Plain answers before you decide

A will that doesn't simply leave everything outright to your partner or children. It might use trusts, plan for inheritance tax, pass on a business, or deal with property abroad. Second marriages, a vulnerable family member and larger estates are the usual reasons. Simple or complex: compare.

Often, yes. An English will can cover property abroad, but using it there can mean translations and long delays. Two coordinated wills, one here and one made by a lawyer in that country, each limited to its own assets and not cancelling the other, are usually quicker for your family. How we plan it.

Unless your company documents say otherwise, your shares pass under your will, and your family could end up co-owning the business. A cross-option agreement lets your partners buy your share and your family receive its value, and your will can put that value into a trust. How we plan it.

Yes. In England and Wales you can leave your estate to whoever you choose, so your will can follow Islamic, Jewish or other religious rules, as long as it is signed and witnessed properly. Family members can still ask the court for reasonable provision, and funeral wishes guide your executors rather than bind them. Faith wills.

You must be 18 or over, make it freely, and understand what a will does, roughly what you own and who might expect to inherit. It must be signed in front of two witnesses who are both present, and who don't benefit from it.

Everyone has a £325,000 tax-free allowance. Anything left to a husband, wife or civil partner is tax-free, and unused allowance passes to them, so a couple can leave £650,000 tax-free. Above that, tax is usually 40%. From April 2027 most unused pensions also count.

Leaving your home to children or grandchildren can add up to £175,000 tax-free, so a couple could leave up to £1 million. It reduces on estates over £2 million, and some trusts can lose it, so the wording matters.

Joint tenants: the home passes automatically to the other owner, whatever your will says. Tenants in common: each owns a share that passes under their will. It's shown on your title at HM Land Registry, and we can check.

Without a will, an unmarried partner inherits nothing, however long you've been together. Gifts to them also don't get the spouse tax exemption.

Marriage cancels an existing will unless it was made with that marriage in mind. Until a divorce is final, your spouse can still inherit, so a new will puts you back in control.

Gifts of items or money come out before the rest of your estate. Gifts to charity are tax-free, and leaving 10% or more to charity cuts the tax rate on the rest from 40% to 36%.

Their share needs somewhere to go: usually their own children, or the others you've named. Without a backup, part of your estate could pass under the intestacy rules.

18 is the legal default. Many parents choose 21 or 25, with trustees able to release money earlier for education or a first home.

A life interest trust lets your partner live in your home for life, then passes it to your children, so both are protected.

A spouse, child or anyone you supported can ask the court for provision. A signed statement of your reasons helps, and we'll talk through the risk.

We keep your signed original in secure storage, register where it's held with the National Will Register so executors can find it, and send you a certified copy.