Every November, Will Aid pairs volunteer solicitors with people who want a will, in return for a donation to charity instead of the usual fee. Appointments are limited and they go quickly. The people who get the most from theirs are the ones who turn up prepared. An hour of gathering beforehand turns a rushed session into a finished will.
What Will Aid is, briefly
Will Aid runs each November. Volunteer solicitors write a basic will and instead of charging their normal fee they ask for a voluntary donation to a group of charities. It is aimed at straightforward wills; complex estates or trusts may need a paid appointment on top. Slots are booked directly with participating firms and demand is high, so the earlier you arrange it the better. Check the current suggested donation on the Will Aid website.
The four lists to bring
A will appointment is mostly the solicitor asking questions and you answering. Have the answers ready and you save most of the hour. Bring four short lists.
- What you own. Property, savings, pensions, investments, vehicles, business interests and anything of real value. Rough figures are fine; you are giving a picture, not audited accounts.
- What you owe. Mortgage, loans and credit balances. The estate is what is left after debts, so this matters.
- Who you want to benefit. Full names and, where you have them, addresses of the people or charities you want to leave things to.
- Who will do the jobs. The people you have in mind as executors and, if you have children under eighteen, as guardians.
The decisions to make before you sit down
The lists are the easy part. The appointment goes fastest when you have already made the harder choices, because these are the questions that stall people mid-session. Who should be your executors, and have you asked them. If you have young children, who would raise them. What should happen if someone you name dies before you, which is the substitute nobody thinks about until they are asked. Are there specific gifts, a piece of jewellery or a set sum, to hand out before the rest is divided. And is there anyone who might expect something and get nothing, since flagging that early lets the solicitor advise on it.
What you do not need to sort out first
Do not let missing detail stop you booking. You do not need exact valuations, solicitors work in rounded figures at this stage. You do not need the addresses of every beneficiary if you have their names. You do not need to have chosen a funeral, that is not part of the will and is better recorded separately. Inheritance tax may come up, and the current thresholds and rules are on GOV.UK if you want to read ahead, but working out your own position is the solicitor’s job, not homework. You also do not need every account number to hand, though knowing which bank holds what will save your executors time down the line. This is general information rather than advice, and your solicitor will tailor it to your situation.
A few things that trip people up
Some points come up again and again in first appointments and they are worth a thought before you go. If you own property with someone else, how you own it matters: a home held as joint tenants passes automatically to the other owner and sits outside your will, while tenants in common can each leave their share as they choose. If you have remarried, be aware that marriage can revoke an earlier will in England and Wales, so an old one may no longer stand. And if anyone in your life relies on you financially, say so, because leaving them out can lead to a claim against the estate later. Your solicitor will steer all of this; you just need to raise it.
Where FamilySafe fits
Most of the gathering above is a one-off scramble because the information lives in different drawers, apps and heads. FamilySafe keeps it in one place, so preparing for a Will Aid appointment becomes a matter of printing what you already hold. Keep it current afterwards and your executors inherit the same clear picture you brought to the solicitor.
