A good friend of mine recently told me that she was moving home. She saw no point in needlessly lining the coffers of those fat cat lawyers, so was planning on undertaking all of the conveyancing work herself. I wholeheartedly endorsed her savvy approach.

Of course, the above is a complete fabrication. No one in their right mind would dream of doing something as complicated as their own conveyancing especially when a mistake could prove as costly as the purchase price of your house.

And yet a significant number of people are now drafting their own Wills even though a mistake could prove as costly as the value of your entire estate! I have been inspired to write this blog by a recent Law Society article about the rise in estate litigation as a result of poorly drafted DIY Wills.

I blame WH Smith. Those £50 packs give the impression that a Will is a simple affair, a little bit of cut and paste and away you go!

Unfortunately, this rush for commoditisation has overlooked the fact that Wills are complicated documents and it takes years of training and practice, not only to draft them competently but also to tailor them to each person’s individual circumstances.

In many respects of course, this is good news for lawyers. The cost of litigating an estate exceeds by many times over the cost of drafting a Will.  Nevertheless, no-one wants to leave years of anguish and expense behind them and quite rightly so.

As the name suggests, your last Will and Testament is exactly that – your last Will and Testament. As such we strongly advise taking professional advice on this, most important of documents.

If you would like to discuss your Will and estate planning options, please do not hesitate to contact any member of our wealth management team for assistance.