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Will's Complete Estate Planning Professional Will writing and estate planning with straightforward advice, personal service and no unnecessary jargon.

13/10/2026

What happens to my digital accounts when I die?

More and more of what we own or manage now exists online.

That might include email accounts, photographs stored in the cloud, social-media accounts, online subscriptions, cryptocurrency or other digital assets.

But leaving somebody an asset in your Will doesn’t necessarily give them everything they need to access the account where it is held.

Different providers have their own procedures for dealing with an account after somebody dies, and passwords shouldn’t simply be written into your Will. A Will can become a public document after probate, so it isn’t the right place for sensitive login information.

It is worth keeping a separate, secure record of your important digital accounts and making sure the people dealing with your estate know that the record exists and how it can be accessed when necessary.

Estate planning used to involve thinking mainly about property, bank accounts and possessions.

Increasingly, it also means thinking about what you leave behind online.

11/10/2026

What are Mirror Wills?

Mirror Wills are two separate Wills, usually made by a couple, which contain very similar wishes.

A common arrangement is for each person to leave their estate to the other and, if their partner has already died, for the estate to pass to the same beneficiaries — often their children.

Despite the name, they are still two individual Wills.

That distinction is important because ordinary Mirror Wills don’t generally prevent the surviving person from changing their own Will later.

For many couples, that isn’t a concern. They simply want straightforward Wills reflecting the same intentions.

For others, particularly where there are children from previous relationships or a specific wish to preserve assets for particular beneficiaries, it may be important to consider whether straightforward Mirror Wills actually provide the protection they are looking for.

Having the same wishes today and guaranteeing what happens after the first person dies are two different things.

You don't need to know exactly what you need before getting in touch.Quite a few people put off making a Will or sorting...
10/10/2026

You don't need to know exactly what you need before getting in touch.

Quite a few people put off making a Will or sorting their estate planning because they think they need to have all the answers first.

Who should be executor? What happens if one of the beneficiaries dies before me? Should the children inherit at 18 or later? Do I need a trust? What about Lasting Powers of Attorney?

Those are exactly the sorts of things I'm here to work through with you.

My job isn't simply to take a list of instructions and turn them into a document. I'll talk through your circumstances, ask the questions you may not have considered and explain the available options in plain English.

If all you need is a straightforward Will, I'll tell you that. If there's something that deserves a little more thought, we'll deal with it properly.

You don't need to understand the legal terminology, and you don't need to arrive knowing what documents you need.

You just need to know what matters to you and the people you want to protect.

I'll help with the rest.

I'm currently taking on new Will, Lasting Power of Attorney and estate-planning instructions, so if sorting yours has been sitting on the list for a while, you're very welcome to get in touch.

09/10/2026

Can I let someone benefit from my property without leaving it to them outright?

Yes. Your Will does not always have to make a simple choice between leaving somebody your property or leaving them nothing.

For example, you may want your partner to be able to continue living in your home after you die, but ultimately want your share of the property to pass to your children.

A Will trust can sometimes be used to achieve this.

Rather than giving your share of the property to your partner outright, it can be held on trust. Your partner can be given a right to live there, potentially for the rest of their life or until a particular event occurs, with the property ultimately passing to the beneficiaries you have chosen.

The exact terms matter.

You need to think about questions such as who will be responsible for insurance, repairs and other property costs; whether the person can move to another property; what happens if they permanently move out; and when the trust should eventually come to an end.

This can be particularly relevant for couples with children from previous relationships, but it isn't limited to blended families.

Sometimes estate planning is about balancing two objectives: making sure somebody is properly provided for after your death while also protecting what you ultimately want to leave to somebody else.

06/10/2026

Can a trust protect an inheritance for my children?

Yes, and this is one of the situations where including a trust within a Will can be particularly useful.
If a child inherits while they are still under 18, they cannot simply receive and manage that inheritance themselves. Instead, the people appointed as trustees are responsible for looking after it until the child reaches the age at which they are entitled to receive it.

But 18 doesn't have to be the age you choose.
Some parents are perfectly comfortable with their children inheriting everything at 18. Others understandably wonder whether they would have wanted their 18-year-old to suddenly have complete control of a substantial inheritance.
A Will can be drafted so that a child's inheritance is held until a later age, such as 21 or 25.

That doesn't necessarily mean the money is locked away and cannot help them in the meantime. Depending on how the Will is drafted, trustees can be given powers to use the funds for things such as the child's education, maintenance or general benefit before they become entitled to the inheritance outright.
Choosing the trustees therefore matters too. They may have responsibility for managing potentially significant assets and making decisions about how those assets should be used for your children.

This is a good example of why estate planning isn't simply about deciding who gets what.

Sometimes it's just as important to decide how and when they should receive it, and who you trust to look after it until then.

04/10/2026

Do I actually need a trust?

Trusts are sometimes presented as though everybody should have one as part of their estate planning.

