Single will from £149
Make a will just for you, whether or not you’re in a relationship
Making a will to protect children
If you die in England or Wales without a valid will and you have children under 18, others can make decisions about who will take care of the children and manage their finances and education.
From as little as £149 (including VAT) a will provides peace of mind of knowing the children will be protected and cared for after you pass away.
When we have provided you with a written quote for the agreed work, that price will not change. As part of the Co-op Group, our values of openness, honesty, social responsibility and caring for others are core to the service we provide.
If you have children under 18 years old
Making a will allows you to name people you and your children trust to look after their well-being if you die. Once these wishes are stated clearly in your will, you can be sure your children will be properly protected.
Co-op Legal Services can help you every step of the way to write a will that will name both guardians and trustees for your children. Our will writers make the will writing process as quick and straightforward as possible, and ensure that all the legal aspects of your wishes are properly covered.
Choosing a legal guardian for your children
When making a will, most people focus on what will happen to their assets when they die. But if you have children, it's also essential to consider who would care for them if you were no longer around. It's possible to appoint a legal guardian for your children when you make your will.
Parents can appoint a legal guardian to care for their children if they die while the child is under 18. The requirements for formally appointing a legal guardian are very similar to the requirements of putting a will in place. For example, it needs to be in writing and signed in the presence of two witnesses. It’s for this reason that many people incorporate their choice of legal guardian into the terms of their will.
So how do you choose the right legal guardian? Firstly, it’s important to recognise that the guardianship appointment would only take effect if there was no one else alive who already has parental responsibility. So normally the terms of the guardianship appointment would state that it only takes effect if both parents have died.
The next step is to consider who, outside of the natural parents, would be most suitable. Sometimes this is an obvious choice. However, in a lot of instances it’s not so clear cut. You'll need to consider where they live, their religious or ethical beliefs, their relationship with your child, whether they will want to take on the responsibility of raising your child.
Some of the key factors to consider when choosing a legal guardian include:
- if the guardians are older that you (such as your parents) will they be able to care for your children until they're 18?
- if the guardians have children of their own, who's house would they all live in, theirs or yours?
- if the guardians live in a different part of the UK, would your child need to relocate, leaving their school and friends behind?
In addition to these challenges, it is important to understand the impact of appointing a guardian who is not resident in the UK. Whilst guardianship may be authorised, there could be issues obtaining the correct visas; either for the guardian to live in the UK or for your children to go and live abroad.
When it comes to choosing a guardian, there's no right or wrong answer, other than what you feel would be in the best interests of your child.
If you have children over 18 years old
If you die without a will in England or Wales, your estate (your home, car, bank accounts, investments and anything else you own) will be distributed in accordance with the rules of intestacy, which govern who will inherit your estate when you are gone.
The rules of intestacy state that all children will receive their inheritance outright at the age of 18, whatever their financial position or their levels of maturity. The rules of intestacy also state that, if your children are entitled to benefit, then your estate will be divided up equally between all your children (excluding stepchildren), which may not be what you want.
Making a will can ensure that your grown-up children receive their inheritance when you choose. It may be that you want them to inherit at age 21 or 25 rather than age 18, or perhaps you’d prefer that they had a share of their inheritance at age 18 and receive the remainder at a later date.
Writing a will can also ensure that money or other gifts given to your children during your lifetime can be taken into account, helping to minimise disputes between your children after you die.
Check which will is right for you
Different types of will offer different levels of protection and flexibility. Our interactive tool helps you find the option that best suits your needs.
If you have children from a previous relationship
If you’re in a relationship but not married or in a civil partnership with your partner and you die without a will, all your property and possessions in your estate will be inherited by your children, meaning your new partner will be left with nothing at all.
However, if you’ve married or entered a civil partnership and you die without a will, your new spouse or partner will inherit the first £250,000 of your estate outright, which may leave your children with little or no inheritance. This is referred to as the sideways disinheritance trap because the estate moves sideways to the new partner rather than down to the children.
If you have a disabled child
If you have a disabled child, you might wonder how you are going to provide for them when you are gone. Your child's disability might be such that leaving them a large amount of money would put them in a vulnerable position. He/she might not be able to deal with their own finances, could lose their means-tested benefits or could be open to abuse from others.
