Free Will Tem­plate – Ex­ample and Guide

It's im­port­ant to ap­proach free Will tem­plates with cau­tion. While they may seem con­veni­ent, there's a high like­li­hood that they do not cover all legal spe­cif­ics or ac­com­mod­ate unique per­son­al cir­cum­stances.

Many dif­fer­ent types of Last Wills exist, and the best type for you de­pends on your in­di­vidu­al cir­cum­stances. However, all Wills must follow cer­tain legal re­quire­ments to be valid.

Can I Use a Free Will Tem­plate?

Using a free tem­plate for a Last Will and Test­a­ment can lead to issues.

Free Will tem­plates are usu­ally too gen­er­ic and may not suit your spe­cif­ic needs. They often fail to provide the detail needed to dis­trib­ute your estate ex­actly as you intend.

Moreover, Last Wills must meet cer­tain legal stand­ards to be con­sidered valid, and these stand­ards can vary sig­ni­fic­antly across dif­fer­ent UK re­gions. These may in­volve par­tic­u­lar word­ing, wit­ness pres­ence, or other form­al­it­ies that a gen­er­ic tem­plate can't cover for every area.

Using a free tem­plate risks pro­du­cing a Will that may not be leg­ally bind­ing or clearly ex­press the test­at­or's wishes. This can lead to dis­putes among heirs and be­ne­fi­ciar­ies.

A Last Will needs to adhere to legal stand­ards and tailor to the spe­cif­ic de­tails of the estate to avoid un­in­ten­ded con­sequences.

Read more: Con­test­ing a Will in the UK

Free Will Tem­plate provides Only Basic Fea­tures

Free Will tem­plates typ­ic­ally provide just the basics for draft­ing a Will, con­cen­trat­ing on simple asset dis­tri­bu­tion. They often do not con­sider the nu­ances of per­son­al cir­cum­stances or spe­cif­ic legal re­quire­ments, align­ing more with the format of a Simple Will.

This type of a Will allows you to out­line the dis­tri­bu­tion of your assets and per­son­al be­long­ings after your death. It lets you name an ex­ecut­or, who will be re­spons­ible for ex­ecut­ing your Will's terms and man­aging the dis­tri­bu­tion of your estate ac­cord­ing to your dir­ec­tions.

UK's Top Choice for Legal Wills

To ensure your Will is leg­ally valid and cus­tom­ised to your spe­cif­ic needs and pref­er­ences, we sug­gest giving a try with the Aatos Will Writ­ing Ser­vice. Start by an­swer­ing a few ques­tions about your­self, and you'll get free re­com­mend­a­tions on what kind of Will & terms would be suit­able for your situ­ation.

💡 Did you know that ap­prox­im­ately 85% of UK adults have used a pro­fes­sion­al legal ser­vice or so­li­cit­or to write a Last Will (The Na­tion­al Wills Report, 2023)

Free Will Maker

Simply answer the ques­tions that our law­yers have for­mu­lated, and we will tailor your Last Will to suit your spe­cif­ic situ­ation and wishes.

💰 We will even op­tim­ise the in­her­it­ance tax for your heirs based on your assets.

You can down­load the doc­u­ment im­me­di­ately after your pur­chase.

Is It pos­sible to Make a Will Online for Free?

Yes, it's pos­sible to make a Will online for free. Sev­er­al plat­forms offer tem­plates and guid­ance to help you draft your Will without charge.

While a free online Will can be a good start­ing point, it's im­port­ant to ensure that it meets all legal re­quire­ments and ac­cur­ately re­flects your wishes.

For com­plex es­tates or spe­cif­ic legal advice, con­sult­ing a legal pro­fes­sion­al might be be­ne­fi­cial. Re­mem­ber, the key is to ensure your final wishes are clearly stated and leg­ally bind­ing.

The worst-case scen­ario with a free online will is that it may not be leg­ally valid. This could lead to dis­putes among your heirs.

💡 Have you heard about Char­ity Free Wills? During a Free Wills Month, it's pos­sible to obtain a Last Will com­pletely free of charge from part­ner­ing law firms.

