JD Wills and Estates

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Live in Leicestershire? We'll come to you. Live elsewhere? We’ll Zoom. Get your Will sorted - face-to-face, by a real Barrister. Free advice. No pressure. Wills. LPAs.

Trusts. Estates Planning
Richard Jordan | Barrister-at-Law

01/10/2026

When you last made your will, what did your family look like?

Were the children still at school? Were there no grandchildren yet? Was someone you now rely on not even part of your life?

A will can sit in a drawer for twenty years. Families rarely stay the same for that long.

You might have moved home, remarried, lost someone close or started worrying about how one of your children would manage an inheritance. The people you chose as executors may no longer feel like the right choice either.

It doesn’t necessarily mean everything needs changing. But it’s worth checking that what’s written down still reflects what you want.

We can sit down with you, look through your existing will and talk about what’s changed. And if you’re local to us, we can do that around your own kitchen table.

You don’t need to know what needs updating before you speak to us. That’s what we’re here to help with.

Call now to arrange a review of your will.

30/09/2026

You took out life cover to leave money for your family. But have you checked whether it’s in trust?

If a policy pays into your estate, it can increase the amount counted for inheritance tax. If you’re already close to your available allowances, that payout could push your estate over the threshold, with inheritance tax normally charged at 40% on the taxable amount above it.

That could mean less money reaching the people you intended it for.

A suitable life assurance trust can usually keep the payout outside your estate for inheritance tax purposes. Your trustees can also claim without waiting for probate, which can help the money reach your beneficiaries sooner.

That matters when there are bills to pay and a family trying to manage after losing someone.

This is worth checking whether you have a whole of life policy or cover for a fixed term. Having a will doesn’t automatically put your life cover into trust.

We can help you explore whether a life assurance trust is appropriate for your existing policy and circumstances.

Call now to talk it through.

Tax treatment depends on your circumstances and how the policy and trust are arranged.

29/09/2026

We can now help with wills in Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Until now, our will writing service at JD Wills & Estates has covered England and Wales. Through our partnership with CTT Tax & Trust, we’re pleased to be extending that service to clients in Scotland too.

So if you live in Scotland, or have family there who have been meaning to get their wills organised, we can now help you take that next step.

Perhaps you’re making your first will, your family circumstances have changed, or you want to review arrangements you made years ago. It starts with a conversation about you, the people who matter to you and what you want your will to achieve.

We’ll talk through your circumstances, explain the next steps and make the costs clear before you decide to go ahead.

More options. The same personal approach from JD Wills & Estates.

Call now to discuss making or reviewing your Scottish will.

07/09/2026

A will is a wonderful start, but it is only part of the picture.

The families who end up truly protected are usually the ones who sat down, asked the right questions, and put a few simple things in place before they were ever needed.

That is all we are offering. A short, friendly questionnaire, an honest conversation, and clear advice on what fits your family. No pressure to go ahead with anything, and no jargon to wade through. Just peace of mind, and the quiet confidence that what you have worked for will reach the people you love.

Whether you have a will already, or you have been meaning to sort one for years, this is a good moment to take the next small step.

If you would like to book your free questionnaire, comment below or send me a message and we will find a time that suits you.

06/09/2026

Everything I have talked about this week, protecting your home, avoiding sideways disinheritance, shielding your children's inheritance, using your allowances well, comes down to one question.

Which of these actually apply to you? Because not all of them will, and the last thing you need is to pay for protection you do not require.

That is what our new questionnaire is for.

Through our partnership with Countrywide Tax and Trusts, you answer some straightforward questions about your family, your home and your wishes.

Based on your answers, it shows clearly which protections fit your situation and which do not. No guesswork, no sales pitch, and no jargon. Richard then talks you through what it means in plain English.

It takes very little time, and it gives you something most people never have. A clear picture of where you stand and what, if anything, is worth putting in place.

Today's question. Would it be a relief to simply know, one way or the other, whether your family is properly protected?

To get started, comment the word TRUSTS below or send me a message, and I will be in touch.

05/09/2026

Here is the number that focuses the mind. Forty per cent.

That is the rate of inheritance tax on the part of your estate above your allowance.

Everyone has a tax free allowance, and there is an extra slice when you leave your home to your children or grandchildren.

Below those thresholds, no inheritance tax is due. Above them, the taxman can take forty pence of every pound.

