Why Should you use a Solicitor to prepare your Will?

• A qualified solicitor has spent at least 6 years training to give you the best advice.
• A solicitor will ensure that your Will is properly prepared and executed. Home made Wills are often challenged, or are void due to errors.
• We will store your Will securely without charge
• Solicitors are accountable – they are regulated, operate under a strict code of conduct and are fully insured in the unlikely event that a mistake is ever made.

But my bank will do my Will ‘for free’?

You are far better off paying for your Will to be prepared and stored by a solicitor, who will draft the Will specifically to carry out what you have asked to be put into the Will, for a fee that we will confirm openly to you up front so that you can decide. We will also store your Will safely for you (all included in the fixed fee you pay for the creation of your Will) and ensure it is only handed over to your Executors after your death.

What about Will Writers?

Would you trust somebody with no experience to fix your car for a fee, just because they said “I’m a mechanic”?

Would you trust somebody who came knocking on your door late at night to carry out some building works to your house, just because they said they knew what they were doing?

We suspect the answer is a resounding “NO”! Then why trust someone unqualified to make your Will for you? Don’t get us wrong – there are some perfectly competent Will Writers out there. But sadly there are a lot that are not.

Anybody can call themselves a Will Writer. You need no formal qualifications, no training, no insurance against errors and indeed no skill in the area! You can literally set up calling yourself a Will Writer, and start writing wills for people, for a fee. Yet the quality of the Wills they produce can often be shockingly poor, and may well not achieve what you intend to achieve. And if this is the case you generally have absolutely no comeback against them.

Another problem with such Will Writers is often that the price they advertise for your Will is often quoted as really cheap just to get you to use them. Once they get to work for you the costs can often spiral with hidden charges. Yes, your Will may only cost you £30. But once they start charging you for the storage of the Will, and additional hidden extras, the costs can end up more than two or three times what it might have cost to have your Will professionally prepared by a solicitor.

Some of the worst examples we have seen have involved bills of over a thousand pounds, for a Will that was meant to only cost £29.99.

Instruct MKB to help you to make your Will. Our fees are reasonable, and we are happy to tell you up front the total costs involved. We then make sure your Will is drafted to your specific wishes, signed and witnessed correctly, and stored securely. All for the fixed price given at the offset.

Do those packs I can buy from the newsagents ‘work’?

Technically, a Will written on a scrap of paper can be a valid Will if it observes all of the required formalities. Yet all that you are actually doing is attempting to write the Will yourself.

All that you are doing when buying a Wills Pack is buying some blank paper, with some guidance notes. Yes, if you do it correctly, you can create a valid Will, but that is not to say that it accurately carries out what you want it to do. You are far better off incurring a little bit of extra cost and instructing MKB to create your Will for you. We make sure that the Will carries out your wishes, is validly signed and witnessed, and is stored on your behalf. We also allow for as many different “what if” scenarios as you would like in the Will we create for you. It is not pleasant to think about what might happen if a younger family member were to die before us, but we can allow for such possibility in drafting your Will for you, and it is all included in the cost quoted.

I’ve read in the Newspaper about Tenants in Common?

Sometimes, as part of making your Will, you can alter the ownership of your house to hold it as Tenants in Common and then give your share of the house to your children. This is as opposed to owning, as most couples do, as Joint Tenants.  This can assist after the death of one of you if the survivor goes on to need nursing care, as they only own half of the value of the house. It is important in taking this step to make sure that the right for the survivor of you to still live in the house are fully safeguarded however, and it is therefore essential to accurately reflect this in your Will.