Free Will Tem­plate for a Last Will

Cre­at­ing a straight­for­ward Last Will does­n't have to be com­plic­ated, and find­ing a tem­plate on how to write a Will can stream­line the pro­cess.

These tem­plates give an ex­ample on how to get through out­lining your assets, ap­point­ing ex­ecut­ors, and spe­cify­ing your be­ne­fi­ciar­ies, en­sur­ing all your wishes are clearly stated.

Re­mem­ber, while tem­plates can provide a solid found­a­tion, it's always wise to con­sult with a legal pro­fes­sion­al to ensure your Will com­plies with local laws and fully cap­tures your in­ten­tions.

You don't need to de­term­ine if your Last Will is simple or com­plex. Simply re­spond to the guid­ing ques­tions in Aatos's ser­vice, add your assets and heirs, and the ser­vice will gen­er­ate a Last Will for you.

Main Dif­fer­ences: Free Will Tem­plate vs Aatos Legal Ser­vice

The main ad­vant­ages of choos­ing Aatos legal ser­vices over free tem­plates are cus­tom­isa­tion and com­pre­hens­ive sup­port, ran­ging from cre­at­ing to stor­ing your doc­u­ments.

Free tem­plates can't cater to every­one's unique needs. Moreover, using our ser­vice could help you ef­fi­ciently manage as­pects like in­her­it­ance tax to your heirs be­ne­fit.

Aatos Cus­tom­er Re­views

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  “Draft­ing a last will took 15 minutes and cost £99. A lawyer would have charged £400-£500! The re­sponse to my ques­tion was prompt. The in­struc­tions were very clear.” –Anne

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Very easy to draft a will and un­der­stand the sig­ni­fic­ance of dif­fer­ent choices.” - Andy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "The ser­vice is cheap­er than going to a so­li­cit­or, and you can get help easily." – Jack

Read more about will stor­age.

💡 Do You Need Legal Help with Your Last Will? Our so­li­cit­ors can help you via chat or email for free (the chat can be found from bottom right corner).

Free Will Tem­plate UK – Ex­amples of Wills

A free tem­plate provides a gen­er­ic ex­ample of a Last Will and Test­a­ment, of­fer­ing a basic out­line for struc­tur­ing such a doc­u­ment.

You should not use these tem­plates in their ori­gin­al form for the final draft­ing of your Last Will; un­der­stand­ing this is cru­cial. In­stead, they aim to provide a pre­lim­in­ary idea of the doc­u­ment's ap­pear­ance and con­tents.

To ensure that your Last Will ac­cur­ately re­flects your wishes and com­plies with the legal re­quire­ments spe­cif­ic to your jur­is­dic­tion within the UK, it is ad­vis­able to view these tem­plates as start­ing points rather than defin­it­ive solu­tions.

⚠️ It is im­port­ant to have your Will re­viewed by a so­li­citor or write your Will in a legal ser­vice to ensure that it is valid and en­force­able.

LAST WILL AND TEST­A­MENT OF [your full name]

I, [your full name], of [your ad­dress], hereby de­clare this to be my Last Will and Test­a­ment.

1. Ap­point­ment of Ex­ecut­or

I ap­point [ex­ecut­or's full name], of [ex­ecut­or's ad­dress], to be the ex­ecut­or of this Will.

2. Fu­ner­al Ar­range­ments

I direct that my fu­ner­al be ar­ranged in ac­cord­ance with my wishes as com­mu­nic­ated to [ex­ecut­or's name]. [Add ad­di­tion­al wishes about fu­ner­al here]

3. Dis­tri­bu­tion of Assets

I be­queath my entire estate to the fol­low­ing per­sons in the fol­low­ing shares:

• [Name of be­ne­fi­ciary 1], of [be­ne­fi­ciary 1's ad­dress], [share]
• [Name of be­ne­fi­ciary 2], of [be­ne­fi­ciary 2's ad­dress], [share]
• [Name of be­ne­fi­ciary 3], of [be­ne­fi­ciary 3's ad­dress], [share]

4. Guard­i­an­ship of Minor Chil­dren

If I have any minor chil­dren at the time of my death, I ap­point [guardi­an's full name], of [guardi­an's ad­dress], to be their guardi­an.

