Planning for the future and ensuring you leave the legacy you want for the people and causes you care about should bring peace of mind.

Personal details

Funeral wishes

Guardians

If you have children under 18, you should consider appointing Guardians to look after the children should one or more of them still be under 18 on the death of the surviving parent. The Guardians may be different to the Executors and should obviously be people who are willing to take on the responsibility, and who you trust to bring up the child/children as you wish.

Executors

You will need to consider who are to be your Executors. These are the people who carry out your wishes as specified in the Will. They should be people you trust and, preferably, about the same age as, or younger than, you (although they must be 18 and mentally capable). This is so that they are likely to be alive when you die. We always recommend that you make provision for the possibility that one or more of your preferred choices being unable to act for any reason, by nominating one or two substitutes. If there is no one in particular that you wish to specify, we at Anthony Collins Solicitors will willingly act.

Initially:

NB. If you are leaving everything to your spouse outright, you may need only one Executor at that time.

Provisos...

Proviso One - if any of the beneficiaries die before me or before attaining 2 I leaving a child or children living at my death then such child or children shall take the share that his/her or their parent would have taken if they had survived me and attained 21.

Proviso Two - if any of the beneficiaries die before me leaving a child or children living at my death then such child or children shall take the share that his/her or their parent would have taken if they had survived me.

Legacies

It is possible to leave specific items, or specific amounts or cash, to specific individuals or charities in your will. These specific gifts are called legacies. If you wish to leave legacies we need to know the full name(s) and address(es) of the individual(s) and or charity/ies. For a charity we also need to know the registered charity number and will assume the gift is for the charity’s general purposes unless you say otherwise. For an individual we also need to know if s/he has to reach a particular age before they become entitled. We will assume that all legacies are free of tax but subject to any mortgage on the property as appropriate. We will also need to know the amounts in question and/or a detailed description of any item(s) to be given.