Will writing, LPAs and probate in Mayfield
Personal, professional estate planning across Mayfield and the surrounding villages — at your home, on your schedule.
Mayfield is a picturesque historic village on the High Weald in East Sussex, between Crowborough and Heathfield.
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 Mayfield
Every fee is quoted in writing before you commit, and will and LPA prices include a signing visit to your home in Mayfield 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 Mayfield
“Emma came out to the house in Mayfield to talk us through a Property Trust Will and made what felt like a daunting subject genuinely easy to understand. She came back on a Saturday morning for the signing over a pot of tea — exactly what we needed.”
Property Trust Wills in the Mayfield area
For families in Mayfield, Five Ashes and the smaller High Weald hamlets that fan out around the village, the family home is almost always the single largest asset in the estate — and often by a wide margin. That makes how the home passes, and to whom, one of the most consequential decisions in your will. A standard will leaves your share of the property outright to your partner, which is the right answer for many couples, but it isn’t the only option and it isn’t always the best one.
A Property Trust Will — sometimes called a Property Protection Trust — lets you ringfence your share of the home so that, once you’ve gone, your partner can continue to live there for the rest of their life, but your share is ultimately protected for the people you want to inherit it. In a village where period properties routinely sit well above the national average, that protection can be the difference between a home staying in the family and a share of it being lost to circumstances no one anticipated. It’s particularly relevant for:
- Couples on a second marriage or in blended families, where each partner wants to be certain their own children inherit their share rather than it being redirected later.
- 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 Mayfield property where the home represents most of the inheritance and you want it to reach the next generation intact.
The process includes the severance of joint tenancy — the legal step that changes how the property is held so the trust can actually take effect. That severance is built into the price of the two wills rather than billed on top afterwards, and the same price covers me coming out to you — so the signing happens over a cup of tea at your kitchen table rather than in a solicitor’s office in town. If you’d like an unhurried run-through of how a Property Trust Will would work in your specific circumstances, give me a call for a free no-obligation phone consultation — and if you decide to go ahead, I’ll come out to Mayfield at a time that fits around your week.
Questions from Mayfield clients
Which areas around Mayfield do you cover?
I cover Mayfield itself and the surrounding High Weald hamlets, including Five Ashes, Mark Cross, Argos Hill and Rotherfield, as well as the lanes that connect the village out towards Heathfield and Crowborough. The signing visit is included in the quoted price — there's no extra travel charge for clients in the smaller surrounding hamlets. If you're not sure whether your address is within easy reach, give me a call and I'll confirm; in practice I travel across the High Weald most weeks and rarely turn anything down.
Why are Property Trust Wills particularly relevant in Mayfield?
Mayfield property values sit well above the national average, and for most families here the village home is by far the largest asset in the estate. That makes how you hold it, and how it passes, central to any will. A Property Trust Will lets you ringfence your share of the home so your partner can continue living there for life while your share is protected for your children or chosen beneficiaries. It also provides a measure of insulation against the way the home is treated for future care-fee means-testing, which is a common worry for clients in the village.
Do you offer evening or weekend appointments in Mayfield?
Yes — I work seven days a week, including evenings, with no extra charge for out-of-hours visits in Mayfield or the surrounding villages. A lot of clients prefer an evening appointment after work, and weekends are often easier when adult children want to be present alongside an elderly parent. The first conversation usually takes around an hour on the phone, and I'll come out to sign at whatever time suits — including a Sunday morning if that's what fits around the family's schedule.
Our home in Mayfield has gone up a lot in value — do we need to worry about inheritance tax?
Possibly — and it's worth thinking about carefully. Where a Mayfield home has appreciated steadily over a long ownership, the combined nil-rate band and residence nil-rate band for a married couple can be used up by the house alone before any savings or investments are counted. I can't give tax advice as a regulated adviser would, but I'll walk you through how the allowances work for your circumstances, how leaving the home to direct descendants affects the position, and whether a Property Trust Will fits alongside any wider tax planning you're already doing.
I'm helping an elderly parent in Mayfield or Rotherfield with their will — can you visit them at home?
Yes. The detail comes by questionnaire and phone rather than a formal appointment, which suits older clients and anyone with mobility difficulties, and then I come out to their own sitting room for the signing. I'm happy for family members to be present if that's helpful, and I can coordinate around relatives travelling in from further afield. I take care to make sure the wishes recorded are the client's own, and I'll always speak with them on their own at some point in the process so capacity and independence are properly evidenced.
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.