Trusted by families across Kent & East Sussex

DIY will kits and online forms are the most common source of problems I see. Missing a detail, using the wrong wording, or getting the witnessing wrong can invalidate your entire will — and your family won't find out until it's too late to fix it. A professional service means your will is legally sound, properly witnessed, and actually does what you intended.

Your estate is distributed according to the rules of intestacy, which may not match your wishes at all. Unmarried partners receive nothing regardless of how long you've been together. Children may inherit earlier or in different proportions than you'd want. It's one of the most important things you can do for your family, and it doesn't take long to sort out.

Most simple wills are completed within one to two weeks from our first conversation. More complex estates may take a little longer. I'll give you a clear timeline once I understand your situation.

After any major life change — marriage, divorce, a birth or a death in the family, a house move, a significant change in your assets, or simply wanting to change an executor or a beneficiary. It's also sensible to review an older will periodically, every three to five years or so, even if nothing obvious has happened. If you're not sure whether the will you have still does the job, there's a fixed-fee will review for exactly that — and if you go on to instruct a new will within 30 days, the review fee comes off it.

Sometimes. A codicil — a signed, witnessed addition to your existing will — works well for certain straightforward changes, such as swapping an executor. More substantial changes are usually clearer in a replacement will, because a stack of codicils makes an estate harder to administer, not easier. I'd need to read the existing will before advising which is right for you.

A Property and Financial Affairs LPA covers your money, banking, bills, and property. A Health and Welfare LPA covers medical treatment decisions and care arrangements. Most people benefit from having both, which is why I offer them as a discounted pair.

An LPA is something you put in place before you need it. Capacity can be lost gradually, but it can also go unexpectedly after an accident, a stroke or a serious illness, at any age. The catch is that you need the required mental capacity at the moment you make an LPA — so waiting until there is already a problem often means it's too late. Putting one in place now means you choose who you trust to make decisions for you if you ever can't make them yourself.

No, and this is the single most common misunderstanding I come across. Being someone's husband, wife, partner, child or other next of kin does not by itself give you any legal authority to make decisions for them. Family may well be consulted about health and welfare decisions, but being consulted is not the same as having the legal authority of an attorney appointed under an LPA — and for banks and other financial institutions, next of kin carries no weight at all.

Once somebody no longer has the mental capacity an LPA requires, they can't simply make one at that point. For financial matters, someone close to them may need to apply to the Court of Protection for authority to act as a deputy — a far more involved, slower and more expensive process than an LPA, and one the court supervises afterwards. It's the situation an LPA exists to avoid.

The Office of the Public Guardian charges £92 to register each LPA document. This is a government fee paid separately from my professional fees. If you're registering both types of LPA, that's £184 per person. You may qualify for a fee reduction or exemption if you receive certain means-tested benefits or your income is below £12,000.

No. It depends on what the assets are, how they were owned, and what the organisations holding them require — jointly owned property and modest bank balances often pass without a grant. That's exactly what the executor and estate review is for: a fixed fee to work out what's actually required before anyone takes on unnecessary work or expense.

No. The signing visit is included in the price of every will and LPA I write, anywhere in Kent and East Sussex — no travel charge, and no extra for an evening or a weekend. Most of the work before that happens by questionnaire, phone and email, which is quicker for you than fitting in an appointment. If you'd rather talk everything through face to face before I start drafting, I'm happy to come out for that too; there's a separate consultation fee, and I'll tell you what it is before anything is booked.