It took me a long time after I qualified as a Solicitor to follow my own advice and put a Will in place and I’m sure I am not a minority among my fellow ‘millennials’. Meeting a client below 30 in my area of law is extremely rare. For most people the decision to write a Will is sparked by a significant life event; buying your first home, getting married or maybe having children. For my generation these events are happening later and later in life, if at all.
More and more of us are living with our parents for longer, are content cohabiting with our partners or building a family of furry ‘children’ instead of the more traditional kind – so when do we stop and think about what happens if?
If someone doesn’t leave a Will everything they own passes under the rules of intestacy – for someone who’s unmarried with no children the beneficiaries will be their living parents and for some people this might be fine. It is becoming more common these days though for families and circumstances to be more unique than they once were; what about stepparents, siblings, half siblings, partners, friends. What about them? What do they get? Most of us probably think they can trust their family to ‘do the right thing’ but if the shoe was on the other foot wouldn’t you much prefer to know with certainty what that ‘right thing’ was?
Wills don’t just deal with your money and property they can also deal with your personal belongings, your digital assets, your social media accounts, your funeral arrangements and even your pets.
The thought of contacting a Solicitor to discuss these things can be daunting and it isn’t nice to contemplate death especially your own in an unnatural order. What I can say about Will though is that it is best to just ‘get it done’, I’m sure it’ll be easier, quicker and cheaper than you expected and you’ll feel better for it.
At McHale we’re happy to discuss Wills and take instructions over the phone, by video call or face to face whichever is the most convenient for you. It’s always done for a fixed fee agreed upfront with no obligation, so if you think we can help please contact Philippa Wright on 0161 928 3848 or email at mch@mchaleandco.co.uk