A cheap Will can prove costly

Everyone loves a bargain. If a budget blender breaks, it is disappointing but not a disaster. Your legacy is different: a cheap Will can prove very costly in the long run, and the people who pay are exactly the people you wanted to protect.

First, what do we mean by cheap? It is broader than the price tag. It covers DIY and online Will kits; services built on a short, standard questionnaire; and - less obviously - firms where the person in front of you is an unqualified salesperson, which happens at some solicitor practices too. The common thread is the absence of a qualified specialist. If the person advising you is not professionally qualified in estate planning, it is a cheap Will, whatever it costs.

1. Legal issues

Will-writing is not a regulated activity, and instructions are regularly included in Wills that are not legally effective - which is often only discovered after death, when it is too late to fix. Some disputes run for years, leaving assets untouchable. We review existing Wills for clients, and some of the more common issues we identify include insufficient detail around gifts causing them to fail, ineffective rights to reside in properties, and missing accrual clauses which could render a portion of the estate intestate. For these clients the issues are picked up in lifetime - but had they not reviewed, they would only have come to light on death, when it is too late.

2. Hidden costs

A cheap Will may save money today at your family's expense later. Common tactics to check the small print for: the Will-writer appointing themselves as executor and charging a percentage of the estate; "probate reselling", where the firm reserves the right to outsource probate at inflated cost; and annual storage or retrieval fees that quietly accumulate.

3. Qualifications, not just memberships

The most reliable protection is the qualification of the person actually advising you. STEP - the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners - is the professional standard for estate planning, and fewer than 1 in 5 UK Will-writers hold a professional-standard qualification. Industry memberships (such as the SWW or IPW) set codes of practice, but they are not the same as a professional qualification. Ask who is drafting your Will and what qualification they hold.

4. Tax planning

Effective planning can reduce a potential Inheritance Tax bill substantially. A cheap Will is unlikely to consider it at all.

5. Children and dependants

Whatever route you take, name guardians in your Will if you have children or dependants - otherwise the Local Authority becomes involved.

Key takeaways

• Check the small print for executor appointments, probate reselling and storage fees
• Ask about the drafter's qualification: STEP is the professional standard
• The upfront price is the worst possible measure of a Will's value

Our estate planners are STEP-qualified, our pricing is transparent, and our advice is complimentary until you choose to proceed.