Will Writers

Spoiled for choice

An abundance of choice:

Solicitors

Professional Will-Writers

Banks

Charities

Insurance Companies

Yourself, using a pre-printed form, often in conjunction with a how-to book.

Yourself, starting with a blank sheet of paper.

Yourself, interacting over the internet with a professional via an insurance company or other provider.

Solicitors

Choose carefully. All solicitors carry indemnity insurance and are qualified to prepare wills, but some have more practice and expertise than others - in financial planning as well as will-writing. But solicitors have been known to prepare unwise and even invalid wills.

The Law Society has a probate section which provides support to solicitors whose work involves probate; inheritance tax; elderly client advice; wills; trusts; lasting power of attorneys; and related property law.

Will-Writing Organisations

Professional will writers are trained specifically in writing wills.

One of several prominent organisations, the Society of Will Writers notes that "All our members are required to carry Professional Indemnity Insurance." Policies are valid for a calendar year, after which they need to be renewed.

Members of the Institute of Professional Willwriters, which was founded in 1991, must pass an exam prepared by the IPW itself "or an equivalent run by the Law Society, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the Institute of Legal Executives or the Chartered Institute of Bankers."

Members are also required to attend Continuing Professional Development courses.

Banks, insurance companies, charities and other organisations will help you write your will or connect you with someone - often though not necessarily a lawyer - who will draft it for you. Some will-writers will come to your home. It is also possible to get professional advice using the internet, typically by filling in an online form which you upload to be checked by a solicitor or other professional and then returned to you.

He was, to say the truth, one of those Fathers who look on Children as an unhappy Consequence of their youthful pleasures. …nor had his Children any other Security of being his Heirs, than that the Law would constitute them such without a Will, and that he had not Affection enough for any one living to take the trouble of writing one.