Insights & guides
Articles on choosing executors, leaving a legacy, inheritance tax, blended families and the practical nuts and bolts of probate.
Most lost wills aren't deliberately hidden - they're filed somewhere safe and quietly forgotten. Here's why that goes wrong, and what a will tied to a vault and executor notification service does differently.
Signing the will is a milestone - but it's only one of five things a complete legacy plan covers. Here's the other four, why people skip them, and what goes wrong when they do.
Most people choose their executors and never tell them what the job involves. Here's the plain-English brief - what they need to know, and what you can do today to make their job manageable.
A will is a snapshot, not a permanent record. Most UK wills are five-plus years out of date. Why an updateable will should be the default in 2026 - and when a one-off will is still the right call.
Missing documents create real, specific costs - unclaimed insurance, frozen accounts, intestate estates, funerals decided by guesswork. Here's what goes wrong, and a two-hour weekend fix.
A plain-English UK guide to Lasting Powers of Attorney - the two types, who can be an attorney, registration with the Office of the Public Guardian, costs and timing.
A clear UK guide to probate - what it is, when it is and isn't needed, who handles it, what the typical timeline looks like, and how a clear will makes it dramatically easier.
A UK guide to codicils - what they are, the legal formalities, when a codicil still makes sense, and why a fresh will is almost always cleaner in 2026.
A pillar guide to UK estate planning in 2026 - wills, LPAs, pension nominations, property ownership and the family conversation that ties it all together.
A UK guide to the most common trust types used in wills - bare trusts, life interest trusts, discretionary trusts and protective property trusts - with the tax implications.
A UK guide to including foreign property in your will - the EU Succession Regulation, forced heirship rules, the two-wills approach, and when to take local legal advice.
A UK guide to the letter of wishes - what it is, what to include (and what to leave out), how it interacts with a will and trusts, and why every will-maker should consider one.
A UK guide to charitable bequests in wills - the IHT exemption, the 10% reduced-rate rule, how to identify charities correctly, and the four ways to leave a charity gift.
