DIY or Do it Yourself Wills

A Do it Yourself Will or DIY Will for short, ia a popular buy in England and indeed throughout the UK. Their popularity doesn’t look to change anytime soon either.

Many people understand the need to write a Will but for whatever reason do not do it. There is no doubt that making your Will is one of the most important things you should do.

Of the 30% of adults who do make a Will many choose the Do it Yourself route.

This is probably because it is without a doubt the cheapest route and a close as you can get to making a free Will. In fact it can work out that people buying a simple DIY Will Kit for one person may be able to use it to make a second ‘free’ Will and indeed subsequent ones if they so desire.

Importantly there are a couple of potentially very serious drawbacks.

Is the DIY Will suitable for your circumstances?

Unfortunately too many self-written Wills are used in circumstances that would really require a more sophisticated bespoke version e.g. if you are in a second marriage and there are children from a previous marriage. There are a number of other circumstances that would suggest a DIY Will is not suitable as well.

Is the completed DIY Will valid?

Even more important is the question of validity. Has it been written in a way that allows it to do the job you want and has it been attested (signed) in accordance with the legal requirements? In fact attestation is the biggest single problem area with any Will because it is just too easy to get it wrong. Experience shows that to be true.

It could be characterised as the Ikea syndrome – all the
instructions are there but can you follow them properly?

The simple answer is to make sure that it is the right type of Will in the first place and to have the will checked by a qualified professional.

Unfortunately this is not what’s on offer in the market which is simply a numbers game for people to buy a product. All the terms and conditions on the website mean that they carry no responsibility for mistakes.

So by taking the cheap £10-£20 route to DIY Will ‘heaven’ you might just be buying your family your intestacy on your death. That means dying with no valid Will because in the absence of a proper check how will you ever know for sure that your DIY Will is valid.

Your ‘memory’ could be clouded by the epitaph of ‘Do it Yorself Will bodger’! For your £10-20 are you actually buying any peace of mind at all?