Last week was “Write a Will Week” and 
research by Unbiased shows that an alarming number of people don’t have a will in place. The results showed that over 29.5 million adults in the UK don’t have a will in place.
Even more worrying was that 48% of married adults currently do not have a will in place. Under the current rules of intestacy, the rules that come in to play if a will does not exist, a spouse or civil partner can only inherit £250,000 if there are children or grandchildren. For couples who live together but aren’t married, 67% had savings they wanted to leave to family and friends and 54% wanted to leave a property to their partner, yet they will get nothing if there is no will in place.
Given the importance of having a will in place, it’s maybe surprising that the biggest reason for not getting one arranged is apathy with 25% of people saying they plan to arrange one when they are older.
During the financial planning process it’s important to make sure that wills are in place and more importantly that they are up to date and reflect the wishes of each party.