The good news is that how much of it reaches your family, rather than HMRC, often comes down to planning done in good time. Using your allowances properly, structuring things through trusts where it fits, and making sure nothing is wasted when the first of a couple passes away. Small decisions made early can make a real difference to what your children actually receive.

I am not going to pretend it is one size fits all, because it is not. What is right depends entirely on your circumstances, and that is exactly what the questionnaire and a conversation with Richard are there to work out.

Today's question. Do you know roughly where your estate sits against the allowances, and whether your family could face a bill they were not expecting?

Comment or message me if you would like to understand your position.

04/09/2026

This one is about the people you are really doing all this for. Your children.

You leave them their inheritance and you assume it lands safely in their hands.

Usually it does. But life has a way of complicating things.

If one of your children goes through a divorce, their inheritance can be treated as part of the pot to be divided. If they run into debt or business trouble, creditors can come after it too. Through no fault of your own, money you meant for your family can end up somewhere you never intended.

A trust can keep it in the family. Rather than leaving the inheritance directly, it can be held in trust for your child, so they benefit from it while it stays protected from a divorce settlement or a creditor. If the worst happens, their share is still there, and it can pass on to your grandchildren in time.

This is not about controlling your children or distrusting who they marry. It is about giving what you leave the best possible chance of staying where you want it.

Today's question. You have thought about who gets what. Have you thought about what could happen to it once it is in their hands?

Comment or message me and I will happily explain how it works.

03/09/2026

This one catches a lot of loving couples completely off guard.

Most couples do the sensible thing. They leave everything to each other, and then to the children once they are both gone. It feels the safest option, and for plenty of families it is exactly right.

But picture this. One of you passes away, and everything goes to the survivor, just as planned. Years later that survivor remarries, or writes a new will, or simply falls out with one of the children. The estate is now theirs to do with as they wish, and the children you both wanted to look after can quietly be left with nothing. It even has a name in our world.

Sideways disinheritance.

A trust can prevent it. Your share can be set aside so your other half is fully provided for during their lifetime, and then whatever is left passes to your children, exactly as the two of you intended. Nobody is left short, and your wishes hold firm whatever happens down the line.

This matters even more in blended families, where there are children from more than one relationship to consider.

Today's question. If you left everything to your other half and life took an unexpected turn, are you certain your children would still be looked after?

Comment or send me a message if this is something you have wondered about.

02/09/2026

This is the worry I hear more than almost any other.

You work hard, you pay off your home, and you picture it one day passing to your children. Then care becomes necessary, and the bill starts to climb.

In England, if you need residential care and own your home, its value can be counted towards what you pay. For most families, the home is the biggest thing they own.

Here is the part worth knowing. With the right planning, a share of your home can be placed in a trust so it is protected for your children, whatever happens later on. This is not about dodging fees or hiding money, and anything done deliberately to avoid care costs can be challenged. It is about setting things up properly, early, and for the right reasons, so your home does the job you always meant it to.

Whether it fits your situation depends on your circumstances, and that is exactly what the questionnaire is built to work out. Richard can then talk you through what actually applies to you.

So today's question. If care were needed one day, do you know what would happen to your home, and who would be left to sort it all out?

Comment below or send me a message if you would like to understand your options.

01/09/2026

A quick hello, because it has been a little while.

If you have made a will, you have already done something most people never get round to. It is a real weight off the mind.

But here is the part that catches a lot of families out: a will decides who inherits. It does not always decide whether they get to keep it.

Care fees. A divorce down the line. A child who hits money trouble. A second marriage years from now. Any one of these can quietly eat into what you spent a lifetime building, even when your will is completely valid.

That is where trusts come in, and it is why I am so pleased to share some news. We have partnered with Countrywide Tax and Trusts, which means every client can now sit down with a short questionnaire that looks at your family, your assets and your wishes, and shows the protections that actually fit your situation.

No guesswork, and nothing you do not need.

Over the next few days I will walk through some of the everyday situations where a trust makes a real difference, and how you can keep more of your allowance for the people you love.

For now, one question worth sitting with. If something happened to you tomorrow, are you confident that what you leave behind would reach the people you intend, and stay with them?

Have a think, and do pop a comment below or send me a message if any of this rings true.

Address

414 Welford Road
Leicester
LE26EJ

Telephone

+441163552171

Website

https://www.jdwillsandestates.co.uk/

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