{"id":1,"date":"2018-08-15T11:50:35","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T11:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/wordpress-resources-at-siteground\/"},"modified":"2021-07-27T09:52:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T09:52:00","slug":"clear-specs-writing-your-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/?p=1","title":{"rendered":"Clear Specs for Writing your Will"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Clear Specs for Writing your Will<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I don\u2019t mean you need to polish your glasses before you sit down to think about getting your Will written. But the handy mnemonic CLEAR SPECS will give you some things to think about when you\u2019re thinking about getting it done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C- CHILDREN. Are you planning to have more CHILDREN? If your will stipulates \u201ceverything to be split equally between my children Alice and Baz\u201d but by the time you die little Charlie has arrived, he won\u2019t get anything. For young families, the will is usually worded along the lines of \u201cmy assets are to be split between any children alive at the time of my death\u201d, to allow for any further additions to the family so don\u2019t be surprised if your will-writer asks if you\u2019re planning on extending your family!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L- LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY. If you die before your children reach 18, your child\u2019s parent with LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY will automatically be appointed guardian. If you don\u2019t want this to happen ie because they\u2019re absent\/irresponsible, you\u2019ll need to discuss this with your will-writer so they can add a letter of wishes to this effect with your will. It\u2019s also worth ensuring any guardians you name also have their wills written<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E- EXECUTORS are the people responsible for carrying out your wishes in the will. There can be quite a bit of work involved so make sure you pick someone up to the task! Ideally someone who\u2019s younger than you so they\u2019re likely to be alive after you \ud83d\ude2c If your will is contentious it may be worth picking someone neutral. You may want to leave them a gift in the will as a thank you too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A- AUTOMATICALLY. Unless you state to the contrary, your children will AUTOMATICALLY inherit at 18.  As the parent of an 18 year old myself  I would suggest giving a teenager access to a large sum of money may not be wise, unless you\u2019re happy for your hard-earned money to be spent on an endless supply of Dominoes pizza, computer games, and possibly something even more dodgy they can access online!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R\u2013 REVOKED. A will is automatically REVOKED if someone marries, so if you\u2019re engaged\/planning to get married, make sure the will is written \u201cin contemplation of marriage\u201d otherwise you\u2019ll have to get a new one written once you\u2019re married!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S- SUM. Do you want to leave gifts as a lump SUM or a percentage? Gifts in a will are paid out first after fees\/funeral expenses. So if you have \u00a3100k in the bank and you\u2019ve stated your dear friend Jackie gets \u00a320,000 and anything else is to be split between your children, but by the time you die you\u2019ve only got \u00a320k left, Jackie will still get her gift but children won\u2019t get anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P- PROTECTION. A basic mirror will is an expression of wishes- there\u2019s no ring-fenced PROTECTION of assets. So you may wish your spouse to inherit everything when you die, and then your children when he\/she dies. But after you die if your spouse rewrites their will or remarries, they can accidentally or deliberately give away your assets to someone else, meaning your children could end up missing out on their inheritance. Having a trust-based will ensures your wishes are protected and assets will go where you want them to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E- EXCLUSION. There\u2019s certain groups of people who can legally challenge a will; spouses, ex-spouses, children or anyone financially dependent on you. So if you don\u2019t wish to leave anything to someone you\u2019re separated, divorced or estranged from, be it partner or your child(ren), or from someone you\u2019re currently or have recently financially maintained, you\u2019ll need an EXCLUSION clause in your will to reduce the chances of them being able to successfully challenge your will.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

C- CHECK your will is witnessed and signed by two people when you sign it, as the will is not valid otherwise. It\u2019s also important to note that witnesses can\u2019t be the same people as you\u2019ve named as beneficiaries. If they are this will cause any gift you\u2019ve let them, and possibly the whole will, to fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S- STORAGE. Are you storing your will yourself? Make sure it\u2019s kept somewhere safe – away from risk of damp, theft and fire. It\u2019s worth paying to have it stored. You\u2019d be surprised how often clients say they\u2019ve written one in the past but have moved etc and now can\u2019t find it. It\u2019s usually only a nominal fee each year to store it and often you\u2019re then allowed to make free annual amendments to the will i.e. to update guardians, executors or beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLEAR SPECS. Hopefully this has helped bring things into focus for you. If you need any further help getting your will clearly written, don\u2019t fumble around in the dark any longer, drop me an email or give me a call here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#PuttingTheFunBackIntoDying<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clear Specs for Writing your Will No, I don\u2019t mean you need to polish your glasses before you sit down to think about getting your Will written. But the handy mnemonic CLEAR SPECS will give you some things to think about when you\u2019re thinking about getting it done. C- CHILDREN. Are you planning to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,10],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-will-writing","tag-wills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2789,"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/2789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patronwills.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}