This can put you in a difficult situation because of course, you will want to ensure your child is taken care of after your death. You might consider leaving your entire estate to someone else on the basis that you trust them to use the money to look after your disabled child. However, this is very risky, as an outright gift means that the money legally belongs to the beneficiary and unforeseen circumstances may arise, such as death, debts and divorce.
For instance, let's imagine that you have two sons – Tom has a mental disability, but Ben does not. You leave Ben your entire estate on the basis that he will care for Tom, and Ben is more than willing to oblige. But after your death Ben runs into financial trouble and his creditors go after the inheritance money to pay off his debts. His marriage then falls apart, and the divorce settlement depletes his assets even further. All of a sudden, there's very little left in the pot for Tom's needs. When Ben dies a few years later, his estate is distributed to his children, leaving Tom with nothing.
Of course, this is a worst-case scenario. But it highlights how things might not go according to plan, despite everyone's best intentions. That is why it's best to consider ring-fencing the inheritance earmarked for a disabled child into a trust, which you can establish in the terms of your will.
In order to do this, you need to create a Trust in your Will.
Including a trust in your will allows you to leave an amount in your will to people you choose (called your Trustees) to manage the inheritance on behalf of and for the benefit of the disabled beneficiary during their lifetime.
This has several advantages for those with disabled children, namely that: - Your child does not own the assets in the trust, so it will not affect their means-tested benefits - Whilst the assets remain in the trust, they are not owned by anyone else in their personal capacity so cannot form part of an individual's estate for the purpose of debt, death or divorce - Your child will be able to benefit from the assets at the trustees' discretion - Your child will not have to manage the assets in the trust - Your child cannot be influenced into using the money for other purposes - Your trustees can use the trust assets to purchase items on behalf of the disabled child and ensure that, as far as possible, your child's needs are taken care of
The service I received was first class and extremely painless for what I thought would be a complicated legal procedure.P.M
If you have stepchildren
Inheritance laws, called the rules of intestacy, don't recognise stepchildren.
If you would like your stepchildren to inherit from your estate, but you don’t have a will expressing these wishes, then your stepchildren have no automatic right to inherit from your estate. Only your biological or adopted children do, and even that can depend on whether you are married and the value of your estate when you die.
If you have stepchildren, you need to decide exactly what you want to happen to your estate after your death. The law in England and Wales provides for 'testamentary freedom', meaning you can leave everything you own to whoever you choose. This might be your children, it might be your stepchildren, or it might be neither.
You then need to speak to a specialist will writer about your wishes. Be sure to explain your family circumstances. The will writer can then advise how best to write your will to make sure that your estate is distributed in the way you want after your death. The way this is done will depend on your wishes, but there are various options available, which your will writer can talk you through.
If you do want to leave an inheritance to your stepchildren, then you will need to make this expressly clear in the terms of your will. For example, you must say that you leave 20% of your estate to your stepchild Ben, and 20% of your estate to your stepchild Rebecca.
But if you do not want to leave any inheritance to your stepchildren, then you must name your chosen beneficiaries. It is then a good idea to leave a Letter of Wishes alongside your will, explaining why you have decided to distribute your estate in this way. If possible, also have an open discussion with those who would be impacted to explain your wishes during your lifetime to let them air their views, to help you understand whether they disagree and try to resolve any issues. This will limit the chance of your will being challenged after you die.
However, this still leaves the tricky situation of providing for your partner if you die before them. It is possible to ensure that your partner is taken care of during their lifetime, without your estates becoming entwined. A good option is to create a trust in your will.
Depending on the terms of the trust, this could provide your partner with a home and an income for the remainder of their life. But when they die your estate can then pass to whoever you have named as your beneficiaries.
We make writing a will easy
Writing a will doesn't need to be complicated when you have a will writing specialist to help you complete the will writing process from start to finish. At Co-op Legal Services our will writing advisors can discuss your wishes, offer guidance and can help you to make a will that’s right for you and your circumstances.
Co-op Legal Services has over 800 staff working in different businesses with offices in Manchester, Bristol, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sheffield and London.
