Ten reasons to make a will

Research from the Money and Pensions Service, published in January 2025 and based on its 2021 Adult Financial Wellbeing Survey of 10,306 people, found that 56% of UK adults have no will. Most of them have a reason, and it is usually the same one: it is a job that can always be done tomorrow.

It matters more than it used to. More couples live together without marrying. Second marriages, blended families and stepchildren are ordinary now. A child's inheritance rights from their own parent do not depend on whether their parents were married, but an unmarried partner and stepchildren have no automatic entitlement under the intestacy rules at all. There are also firms that make their money contesting wills and estates, approaching families at their lowest point.

If you have children, you need a will. If you own anything substantial, you need a will. And if you think there might be arguments, a will is the kindest thing you can leave behind. One of our consultants is still working on a family dispute over a contested will three years after the death.

So here are ten reasons, and a cup of tea while we go through them.

1. It is your life, so make the plan yourself

Think about what you want to happen and make sure it happens. Be specific. Divide things as you see fit, and say why, which often means more to the person than the thing itself. Put it in writing rather than trusting that a conversation will be remembered.

2. Choose who looks after your estate

You might choose a friend as executor rather than a relative. A relative can be too close to it, and a good friend is often more objective. Some people prefer a solicitor, though that usually costs more across the whole administration. Whoever you choose, you need to trust them to carry out your wishes and meet their legal duties, because executors can be held personally liable for mistakes.

3. Keep the people you love safe

If you have children under 18, appoint a guardian. Even if you live with their other parent, think about what would happen if you both died. A guardian named in your will does not normally replace a surviving parent, or anyone else who already has parental responsibility, so the appointment matters most when nobody with parental responsibility survives. Once you have decided, talk to that person and check they are willing. Not everyone is, and it is much better to know.

If you are not married or in a civil partnership, make provision for your partner. However long you have been together, they have no automatic entitlement under the intestacy rules. Some jointly owned assets, and pension or insurance benefits you have nominated them for, may pass to them separately, and they may be able to make a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. That route is uncertain, slow and expensive. The government is consulting on new rights for cohabiting couples, but nothing has changed yet.

4. Update it when life changes

If you have just married or entered a civil partnership, you probably need a new will. In England and Wales, marrying or entering a civil partnership usually revokes an existing one. The exception is a will made expressly in contemplation of marriage to a particular person. The Law Commission recommended scrapping that rule in 2025, but it is still the law.

Divorce does not cancel your will. Instead your former spouse is treated as though they had died, so any gift to them and any role as executor falls away, unless the will says otherwise. They may still be able to make a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. That can leave the rest of the will behaving in ways you never intended, so a fresh one is usually the answer.

5. Who will look after the animals

Pets need naming too. Decide who will take them, talk to that person first, and consider leaving something towards their care, particularly as animals get old and need more looking after. It is a small paragraph that saves a family a difficult conversation at the worst time.

6. Keep your home safe

Your home, or your share of it, does not automatically pass to a long-term partner or to your children simply because you all lived there. Deal with it in your will, perhaps by leaving a share of the property, or the right to live there for the rest of their life. Without that, they could lose their home, which is the opposite of what you intended.

7. Do not pay more Inheritance Tax than you need to

Tax can still be due after you have gone. The standard tax-free allowance, the nil-rate band, is currently £325,000, though it can be reduced by chargeable gifts made in the years before death. There is also a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 where a qualifying home passes to direct descendants such as children or grandchildren, and it tapers away by £1 for every £2 the net estate is worth above £2 million. Unused allowances may be transferable between spouses and civil partners.

The thresholds are frozen until 5 April 2031, and from 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds and relevant pension death benefits are due to count towards the estate as well, so more ordinary families will be affected. Death-in-service benefits from a registered scheme are excluded, and the spouse, civil partner and charity exemptions still apply. A little planning goes a long way. Be wary of complicated schemes that cost nearly as much as the tax they save.

8. Protect what you have built

This is about making sure the person you trust with your estate is equal to the job, and that your estate is shared out the way you want. If you die without a will, children or dependants from an earlier relationship may not be looked after as you would expect, because the intestacy rules provide only for a spouse or civil partner and your children, in fixed shares.

9. Do not forget your digital life

Digital assets and online accounts often have to be dealt with as part of administering an estate. Whether they can be reached, transferred or inherited depends on the asset and on the service's terms, and mishandled they can be lost for good. Decide what you want done with them, and whether your executor will need usernames and passwords. Keep those out of the will itself, because it becomes a public document once probate is granted.

Some accounts can be memorialised. Others simply disappear if nobody has planned for them. It is worth naming a digital curator, often a younger family member or friend, who you can set up as a trusted contact in Zoetic.

10. Leave something to a good cause

Supporting a charity you have cared about is a good way to be remembered. If your charitable gifts meet the legal 10% test, a reduced Inheritance Tax rate of 36% instead of 40% may apply to the relevant part of your estate. The calculation is fiddly, so take advice. Your will is where you name the charity and say whether you are leaving a percentage or a fixed amount.

Peace of mind, for everyone

A will is not the right place for your funeral wishes, or for the many other details of a busy life, most of which now live online. Funeral wishes are not legally binding even when written into a will, but writing them down clearly makes them far easier to respect.

Use Zoetic for a separate letter of wishes: what you want to happen to your body, where you would like to be buried or scattered, which music you would like, and how you want to be remembered. Those instructions help your family straight away. A will often is not read properly until after the funeral.

It is one afternoon. Most people find it a good deal less difficult than they expected, and a good deal more of a relief afterwards.