Wills

It is not uncommon in the UK for a husband and wife to have joint or mirror wills. If you use a joint will template you can save money by purchasing this type of template as you can prepare two wills for the price of one. You need to make sure that the template that you buy is drafted in clear, concise English by a solicitor. This way you won't have to be concerned that the document isn't legal upon the death of one of the parties.

A joint or mirror will would be used as we said by a husband or wife, but it can also be used by partners that want to leave everything to each other. This type of will could also be used if you wanted to leave everything to each other and then to your children after the death of both parents.

The joint will should be customisable so that you can create an identical will to your spouse or partner. Using a template will also enable you to use it more than once if you need to create a new will for any reason. An example of a joint or mirror will would be if a husband and wife left all of their property to each other upon their death. After the death of both people the assets and property would then transfer to any children they have. This could be divided evenly or as the joint will states.

This type of will could still be used if there are no children to leave everything to. As long as the husband, wife or partners are in agreement as to whom the beneficiary would be they can still use the joint or mirror will template.

While you will be writing two separate wills for each person they will be identical in content so they become joint wills. Generally when this kind of will is drawn up the husband or wife is also the executor of the estate although it doesn't have to be that way.

When filling out a joint will it is important to understand that if the wills are drawn up to have everything go to the children before both spouses have died the estate might be tied up in court. This is something that should be considered by both parties of a joint will before putting anything in writing. Making a will should not be taken lightly and it shouldn't be put off.

While a single will won't affect you it will indeed affect any surviving family members. For this reason alone it is very important that you take the time to draw up your single will. A single will is also known as a Last Will and Testament. A will is going to provide the correct information of what is going to happen to your estate once you have died. If there are certain things that you want your family or friends to have you would place this list in your single will. If you have a will there can be no question among your family and friends about who receives what and there is less chance that your wishes can be contested.

You have to keep in mind that not only is the single will going to give your belongings to the people you want to have them, it will also impart your intentions for any real estate you own and your finances as well. If you haven't drawn up a single will your estate could be divided in a way that goes against what you had in mind. Your property and assets could also wind up becoming part of the State so that your heirs are left with very little after you pass away. To avoid this from happening it is critical that you get your will prepared either by using a single will template or hiring a solicitor that is knowledgeable about this kind of law.

A single will can be used by a married person if they don't want to have a joint or mirror will. The typical will is going to distribute your estate where it involves your property, financial assets and personal belongings. If you own any cars, vacation homes or have stocks, bonds or a retirement account they would be mentioned in the will.

Experiencing the loss of a loved one is hard enough without having to go through the pain of that loved one not having a will. The legalities of retaining the estate can be difficult for the people left behind if there is no single will and it could cost the family a large portion of the estate. It is with these things in mind that you should get your single will prepared before anything can happen to you. While none of us want to think of our own mortality it is a necessary part of life.

A living will is an advance health care directive, containing your decisions and instructions of what should happen regarding life support and other medical treatment should you be unable to communicate, for example, comatose.

A living will is often referred to as a natural death declaration, but this is not very descriptive or accurate of the nature of the document and the concepts it intends to perform.

A living explicitly states what actions should be taken by family, friends and/or medical staff in the event the individual does not have the capacity to communicate their wishes and beliefs, and informed reasoning.

The living will is created whilst the person is legally able to do so, and many living wills are not needed to ever be used.

A living will can save a lot of confusion and heartache for relatives. In the instance of a life support machine being switched off or kept on, if you had never discussed such a thing with a partner, or brother, or father etc, no on shall know what you would want them to do. A living will is an informative tool for next of kin and medical professionals because your beliefs can be upheld.

Before we look into how to revoke (void) a Living Will, we first need to make sure we understand exactly what a Living Will is and why they are needed in the modern world. A Living Will contains important information and can function to protect you in times of need. A Living Will holds information on medical treatment so that a doctor or family member will be able to know without a doubt what your wishes are regarding life saving, life sustaining and rescusitation treatments should you be unable to communicate due to be unconscious, comatose or otherwise. The use of life support machines have often left a bitter taste in many a family members life, should it be switched off, or left on in the hope that a mircale might, jut might, happen? In your Living Will, you can state exactly what your thoguhts are on this process, and save family and loved ones a lot of heartache, because they will simply be following your wishes, and there can be no debate about that. It is an excellent legal document that can be easily (and cheaply) sourced online in a template format.

A Revocation of Living Will is an important legal document that effectively voids your Livng Will. You may have changed your mind on your views evidenced in your Living Will if the Living Will was made sveral years before, or you have a family, or you simply have had a change of heart on the whole idea as technology progresses. For instance, you may have expressed a wish in your Living Will to be an organ donor, and may have subsequently chaged your mind, or vice versa.

