Guides

Estate planning, plainly explained

37 practical guides on wills, probate, lasting power of attorney and protecting the people you care about. Written for England & Wales, in language anyone can follow.

Making your will

What goes in, what it costs, and how to get it signed properly.

All 7 guides

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Making a will6 min read

The National Will Register: how registering makes your will findable

A will nobody can find is a will that never existed. What the National Will Register records, how registration works, and how executors search it.

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Making a will6 min read

How much does a will cost in the UK?

Anywhere from £20 to £1,000, which is not a helpful answer on its own. Here is what each price band buys, and where the hidden costs sit.

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Making a will5 min read

The letter of wishes: the document that says what your will cannot

Private, flexible and quietly powerful. What a letter of wishes is for, what to put in it, and the one mistake that undermines it.

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Executors & probate

The people who carry out your will, and the process they will face.

All 7 guides

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Probate7 min read

Applying for probate without a solicitor: what it actually takes

Most estates are wound up by a family member, not a firm. The whole job in order, what it costs, and the honest test for when to hand it over.

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Executors4 min read

Can an executor of a will also be a beneficiary?

Yes, and in most family wills they are. The rule people are half-remembering is about witnesses, and confusing the two costs real inheritances.

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Probate6 min read

Deed of variation: rewriting a will after death

Within two years of a death, beneficiaries can redirect their inheritance and have the tax system treat it as the dead person’s own gift. It is stranger and more useful than it sounds.

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Family & children

Couples, guardians, second marriages and the people the rules forget.

All 6 guides

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Couples6 min read

Does marriage revoke a will? The rule that catches newlyweds

Getting married cancels the will you already have. Most newlyweds never find out, and the losses are rarely the ones you would expect.

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Guardianship6 min read

Choosing guardians for your children in your will

If both parents die without naming guardians, a family court decides who raises your children. One clause in a will settles it your way.

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Couples6 min read

Wills for second marriages and blended families

The standard "everything to each other" will quietly disinherits children from first relationships. Blended families need a different structure, not better intentions.

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Lasting power of attorney

Who acts for you if you cannot act for yourself.

All 5 guides

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LPA7 min read

Deputyship vs lasting power of attorney: what happens if you leave it too late

An LPA is something you choose. A deputyship is what a court arranges once the choice is no longer yours. Same destination, two very different roads.

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LPA5 min read

Enduring power of attorney vs lasting power of attorney: what changed and what to do

EPAs stopped being made in 2007 but millions still exist in drawers. Whether yours still works, what it misses, and when to replace it.

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LPA5 min read

How much does a lasting power of attorney cost?

The government fee is £82 per LPA, and that is only part of the picture. What each route costs, what couples really pay, and the price of leaving it too late.

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Updating your will

Life moves. Your will should keep up.

All 3 guides

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Life events7 min read

Divorce and your will: what changes automatically, and what does not

Divorce does not cancel your will. It writes your former spouse out and leaves the rest standing, which is rarely what anyone would have designed.

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Codicils6 min read

How to change your will: codicil or new will?

You cannot cross things out and initial them. Here is how changing a will actually works, and how to tell a codicil job from a new-will job.

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Codicils5 min read

What is a codicil to a will?

A codicil updates part of your will while the rest stands. What it can change, how it must be signed, and when it stops being the right tool.

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Funeral wishes

What you want, written down where your family will find it.

All 3 guides

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Funeral wishes7 min read

Direct cremation: what it is, what it costs, and who it suits

A cremation with no service and nobody present, at a fraction of the cost. Why families choose it, what it leaves undone, and how to ask for it.

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Funeral wishes6 min read

The funeral order of service: what goes in it and how to write one

Part programme, part keepsake. The standard structure, what to put on each page, and why writing your own in advance is a quiet act of kindness.

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Funeral wishes6 min read

Recording your funeral wishes: what to write down and where

Funeral wishes are not legally binding, and the will is usually read too late. Where to record them so your family actually has them on the day.

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Estate & tax

Trusts, charity gifts, inheritance tax and what happens to what you own.

All 6 guides

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Estate & tax8 min read

Gifts and the seven year rule: when inheritance tax follows what you give away

Most gifts leave your estate for good. The seven year rule, the exemptions that work straight away, and the thing taper relief does not do.

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Estate & tax7 min read

The nil rate band explained: how much can you leave before inheritance tax?

Fewer than one estate in twenty pays inheritance tax. How much passes tax free, why couples talk about a million, and the £2m line that takes it away.

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Estate & tax5 min read

Leaving money to charity in your will

A charitable legacy is free of inheritance tax, and a large enough one cuts the rate on everything else. How to word the gift so it actually arrives.

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