Most people sit down to write a will thinking about one or two big things: the house, the children. A good will covers considerably more, and the gaps are where trouble grows. This is the working checklist: first what you own, then who does what, then the decisions that hold it all together.
Start with a list of assets
You do not itemise everything in the will itself, but you cannot divide what you have not counted. Make a simple list of:
- Property: your home and any other land or buildings, noting how each is owned (sole name, joint tenants, or tenants in common; it changes what your will can control)
- Money: current and savings accounts, cash ISAs, Premium Bonds, money owed to you
- Investments: shares, funds, investment ISAs, crypto and other digital assets
- Pensions and life insurance: these usually pass outside your will by nomination, so check the named beneficiary on each is current
- Vehicles, jewellery, art, instruments, collections and anything else of real or sentimental value
- Business interests: a company, partnership share or sole-trader business
- Liabilities: mortgage, loans and cards, because your estate settles debts before anyone inherits
Keep the finished list with your will (not inside it) and refresh it when things change. Your executors will thank you: locating assets is the slowest part of administering an estate.
The people your will must name
- Executors: one to four people who will carry out the will, plus at least one substitute. Two is the practical sweet spot. Choosing well matters more than people think.
- Guardians: if you have children under 18, who raises them if no parent survives. Arguably the most important clause in the whole document.
- Beneficiaries: who inherits, with substitutes in case someone dies before you. Full names, and dates of birth where names are common.
The three kinds of gift
- Specific gifts: a named item to a named person. "My engagement ring to my daughter Amy."
- Pecuniary gifts: fixed sums of money. "£5,000 to my godson Daniel."
- The residuary gift: everything that remains after debts, taxes, costs and the gifts above. This is usually the bulk of the estate.
The residue clause is the one you cannot skip. Without it, everything not specifically given away passes under the intestacy rules rather than your will, which is called a partial intestacy and is the most common failure in homemade wills.
Decisions people forget
- What happens if a beneficiary dies first: substitutes, and whether a deceased child’s share passes to their children
- Charitable gifts: a gift to charity is free of inheritance tax and can lower the rate on the rest of your estate
- Personal possessions: a general clause plus a letter of wishes for the detail is tidier than thirty small clauses
- Digital assets: who inherits them, and a separate secure record of how to reach them (never passwords in the will itself)
- Funeral wishes: a short clause if you like, but wishes recorded somewhere your family sees in time matter more, since the will is often read after the funeral
- Exclusions: if you are deliberately leaving someone out who might expect to inherit, say so carefully; unexplained silence invites a claim
What does not belong in a will
Passwords, PINs and account keys (a will becomes a public document after probate), assets that pass by nomination like most pensions, conditions that are impossible to enforce, and anything you expect to change monthly. The will sets the structure; the letter of wishes and your records carry the detail.
How Willful walks you through it
Willful’s guided interview asks about each of these areas in turn, adapts to your answers, and will not let shares add up to anything but 100 per cent. A named, SRA-regulated solicitor then reviews the finished will. The questions are free; you pay £119 only when you submit.