Will writing solicitor in Minehead

We will store your original Will securely and provide you with a copy to keep at home, together with a storage receipt.

You may access your Will at any time. Simply contact us and we will arrange an appointment for you to collect it, usually within ten working days, subject to providing identification.

£100 + £20 VAT = £120 total.

When you make a Will with R J Padgett, we will provide a free review and quantify your Inheritance Tax position with you so that you can plan ahead.  If you would like to learn how to reduce your Inheritance Tax liability, we can provide legitimate and practical planning suggestions.

£750 + £150 VAT = £900 total.

If you are an older person or there is a risk your Will may be challenged. We can organise and put in place a capacity assessment by a specialist psychiatrist to protect your Will in the event of a challenge. This will take additional time. Depending on the availability of the psychiatrist, it could add several weeks to the process of making your Will.

£150 + £30 VAT = £180 total.

If you decide to leave someone out as a Beneficiary of your Estate, they might bring a claim against the Estate - if they are eligible. We can draft a statement of reasons in support of your decision to help explain your reasoning in the event of a claim.

£150 + £30 VAT = £180 total.

The process usually takes a two to three weeks.  We will have an initial meeting, take your instructions and discuss your wishes for your Will.

Next, we will prepare a draft Will which we will send to you with a letter of advice, usually within two weeks of your meeting. You may wish to make changes to the draft Will which may add a few extra days to the process.

If you are happy with the draft, you can make an appointment to come in to sign your Will. Once signed and witnessed your Will is complete.

See 'How much is a professionally drafted  Will ›' above. For even more detail see Wills and Inheritance Tax Price and Services Information ›

You can choose anyone you like to be you executors. The only limitations are that an executor must be 18, of sound mind and not subject to a bankruptcy order or a company. You can appoint between one and four executors.  You may also want to consider substitute Executors in the event your executors cannot act.

Other than that it’s entirely up to you. We would caution against looking at it as an honour you are bestowing on a friend, as your friend may not view it in quite the same way – especially when they are worrying about your estate.

The executors’ job is to administer the estate and they are legally responsible and personally liable to fulfill their duties correctly.  They are accountable to the beneficiaries of the estate.  They are the decision makers regarding how the estate should be administered within the confines of the law.  They will decide how much to accept for an offer for a property.

You therefore want to appoint people as executors who have sound judgement and commercial awareness, who share a similar approach to risk and who work well with other people.

An executor who lives abroad is not ideal from a practical perspective as forms need to be signed and the post can cause delays, however this isn’t insurmountable.

Yes you can write your own Will.  You can buy a Will kit and fill in the blanks.  You could try drafting it yourself and now, you can ask AI to draft you a Will.

Charities provide a free Will service in the hope you will support them on death.  There are even online free Will providers however they aren’t lawyers and do not provide legal advice.

If your wishes are very simple those services may be perfectly adequate, however they won’t be tested until you die which is when any problems would be exposed. At that stage it is too late to put right any mistakes and you’ve left problems for your family to sort out.

The AI drafted Wills we have seen don’t think through the 'what-ifs'.

Common problems I have seen with homemade Wills are with:

• Witnessing formalities - there are rules which have to be followed and if the procedure isn’t right, the Will is not valid.
• The capacity of the person making the Will – a homemade Will doesn’t negate the requirement for the person making the Will to have testamentary capacity.  The Probate Registry will question a shaky signature and want a full explanation from the witnesses as to the circumstances of the Will signing.
• A misunderstanding of how an Estate is administered on death and inheritance tax rules resulting in assets having to be sold to fund tax which wasn’t anticipated.

Whilst a Will can be a very simple document, there are numerous rules which have to be complied with to ensure the Will is valid – has it been witnessed correctly, has the Will be read over, are there concerns over the capacity of the person making the Will, are there any potential claims?

A good professional will know these rules and ensure that each legal formality is complied with.  They will consider any claims.  They will understand what each clause in the Will does.  They will understand Inheritance Tax and provide advice.

In addition, there are laws which govern how an Estate is administered and who pays what.  The professionally will have these in mind when drafting your Will.  An experienced professional will also have administered Estates where Wills have had problems and will be on the look out for these.

The key is satisfying yourself that the person drafting your Will is properly qualified and experienced.  Just because they work in a law firm doesn’t mean that they are a fully qualified Solicitor or Chartered Legal Executive.

Some law firms allow inexperienced “paralegals” or legal assistants to use Will writing software in the hope that the software will mitigate the lack of knowledge/inexperience of the Will writer.

It is important to look into the credentials of who is going to be preparing your Will.  You may find you are paying the same price for an inexperienced legal assistant to use Will writing software as you are for an experienced Legal Executive or Solicitor to prepare it.

A professional firm should have professional indemnity insurance so if they make a mistake with the Will drafting, causing loss to your Beneficiaries, the insurance will cover this.  If you draft the Will yourself, you have no protection.

Once your Will has been signed in the presence of two witnesses, it becomes a legally binding document.

To change your Will, you need to make a new Will or amend it with a Codicil (although it is much more straightforward to make a new Will rather than try to amend a document with another document).  You can also revoke your Will be destroying it.

If the change is minor, the Will may not need updating so it is always worth checking with us first.

At R J Padgett, we offer a free Will update within the first year of making your Will with us – so if you wish to change your Will, it isn’t a problem. Just get in touch and we can review the changes with you.

Yes, an LPA is useful and valuable for almost everyone.

A Will deals with your assets on death.

An LPA appoints attorneys to manage your affairs if you can't, due to ill health or incapacity.

For example: If you were in hospital for a month, your attorneys could handle your paperwork for you. They would have the legal authority to do so.  If you didn’t have an LPA, nothing could be done without you.

There are two types of LPA:

1) Property and Finance – this LPA lets attorneys manage your property and finances.

2) Health and Welfare – this LPA lets attorneys make choices about care, living arrangements, and medical treatment.

The attorneys can be the same for both types of LPAs – or different for each.

It is a matter of personal preference as to whether you have an LPA or not.  However, it is a good idea to have one in case of unforeseen circumstances – like an insurance policy. Of course, it is important to choose the right attorneys.

If you do not have LPAs in place and you lose the capacity to look after your financial and personal affairs, your finances are effectively frozen. An application for deputyship has to be made to the Court of Protection. This can take 6–8 months and burden family or friends at a stressful time.

Without a Health and Welfare LPA Social Services may be involved in decision making about your medical treatment and care.

For more details about Lasting Power of Attorney see our Done-for-you LPA page › and Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) Price and Services Information ›