5. Re­voc­a­tion of Pre­vi­ous Wills

I revoke all pre­vi­ous wills and co­di­cils made by me.

6. Sig­na­tures

In wit­ness where­of, I have here­unto set my hand and seal this [day of month], [year].

[Your sig­na­ture]

[Wit­ness 1's sig­na­ture]

[Wit­ness 2's sig­na­ture]

⚠️ It is im­port­ant to note that this is just a tem­plate, and you may need to modify it to fit your spe­cif­ic cir­cum­stances.

Dis­claim­ers for Using Will Tem­plates

• This will tem­plate is only for gen­er­al use and should not re­place legal advice.
• It is im­port­ant to have your will re­viewed by a so­li­citor to ensure that it is valid and en­force­able.
• This will tem­plate does not cover all pos­sible situ­ations or legal re­quire­ments, and you may need to modify it to fit your spe­cif­ic cir­cum­stances.
• If you have any ques­tions or con­cerns about writ­ing your will, please con­sult a so­li­citor.

⚠️ One of the most im­port­ant legal re­quire­ments is that two people over the age of 18, who are not be­ne­fi­ciar­ies of your Will, must wit­ness your Will.The wit­nesses must also sign the Will in your pres­ence.

Free Will Tem­plate Not Suit­able for Com­plex Es­tates

However, it's worth noting that a free Will tem­plate might not be suit­able for those with larger, more com­plex es­tates or spe­cif­ic legal and fin­an­cial con­sid­er­a­tions.

For Ex­ample, the need for tax plan­ning or set­ting up trusts for minors or de­pend­ents with spe­cial needs. In such cases, you might need more com­pre­hens­ive estate plan­ning tools.

💡 For those who want more flex­ib­il­ity in man­aging their assets, po­ten­tial tax ad­vant­ages, and more de­tailed pro­vi­sions for minors, choos­ing a Dis­cre­tion­ary Will Trust might be a better option than a Will.

Tips for Writ­ing a Will

Here are some ad­di­tion­al tips for writ­ing a will that free Will tem­plates tend to ignore.

• De­scribe your assets and how you want them dis­trib­uted as spe­cific­ally as pos­sible.
• Con­sider Ap­point­ing a Guardi­an for your minor chil­dren, if you have any.
• Name a Backup Ex­ecut­or in case your primary ex­ecut­or is unable or un­will­ing to serve.
• Review Your Will Reg­u­larly and make up­dates as needed.
• Keep your Will in a safe place and make sure your ex­ecut­or knows where to find the Will. You may also want to give your ex­ecut­or a copy of your Will for their re­cords.

💡 When using Aatos's ser­vice, we ensure that all rel­ev­ant as­pects are covered and your Last Will is fully le­git­im­ate.

An Un­clear Last Will May Be Con­tested

An un­clear Last Will poses a sig­ni­fic­ant risk of being con­tested, a situ­ation that can lead to pro­longed legal dis­putes among po­ten­tial heirs.

Using a basic tem­plate for draft­ing a Last Will without a thor­ough un­der­stand­ing of the ne­ces­sary legal word­ing or con­tent can in­ad­vert­ently create am­bi­gu­ities. These am­bi­gu­ities might not only strain fa­mili­al re­la­tion­ships but also result in a dis­tri­bu­tion of assets that de­vi­ates from the de­ceased's actual in­ten­tions.

The ab­sence of pro­fes­sion­al legal advice in craft­ing these doc­u­ments leaves room for errors and omis­sions, po­ten­tially lead­ing to costly legal battles and the erosion of the es­tate's value.

What about a “Do It Your­self Will”?

Cre­at­ing a "do it your­self will" or a “DIY Will UK” can be a cost-ef­fect­ive way to manage your estate plan­ning. However, there are im­port­ant con­sid­er­a­tions to keep in mind.

