Recently my Father died. He was a successful businessman, all his life he had been meticulous in keeping his paperwork up to date, the one thing he kept putting off was the writing of his will. Despite constant nagging from his accountant and his solicitor he did not write one. It was not the cost or the time that put him off, we believe that he felt that by doing his will he was admitting that he was mortal and thus by putting down on paper his wishes for the distribution of his goods and chattels after his death it would accelerate the inevitable.

This unfortunately seems to be the opinion of many people in the UK (if you ignore something it will not happen) some people do not think they need to do a will as they have very little to leave, this is not always the case, what happens if you are killed in an accident and there is a large amount of money awarded in damages or you have an insurance policy that pays out automatically on your death, if you leave no will the government will decide what to do with YOUR money.

By not writing a will my Father has subjected his surviving family to an unfair, hurtful and complicated tangle of legal administration and increased cost and payment to the inland revenue, that has already had more than its pound of flesh from my Father over the 60 years he was in business. The whole process of the government appointed administrators will probably take over a year to complete in that time solicitor fees, undertaking fees and every day costs are building up, all for the sake of a legally worded document with 3 signatures on it (the testator and 2 independent witnesses) a document that could have been sorted out in under an hour and for less than the price of a meal out for 2.

If you die without leaving a will your family will suffer. You are not alone- over 70% of the UK do not have a valid will, obviously you do not intend to die, but if the worst happens and you do not have a will your family will suffer in ways that you may not have realised, at a time they least need anymore upset.

Every year thousands of people are made to sell their houses to pay for residential care! People who go into long term care are means tested. If your home is worth more than