Will writing, LPAs and probate in Heathfield
Personal, professional estate planning across Heathfield and the surrounding High Weald villages — at your kitchen table, on your schedule.
Heathfield sits on the High Weald in East Sussex, the natural market town for the cluster of villages between Crowborough and Hailsham. From my base I regularly visit clients in Burwash, and Hurst Green. The signing visit is included in the quoted price wherever you are on that list — there's no extra travel charge for the smaller villages.
I'm Emma Wrigley — a law graduate with over 20 years in the legal sector — and I set up Kent Legacy Planning because estate planning should fit around your life, not the other way around. The conversations I have with clients happen mostly on the phone, at whatever time of day suits you, and the signing happens over a cup of tea at your own kitchen table — evenings and weekends if that's what works, with no office visits and no rushed appointments.
Services available in Heathfield
Every fee is quoted in writing before you commit, and will and LPA prices include a signing visit to your home in Heathfield or the surrounding villages.
Wills & related documents
Will Writing
From £225
A will drafted from scratch for your circumstances, signed and witnessed properly at your own kitchen table.
Read more →Mirror Wills for Couples
£400 per couple
A coordinated pair of wills for a couple whose wishes broadly match, drafted together so they agree with each other.
Read more →Trust Wills
Price on consultation
Ringfence your share of the family home so your partner can go on living there and your children still inherit it.
Read more →Letter of Wishes
£35 with a will / £85 standalone
The personal guidance that sits alongside your will — funeral preferences, bequests, and notes for guardians.
Read more →Will Review
£95
A read-through of the will you already have, whoever wrote it, and an honest answer on whether it still works.
Read more →Codicils
From £125
A signed, witnessed addition to an existing will, where the change is straightforward enough not to need a new one.
Read more →Powers of attorney & health decisions
Lasting Powers of Attorney
From £275 (plus OPG fees)
Let people you trust make health or financial decisions for you if you ever can't make them yourself.
Read more →LPA Reviews & Revocations
From £95
Check, change or revoke a registered LPA that no longer says what you need it to say.
Read more →General Power of Attorney
From £195
Financial authority for someone who has capacity now — a spell abroad, a stay in hospital, a property sale.
Read more →Advance Decision (Living Will)
£195 one person / £300 per couple
A written, legally binding refusal of specified medical treatment, so your wishes are known if you cannot say them.
Read more →Probate & estate administration
Executor & Estate Review
£195
What the will means, what you actually have to do, and whether a grant of probate is needed at all.
Read more →Estate Administration Support
Quoted for the work agreed
Help with as much or as little of an administration you're running yourself.
Read more →Comprehensive Estate Administration
From £2,500
Everything from registering the death to distributing the estate, apart from the Grant application, which stays with the executor.
Read more →Other documents
A recent client near Heathfield
“Emma came out to us in Burwash on a Saturday morning and took us through a Property Trust Will properly — no jargon, no pressure. She even sorted the severance of joint tenancy as part of the process, all over a pot of tea at our kitchen table.”
Property Trust Wills in the Heathfield area
For many families around Heathfield, Burwash and Hurst Green, the High Weald home is the single largest asset in the estate — often built up over decades and carrying real sentimental weight as well as financial. That makes how the house passes — and to whom — one of the most important decisions in your will. A standard will leaves your share of the property outright to your partner, which works for plenty of couples but isn’t right for everyone.
A Property Trust Will — sometimes called a Property Protection Trust — lets you ringfence your share of the home so that, after you’ve gone, your partner can carry on living there for the rest of their life, but your share is ultimately protected for the people you want to inherit it. It’s a service that’s particularly well suited to the older, property-owning households across the Heathfield catchment, where the home is often the inheritance. It’s commonly the right answer for:
- Couples on a second marriage or blended families, where each partner wants to be certain their own children inherit their share rather than relying on a surviving spouse to honour an informal promise.
- Couples concerned about future care costs — once your share is held in trust, it doesn’t form part of the surviving partner’s estate for means-testing in the same way an outright inheritance would.
- Families with a substantial Wealden property where the home represents most of the inheritance and you want to be sure it reaches the next generation intact, rather than being whittled away.
The process includes severance of joint tenancy — the legal step that changes how the two of you hold the property so the trust can actually take effect when the time comes. The single price I quote for the two wills covers that severance alongside the drafting of both wills, the trust wording itself, and a signing appointment at your home with proper witnessing. The signing visit is part of that price rather than an extra on top, and it happens at your own kitchen table, on an evening or weekend if that suits better, rather than across a desk in a solicitor’s office in town.
Questions from Heathfield clients
Which villages around Heathfield do you cover?
I cover Heathfield itself and the surrounding High Weald villages, including Burwash and Hurst Green, as well as the smaller hamlets and outlying farms tucked into the lanes between Heathfield and the neighbouring towns. There's no additional charge for visiting any of these — the signing visit is included in the quoted price, whether you're a couple in the centre of Heathfield or an elderly relative on a quiet lane outside Burwash. I'll happily travel to wherever feels most comfortable for the conversation, at whatever time of day works for the household.
We own a period house in the Heathfield area — how does that affect estate planning?
For most families around Heathfield and Burwash, the family home is by far the largest single asset in the estate, and it often accounts for more of the estate's value than everything else put together. That makes how you hold the house — and how it passes — central to any will. A Property Trust Will lets you ringfence your share for your chosen beneficiaries while still allowing your partner to live there for life. We sever the joint tenancy as part of the process so the trust can actually take effect when the time comes.
Do you offer evening or weekend appointments in Heathfield?
Yes — I'm available seven days a week, including evenings, with no extra charge for out-of-hours visits. Many Heathfield couples find an evening appointment after work easier than taking time off, and weekend visits work well when older parents or adult children want to be present for the conversation. If you'd rather not give up a Saturday morning, a weekday evening over a cup of tea works just as well. I'll fit around whatever the household needs rather than asking you to fit around me.
We're on a second marriage with children from before — does that change what we should do?
It often does, and it's a common conversation around Heathfield. Where each partner has children from a previous relationship, a standard mirror will can leave the survivor free to redirect the whole estate later — sometimes unintentionally cutting out the other side's children. A Property Trust Will fixes this by protecting each partner's share of the home and other assets for their own children, while still giving the surviving spouse a secure place to live. We'll talk through the family shape and work out wording that genuinely reflects what you both want.
I'm helping an elderly parent in Burwash or Hurst Green — can you visit them at home?
Absolutely. The detail is gathered by questionnaire and phone, so there's no office appointment to face — which matters for anyone with mobility difficulties — and then I come out to sign. I'm in Burwash, Hurst Green and the surrounding lanes regularly, and family members are very welcome to sit in if that's helpful. I'm happy to coordinate appointments around adult children travelling in from further afield so everyone can be part of the discussion.
What does it cost to get everything sorted in one go?
Most couples choose the Complete Peace of Mind Package — mirror wills, both types of LPA for both partners, and letters of wishes. That's six professionally drafted documents in one process, and it works out cheaper than arranging each piece separately. I'll give you the exact figure on our first phone call, and OPG registration fees are payable separately to the government.