A DIY will, or "do it your­self will," is a ready-made will-writ­ing kit that an in­di­vidu­al cre­ates without pro­fes­sion­al legal as­sist­ance. While DIY wills can be more cost-ef­fect­ive and con­veni­ent than pro­fes­sion­al legal ser­vices, they carry risks such as in­cor­rect word­ing, miss­ing legal re­quire­ments, and po­ten­tial dis­putes among be­ne­fi­ciar­ies..

Risks of DIY Will:

1. Legal Com­plex­it­ies: Without legal ex­pert­ise, you may miss cru­cial legal re­quire­ments, ren­der­ing your will in­val­id.
2. Am­bi­gu­ities: Poorly worded clauses can lead to dis­putes among be­ne­fi­ciar­ies.
3. Up­dates: Life changes may re­quire up­dates to your will, which can be chal­len­ging to manage on your own.
4. Tax­a­tion: A ready-made will-writ­ing kit cannot op­tim­ise in­her­it­ance tax auto­mat­ic­ally and you might miss tax be­ne­fits.

While DIY wills can be tempt­ing due to in­ex­pens­ive cost, the po­ten­tial risks high­light the im­port­ance of pro­fes­sion­al guid­ance.

Free Will Maker

A ser­vice like Aatos, de­veloped by so­li­cit­ors, allows you to create a leg­ally sound will online in just 10 minutes, en­sur­ing your wishes are ac­cur­ately doc­u­mented and leg­ally bind­ing.

Aatos offers a free will maker that allows you to create a tailored will ac­cord­ing to your wishes. The plat­form guides you through the pro­cess step-by-step, en­sur­ing all your pref­er­ences and spe­cif­ic needs are in­cluded.

While the ser­vice itself is free to use, you will re­ceive the final, leg­ally bind­ing doc­u­ment after making a pay­ment. This en­sures that your will is pro­fes­sion­ally pre­pared and ready for use without the need for a so­li­cit­or.

Dis­cov­er how easy it is to secure your legacy with Aatos today!

Making Changes to Last Will

It is es­sen­tial to re­cog­nise that a Last Will and Test­a­ment may re­quire up­dates as your life cir­cum­stances change. Sig­ni­fic­ant life events such as mar­riage, di­vorce, the birth of a child, the ac­quis­i­tion or dis­posal of major assets, or even changes in re­la­tion­ships can sig­ni­fic­antly impact how you wish your estate to be dis­trib­uted.

Reg­u­larly re­view­ing and, if ne­ces­sary, re­vis­ing your Last Will en­sures that it ac­cur­ately re­flects your cur­rent wishes and cir­cum­stances.

Fail­ure to update your Last Will in re­sponse to these life changes can result in the dis­tri­bu­tion of your estate in a manner that no longer aligns with your in­ten­tions, po­ten­tially lead­ing to un­in­tended con­sequences for your heirs and be­ne­fi­ciar­ies.

⚠️ If you make any changes to your Will, be sure to have it wit­nessed and signed again.

Having a Will in place can give you peace of mind know­ing that your loved ones will be taken care of after you are gone.

Read more: Does a New Will Cancel the Old Will?

Tailored Will and More at Aatos

The pro­cess of cre­at­ing a Will ex­tends beyond merely draft­ing and sign­ing the doc­u­ment.

It is cru­cial to update the Will as life cir­cum­stances evolve. An out­dated Will might prove more prob­lem­at­ic than the ab­sence of one, es­pe­cially if it ref­er­ences an ex-spouse or omits heirs.

Moreover, en­sur­ing that heirs can locate the doc­u­ment when ne­ces­sary is vital.

At Aatos, we guar­an­tee that your legal af­fairs are prop­erly man­aged and up-to-date. For £99 you'll re­ceive:

✅ Last Will and Test­a­ment
✅ Free Print and Home De­liv­ery
✅ Un­lim­ited Re­vi­sions
✅ Di­git­al Stor­age
✅ Free Legal Help
✅ Un­lim­ited elec­tron­ic sig­na­tures

Try out to see what your tailored Last Will could look like.

Sources

The Na­tion­al Wills Report (2023) ‘The Cul­ture of Will Writ­ing in the UK’.

Read more

• What is a Living Will?
• The Es­sen­tial Guide to Making a Will
• Online Will
• Write a Will – 3-minute Guide