A Revocation of Living Will will literally make your existing Living Will completely legally unenforceable, and so void. In contrast, if you wish to simply make changes or amend a part of your existing Living Will but wish to leave the majority of the principles and wishes contained within the Living Will in place, it is advisable to simply add a Codicil if the changes to be made are minimal to evade any unnecessary expense in creating an entirely new Living Will.

It is advisable to have such wishes set out in writing, so your relatives or friends can locate the document in an emergency to give to doctors at the hospital. As with any Will, it is paramount that you have told someone where the Will is kept, so that it can be found and used to evidence your wishes. If you have made a Will but that Will is never found, it is likely that your wishes will not be met.

A Codicil is a legal document that is used in conjunction with a pre-existing Will. A Codicil is used to make changes to or simply amend the terms of an existing Will. In essence, it is an additional page. The Codicil saves you from having to redo your entire and Will and can save you money by not having to pay put for a new Will to be created if you only wish to make a few minor adjustments. For example, you may have fallen out with a relative and wish to remove them from the Will, or you may have had a child and wish to provide them with a gift, for example.
A Will is a non compulsory, but highly regarded, legal document that is essential to ensure that your relatives and friends receive the right things after you pass away. In effect, it is a to-do-list for those you appoint as an Executor to action your wishes. The Will provides evidence of what you wish to be done with your property and respective assets, as well as whom you wish these to pass to, if anyone. Some people do not chose their kin or close friends and instead opt to donate their life savings to charity. For those that do not end up creating a Will, the likeliest outcome is for their finances and assets to end up belonging to the State (the Government).
A Codicil is a very helpful document that can prove somewhat cost effective and save oodles of time and hassle. Codicil templates can be sourced online with ease for a nominal fee and can provide you with peace of mind when it comes to your property and financial affairs.
If you need to make more than, say, two changes to your Will, you should consider creating a new one. This is simply because a Codicil is for minor changes only. If the essence of the Will is being altered, then it's time to create a new Will.
A Codicil must be witnessed, like a Will. This is because it is a legally binding document. You can use more than one Codicil as an additional amending page to your Will. The Codicil shall be read as though the contents of such had been included in the original Will when initially created.
Codicil templates can be easily downloaded from online stores for your convenience. The majority of these have been created by a solicitor to ensure reliability for users.
The majority of templates available online are able to be edited with ease, and may use brackets or blank spaces to indicate to you where you are to insert your personal detailed information to make the template yours and personal to you.
The Codicil must be signed by yourself and this signing must be witnessed as you would do if this was a Will. Simply attach to you Will once signed and witnessed, and voila! Job done!

A living will is a legal document you can set up to protect your rights in the event you become unable to communicate. It may be an issue of incompetence as stated by a court of law, or something more dire. For instance, if you are in a coma or an accident that leaves you less than you were, any incident that might require medical intervention can require a living will.
A living will explains who can make the decisions on your behalf and what decisions you wish them to make. A doctor may state you can live on life support for several years, but you may not want to be placed in that position. Most people, in fact, do not wish to be on life support once their brain activity is non-existent. If there is no hope of waking up most individuals will ask in their living will to turn off the machines. You have the right to decide how you want to live in the event you are unable to make decisions later.
You may decide you want to live on life support since science is constantly discovering new methods and medicines. Whatever the case, you should have a living will to help ease the pain your family is suffering after an incident. You can choose whoever makes the decisions. Most married couples choose a spouse, though some will choose an adult child. You want the person that will best be able to cope with your requests.
After a living will has been signed and witnessed it is legally binding. It will come into effect at any time you are unable to make sound medical decisions. If you change your mind about the living will, you can use a revocation of living will. This allows you to terminate the document you drew up and create a new living will with changes. The date of the wills determines which one is effective. A document template can be used in order to save legal fees. It has modification areas that allow you to make certain changes regarding your personal choices. The template is in a general form to make it easy for any user.

A will is a legally binding document by which an individual also known as the testator, names one or more people to manage their property and belongings and helps to provide the transfer of his estate after the death.
In the strictest sense, a 'will' in past history has been limited to a person's actual property while 'testament' applies to a person's personal property (which explains the title which is generally used as "Last Will and Testament"), although this term doesn't often get used at this present time.
Any individual who is over a certain legal age and of sound mind can draw up their own personal will without the need for a solicitor. And although additional requirements may differ, depending on the jurisdiction, but they must usually contain certain requirements which have been listed below:
- Anyone making a will, must clearly identify themselves as the creator of the will which is being made
- The person making the will, the testator, should declare that they revoke any previous written wills or codicils
- The testator should also prove that they are satisfied that they're happy to dispose of their belongings as they see fit, and do so freely with a sound mind
- The will must also be signed and dated within the presence of two witnesses who are not beneficiaries
- Any witnesses who are to receive property under the will may not be entitled to receive anything after the death and it could mean invalidation of their status as a witness
- A signature of the testator must be placed at the very end of the will, and must be observed, if it is not it will be void
- The beneficiaries must be clearly stated in the written text
A will cannot include any requirement where a beneficiary should commit an illegal or immoral act against public policy as a condition of the receipt.
There are a few types of will, these can be the following:
- Nuncupative will-these types of oral will are often meant for sailors of military personnel
- A will written by the testator, this is called a holographic will
- A self-proved will
- A will which is sealed until the death, this is referred to as a mystic will
- A will where the executor has been left unnamed, this is called a unsolemn will

