Our frequently asked questions

A will is more than just a document. It’s a plan for the future.

You can:

• choose who will administer your estate, like family members, friends, professionals or a combination. These are your executors, and they’ll pass on your assets to your beneficiaries.
• lay out who will inherit your assets – and on what terms
• appoint trustees for any ongoing trusts created in your will
• name guardians for any minor children
• express your preferences for your funeral wishes
• specify particular assets, including business assets, farming assets and specific items or collections (jewellery, cars, art)
• maximise tax efficiency
• address assets located outside of the UK, like holiday comes and foreign bank accounts.

Plus, you can relax knowing you’ve recorded your wishes and objectives in a way that’s legally binding.

If you die without one, the laws of intestacy will govern your estate. So, the distribution of your assets will be based on strict legal rules. That means you might not get the outcomes you want – and unintended beneficiaries could get your assets.

You should take special care if you’re a co-habiting couple, own assets jointly with someone other than your spouse or civil partner, or have assets located outside the UK.

We follow these timeframes – no matter how you choose to write your will. We send:

• Draft wills within 10 working days of receiving your final instructions and payment
• Amended draft wills within 5 working days of a request for amendment
• Final wills within 5 working days of draft approval.

We’ll also send copy wills within 2 working days of receiving the executed final will. If your situation is urgent, let us know straight away, so we can adjust the timings.

Mirror wills are a pair of wills for a couple leaving assets to the survivor when the first partner dies and then to the same beneficiaries on the second partners death.

This is a supplemental document to your will. It makes minor changes but leaves everything else intact.

You can add as many codicils to your will as you need – but they’re only suitable for very simple amends. For any complicated changes, we recommend creating a new will.

A codicil may seem like a cost-effective way to make changes. But we often recommend creating a new will instead. This can help avoid any problems in the future, like a lost or misplaced codicil.

Yes. Many people think that living together for years makes them ‘common law spouses’ with the same rights as married couples or civil partners. But this isn’t true.

A co-habiting partner has no automatic entitlement to their partner’s estate. That’s why it’s so important to put arrangements in place, especially if there are minor children involved.

Make sure you have peace of mind and security for your future.

Marriage

Unless you make a will with a specific marriage in mind, it’ll automatically be revoked when you say “I do”. And you’ll be treated as if you don’t have a will – with intestacy rules governing the distribution of your estate.

Divorce

A divorce doesn’t revoke your will, but it has a big impact. On the date your marriage or civil partnership is dissolved, your former spouse or civil partner is considered to have passed away before you.

Financial arrangements during a divorce can be complex. So, it’s a good idea to update your will. This can be either temporarily or for the long term once your financial settlement is finalised. It’s all about making sure things are clear, so your wishes are honoured

You’ll need to consider your assets, including their nature and location, whether it’s owned personally or in a corporate vehicle or a trust. It’s key to seek advice as to the succession and administration of these types of assets.

It’s also sensible to co-ordinate this effort when reviewing your will, making sure arrangements made in another jurisdiction don’t revoke or conflict with your will in the UK. 

So, sometimes you’ll need multiple wills. But we’re here to help you with this assessment and communicate with legal professionals in other jurisdictions.

Once you’ve chosen the option that fits your needs and given your instructions, we’ll take your payment online. We’ll verify your identity at the same time. Once that’s all done, we’ll process your will instructions based on the service you’ve picked.

If you’ve chosen our post or phone-based services, you can pay online or over the phone. 

If you lose capacity without an appointed attorney, your loved ones could face delays, uncertainty, stress and legal expenses. They may need to make an application to the Court of Protection to appoint a deputy.

Read more about our Court of Protection team or talk to one of our power of attorney solicitors to check the options available.

An LPA only takes effect once it’s been registered with the OPG.

You can register it whenever you want. If you register it right away, it’s simply stored safely.

That’s because registration doesn’t mean you’ve lost capacity. You can carry on making decisions until you do. Just remember, an LPA can’t be used at all without registration – even if it’s needed. A Health and Care Decisions LPA can only be used once you have lost capacity.

Some of our clients anticipate the need to register an LPA once they’ve been diagnosed with an illness or started living in care. We’ve got a team of experienced power of attorney solicitors to make sure everything’s done without disturbing your comfort or peace of mind as you get ready for the future.

A completed LPA form needs to be sent to the OPG, along with the requisite court fee. The fee is currently £92 per document.

Please note that the OPG registration process time can fluctuate. Check the current registration timescale on the gov.uk website.

To help prevent any problems later, you could take professional advice and fill out the forms with the help of a power of attorney lawyer.

Yes. It’s possible to object to the registration of an LPA for a loved one. You’ll need to lodge an application with the OPG – and we’d recommend getting legal advice before doing so.

As long as you’ve still got the mental capacity, you can revoke your LPA – then create a new one. But you must do this with a formal revocation and not by altering the original LPA.

If your attorney is your spouse or civil partner, a divorce, dissolution or annulment of the marriage or civil partnership will end their appointment – unless stated otherwise in the LPA.

Their precise powers depend upon the type of LPA – and whether there are any restrictions on their powers in the document. But in general, an attorney must:

• Make decisions that are in your best interests
• Only make decisions they are enabled to by the terms of the LPA
• Not delegate authority they’ve been given to others, unless authorised to do so
• Maintain your confidentiality.

And they can’t:

• Sign a will on your behalf
• Act in circumstances where you’ve expressly limited or forbidden their power
• Make gifts on your behalf, except in limited circumstances
• Make decisions that are not in your best interests
• Make decisions using a Health and Care Decisions LPA unless you’ve lost mental capacity
• Consent to your marriage or divorce.

Our team of power of attorney solicitors are on hand to give you a more detailed understanding of these terms and responsibilities.

LPAs replaced Enduring Power of Attorneys (EPAs) in October 2007.

EPAs, like a Financial Decisions LPA, enabled individuals to make property and financial decisions on behalf of individuals.

You can no longer create an EPA, but you can still use one created before October 2007. An EPA only needs to be registered if the donor has lost or is losing mental capacity. It can still be used before that time, assuming there’s no restriction in the EPA that say otherwise.