Making a Will is the best way for you to direct what happens to your family and your assets when you pass away, and to make sure that the people you care for really are cared for.

A Will is about more than money and property - it can be about caring for children or elderly or poorly relatives too.

In the absence of a Will, the law will direct what happens to your property and to people, and this may be a million miles from what you would like to happen. If you look at the section of this website called "When someone dies without leaving a will", you will see what we mean.

A Will lets you to do many things that would not be possible if you were to die intestate (without a Will).

A Will for example allows you:

• to specify who will administer your estate and deal with all of your assets. If you leave no Will, the law will direct who will carry out this work - it may not be who you would have chosen
• to give direction to your executors as to what happens to specific assets. If you die without a Will, the distribution of your assets is fixed by law. The law takes no account of your wishes or of the needs or abilities of any particular friend or relative.
• to pass particular property to particular people at particular times. Without a Will for example, property will pass to people set out by the law, as soon as those people reach 18. That may not be what you would have wanted. Furthermore, in the time before they reach 18, without a Will giving them extra powers, the people looking after the assets (the trustees) are limited in the scope of the investments they can make on behalf of children.
• to carry out tax-planning work - it could save you a lot of tax
• to protect your assets from being used to pay for your Long Term Care fees
• to indicate who should be the guardians of your young children - your Will can be used to appoint guardians to look after your children should you die before the children reach the age of 18. There are rigid rules that apply if no formal appointment of guardians has been made by you, and your children could end up being cared for by someone that you wouldn't have chosen.

Our large Wills team would be delighted to talk with you about your situation, your means and assets, and your wishes, to see whether a Will could benefit you. We would be delighted to talk to you - and it's free of charge. All you have to do is click on "Please Contact Me Now” or call us on 0845 567 5000.

In fact, we go much further than merely preparing a Will, to help you to get all of your affairs in order.

By our PORTFOLIO service, we help you to take a range of steps which, together, help you to get and to then keep all of your affairs in order.

As well as a will, we also prepare a Power of Attorney to make things easier should you become unable to manage your own affairs, and we give you our free PORTFOLIO. This enables you to keep these documents and all other relevant policies and certificates, and all bank account and accountant details etc, together in one place.

Then, on top of all that, we review everything with you, free of charge, every year.

Visit our PORTFOLIO website for more details of our PORTFOLIO service.