What happens if you should die without leaving a will? Simply the law will make the decision over who gets what. It makes no difference what you wanted or had promised someone whilst you were still alive. If you hold no will then who gets what will be decided by the Intestacy Rules. Here are a few pointers over what might happen:
If you were legally married
If your estate is valued at less than £125,000 then your other half gets everything.
Should your estate be worth more than £125,000 and you had no other relative alive then your other half will still be entitled to everything.
If you were married with children
If your estate is worth less than £125,000 then your partner would still receive everything. However, if your estate is valued at more than £125,000 then your partner would get £125,000 and the interest on that for life. The children involved would get half of the sum over £125,000 straight away and then be able to claim the other half on the death of your partner. And if your children should die before you then it is their children who would take the share of their parents.
If you are married without children but have parents, brothers, sisters, etc.
If the value of your estate is regarded as less than £200,000 then simply your other half can claim for everything. If it turns out that your estate is worth more than that figure then your other half still gets that amount, plus half of the balance. But, whatever is left gets distributed throughout the other relatives in this order; parents, siblings, half brother and sisters, the grandparents, any aunts and uncles including the married partners of these aunts and uncles.
If you are not legally married but still have children
Your estate will automatically be distributed around the children, and should they die, then it gets given to their children.
If you are not legally married, and have had no children, but have any parents, or siblings, grandparents or aunts and uncles
All of your estate will be separated out among them. The order of priority is this; parents, siblings, half brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles and then their spouses. If any of these should die, then the estate will go to their children.
If you are not married and have no one else in your family
If this is the case then all of your estate will be handed over to the crown.

One of the main parts of drawing up a will is ensuring you have selected an appropriate person or persons to be the executor or executors of your will. These individuals should be well trusted who have been notified long before you have nominated them. They must have a good understanding that they have to do plenty of practical work with regard to the estate of the person who has died.
Their Responsibilities
In the law terms it states that the executor is expected to collect, get in and also administer the deceased's estate. In layman's terms, it is their duty and obligation to ensure that the wishes of the deceased are carried out in full. Their first responsibility is to cover any debt which has been left outstanding which is owed, and to ensure any claims of which have been made by any banks and building societies have been thoroughly assessed.
After all of this they are expected to sort out any payments of any inheritance which has been left and owed by the estate. And also to carry out the wishes of what else might be left to other named beneficiaries. And it is also the executors job to fully investigate the possibility that there might by heirs.
It can be ok for an individual to ask a solicitor or a professional to be the executor named in a will. It is, though normal duty to ask a close friend or family member to be asked. These might ask for help from a third party to aid them if the job proves to be difficult. An executor has a lot of choice as to how much of the work they choose to do, in which case a solicitor can be employed to do a large bulk of the work or on the other hand only a small amount of it. An executor's decision is whether they should ask for any guidance from a legal representative and a lot of this will depend on how complex the will is.
In all cases an executor will have to do some of the work regardless of whether they have asked for a third party's help or not. This will probably involve the task of getting the estate and assets of the deceased valued.
If the executor chooses not to have too much involvement, then they can be expected to at least put their signature on many of the legal documents.
Firstly, the executor must have received the legal ratification that it is their right to take control of the estate and the assets. This then means they have to apply for a Grant of Probate from the Probate Registry, which will be essential to show to any bank or building society for them to be able to release the assets.

A will makes it easier for your family to be supported after you pass. The reason it is imperative to have a will is so that your family does not suffer any more than need be during the rough time of your passing. When there is no will it can take longer for probate of your assets and estate. The question comes up often of who inherits if you do not make a will. Under the UK law there are rules that govern the person(s) who will inherit.
Anyone who has a death after February 2009 will be subject to the new will and testament laws for England and Wales. England and Wales have different laws than Scotland and Northern Ireland, so you may want to check with your country regarding what happens if you decide not to make a will.
If you are married, but did not make a will and there are no children, the estate automatically goes to the wife or civil partner. Everything does not go to the civil partner or spouse. What they will receive are personal items like the household articles, cars, but nothing belonging to a business. The whole estate can be provided if it is less than 450,000 GBPs. They also get half of the rest of the estate.
The rest of the estate is split between surviving parents, brothers and sisters, or the spouse or civil partner if no siblings or parents are alive. A life interest in half of the rest of the estate is given to the spouse if the couple has children. The rest of the estate would then be shared by the children. It is fairly clear cut, but for those with specific desires regarding their estate one should make a will.