According to research by Royal London, more than 5 million people in the UK are confused by Wills and are not sure where to begin
Six in ten parents either do not have a Will or it is out of date. Whilst 34% of UK adults said an illness would prompt them to create a Will.
Of those that do have a Will in place, more than half (53%) have not updated it after a significant life event, such as marriage, becoming parents, or divorcing. Find out more on how to update your Will.
It’s a common belief that making a Will is a complicated, confusing and time-consuming process, with many people claiming that they simply haven’t got around to it yet because of this, and yet from the research of those that have made a Will 85% stated it was quick to do, with 90% agreeing it was an easy process.
Another common factor as to why people do not feel they need a Will is a misconception that friends and family will be able to decide between them what happens to a person’s money, assets and belongings when they die. Sadly this is not the case and these decisions are taken out of the family’s hands completely, to be handled by the law instead. This can include who should look after children, should something happen to both parents.
Beneficial Family Wills Founder, Trevor Cross, comments:
“People have long been adverse to making a Will, for a range of reasons. From just putting it off, to thinking it’s time consuming and expensive. Unfortunately, we have seen too many times the upset, confusion and high expense that occurs when an estate has no Will and goes through Intestacy instead. Invariably the courts get involved, it can take 6 months or more to sort out and relatives can become highly stressed, upset and anxious in dealing with it. We support all scenarios and endeavour to create an easy process that ultimately gives the clients the right Will for their needs, removing any future expense, delay or upset.”
What should you do?
If you don’t currently have a Will, but own your home or have a family or reasonable assets, it’s really recommended to discuss your options with someone. We work hard all our lives, and no one wants the courts to be the ones to make all final decisions when you pass away. We want to control that, we just need to put the pieces in place now.
If you have a Will but have not updated it for more than 3 years, then you should probably get it reviewed. At Beneficial Family Wills once someone makes a Will with us and we store it for them, we do yearly updates for free!
The process for making your Will or updating it can be quick and pain-free. We try to make all steps as easy as possible for you and provide a personal service so you know you can speak to our team about any query you have.
We also register your Will for free with Certainty, the National Will Register, so it can always be found in years ahead.
Just contact our team on 01522 500823, or hello@beneficialfamilywills.co.uk
