Will Writing: What Should Never Be Included

Writing a will yourself can be challenging, especially if you aren’t familiar with the complex legal jargon and processes involved. It’s a great idea to work with a local, professional will writer such as Thames Valley Will Services.

Just as there are things you should always include in your will, there are some things you should never include. Although it’s important to ensure that every part of your estate is well handled, you’ll want to avoid creating any legal conflict between those to whom you leave your belongings.

Business Interests

Whilst giving away your business interests is by no means prohibited in a will, it could make things hard for your family and/or other beneficiaries down the road, as business interests in wills often involve complex, lengthy processes that will eat up time and cost more money to be dealt with.

Personal Wishes and Desires

Including your personal wishes and desires in your will would mean that these wishes need to go through the probate process, which usually takes place after your funeral. This would almost certainly lengthen this and is likely to increase the burden of legal and administrative costs placed on your loved ones.

It’s strongly suggested that you instead choose to create a letter of wishes, an informal document to your family with instructions as to what you’d like to happen to the included personal or business interests once you pass. Whilst these are not legally binding documents, it is a good idea to hand them over to the trusted family members or beneficiaries handling your assets and estate.

Property with Beneficiary Designations

Several types of designations are available that are payable to beneficiaries upon death. These are often associated with bank accounts, including Totten trusts, investment accounts, and life insurance policies. Whilst there is nothing explicitly stopping you from listing these properties in your will, it is unnecessary to do so and may cause conflicts of interest or increase the time needed during the probate process. Listing these is unnecessary as the beneficiary designations assigned to these properties mean that there is no need to decide on a beneficiary from your will. This has already been decided beforehand.

Jointly-Owned Property

If you have jointly-owned property, that is, property that you own in partnership with another family member, this can be left out of your will, as the property will already be transferred into their name should you pass.

Property to Leave to a Pet

Instead of leaving property to your pet in your will, as animals don’t have any legal claim to the property, you should name a guardian and leave property to them, so that they can look after your pet.

Professional Will Writing in Bracknell

If you would like advice or assistance with will writing or the legal matters preceding this, please get in touch with Thames Valley Will Services. We are experts at crafting bespoke, specialist wills for our clients, with a breadth of expertise in handling complex legal matters.