are unable to manage their own financial affairs or are vulnerable to influence/financial abuse from others, you should consider appointing monies to them in Trust. This ensures their inheritance is protected to provide for them, but does not give them control of the money.

You choose Trustees when making your Will, and it will be their job to manage the Trust for your vulnerable beneficiary for the remainder of their life. You then decide what happens to the Trust in the event of their death.

Wayward/immature beneficiaries

If you die without a Will and your children stand to inherit, the law determines that they’ll inherit at 18. If you think your child might not be best placed to manage a large sum of money at the age of 18, you can stipulate a later age when you make a Will.

Who can write my Will?

Technically, anyone can write a Will; however, it is wise to instruct a lawyer who is legally qualified and specialises in this area of law. They can advise you on potential pitfalls, such as tax implications or the risk of future inheritance disputes.

You should also look out for a lawyer who is STEP accredited. STEP is a global professional body, with more than 22,000 members who are recognised as being specialists in the field of Will Writing, Estate and Trust administration, and estate planning.

Choosing a Will Writer at a reputable law firm also means that you and they can lean on the expertise of other areas, such as Lasting Powers of Attorney and Trusts.

Blog | Who should prepare my Will?

Contact us about making a Will

Need a Will? Speak to our specialist Wills, Trusts and probate solicitors in Bristol by calling 0117 905 9763 or complete our online enquiry form.

Alternatively, you can click here to request an estimate for our Will writing.