They shouldn’t.

For plenty of people, a properly prepared straightforward Will is entirely sufficient.

A trust becomes worth considering when there is a particular reason for having one. You might want to protect an inheritance for young children, provide for somebody while preserving assets for other beneficiaries later, deal with a more complicated family situation, or have greater control over when and how somebody inherits.

The important question isn’t really “Should I have a trust?”

It’s “What am I trying to achieve?”

If a straightforward Will achieves it, adding a trust simply creates unnecessary complexity.

If it doesn’t, that’s when we should have a conversation about whether a trust could solve the particular problem.

Good estate planning isn’t about putting as many complicated provisions into a Will as possible. It’s about using the simplest arrangement that properly achieves what you want.

You don’t need to know exactly what you need before you contact me.One of the things that can put people off sorting the...
03/10/2026

You don’t need to know exactly what you need before you contact me.

One of the things that can put people off sorting their estate planning is not knowing where to start.

Do I need a new Will?

Should I have Lasting Powers of Attorney?

Do I need both?

What happens if my circumstances are a little more complicated?

You don’t need to work all of that out first. That’s my job.

When somebody instructs me, we start with a conversation about them — their family, their circumstances, what they own, what they’re trying to achieve and anything they’re particularly concerned about.

From there, I can explain what I think they need, what they probably don’t need, what it will cost and what happens next.

If you decide to go ahead, I deal with the drafting and take you through the process personally. You’re not being passed around a large team or left trying to make sense of legal documents on your own.

I built Will’s Complete Estate Planning around making estate planning straightforward and accessible, while still giving people the individual attention that something this important deserves.

So if you’ve been putting off your Will or LPAs because you don’t really know where to begin, begin with a conversation.

Send me a message and we’ll take it from there.

And if it’s not something you need yourself right now, you may know somebody who does. Feel free to send this their way or point them in my direction — personal recommendations are always appreciated.

01/10/2026

What are the two types of Lasting Power of Attorney?

When people talk about “making an LPA”, it can sound as though there is just one document.

There are actually two different types, and they deal with very different parts of your life.

A Property and Financial Affairs LPA allows the people you choose as your attorneys to deal with financial matters on your behalf. Depending on how it is set up and used, that can include managing bank accounts, paying bills, dealing with investments and pensions, or buying and selling property.

A Health and Welfare LPA covers decisions about your personal welfare. That can include where you live, your day-to-day care and certain decisions about medical treatment.

There is another important distinction between them.

A Property and Financial Affairs LPA can potentially be used while you still have capacity, if you have authorised your attorneys to act and the LPA has been registered.

A Health and Welfare LPA can only be used for a particular decision when you lack the capacity to make that decision yourself.

You don’t have to make both.

But when deciding whether an LPA is worthwhile, it makes sense to consider the two separately: who would you trust with your finances, and who would you trust with decisions about your health and care?

They may be the same people.

They don’t have to be.

29/09/2026

Can my family automatically make decisions for me if I lose capacity?

One of the biggest misconceptions around Lasting Powers of Attorney is that your closest family can simply step in if something happens to you.

They can't necessarily.

Being your husband, wife, partner, son or daughter doesn't automatically give someone all the legal authority they might need to deal with your affairs or make decisions on your behalf.

That's where an LPA comes in.

A Will deals with what happens after you die. An LPA is about what could happen while you're still very much alive, but temporarily or permanently unable to make certain decisions yourself.

And there's an important difference.

You can only make an LPA while you have the required mental capacity. If that opportunity has passed, your family can't simply make one for you because everyone agrees who should act. In some circumstances, an application to the Court of Protection may be needed instead. That can mean considerably more cost, a much longer process and additional stress for your family at a time when they're probably already dealing with enough.

That's why I don't think the conversation about LPAs should start with how old you are.

A better question is:

If something happened tomorrow, who would you trust to make decisions for you — and have you actually given them the legal authority they might need?

27/09/2026

Who looks after my children if I die without appointing a guardian?

For parents of young children, this is probably one of the most important questions a Will can deal with.

If one parent dies, it doesn’t automatically mean that somebody named in a Will simply takes over. Whether a guardian appointment takes effect depends on the circumstances, including whether another parent with parental responsibility survives and the arrangements already in place.

But what if there is nobody with parental responsibility able to care for your children?

If you haven’t appointed guardians, there isn’t a rule that automatically gives responsibility to grandparents, brothers, sisters or whoever you might have assumed would step in.

Ultimately, arrangements may need to be decided through the family court, with the child’s welfare being the court’s paramount consideration.

Making a Will allows you to formally appoint the person or people you would want to act as guardians in the circumstances in which that appointment takes effect.

It is one of those provisions you hope will never be needed.

But if you have young children, deciding who you would trust to look after them is probably a decision you’d rather make yourself than leave unanswered.

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