Will writing, LPAs and probate in Staplehurst
Personal, professional estate planning across Staplehurst and the surrounding villages — at your kitchen table, on your schedule.
Staplehurst is a sizeable Wealden village in mid-Kent, sitting on the Tonbridge–Ashford railway line between Paddock Wood and Headcorn. From my base I regularly visit clients in Headcorn, and Frittenden. 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 Staplehurst
Every fee is quoted in writing before you commit, and will and LPA prices include a signing visit to your home in Staplehurst 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 Staplehurst
“Emma came out to us in Headcorn on a Saturday morning to take instructions for our mirror wills — we both work in London during the week, so a weekend visit made all the difference. She walked us through the guardianship clauses for the children carefully over a pot of tea at the kitchen table.”
Mirror Wills for Staplehurst couples and families
For couples raising young families in Staplehurst, Headcorn and Frittenden — many of them commuting up to London or Ashford during the week — mirror wills are the most practical way to get the essentials in place without spending a Saturday in a solicitor’s office. The demographic here skews younger than the rest of the Weald: shared mortgage, two careers, school-age children, and a long list of weekend priorities that rarely includes drafting a will.
That’s exactly why mirror wills work so well for this audience. You and your partner sit down once, talk through who would look after the children, who inherits what, and how the house should pass — and I produce two coordinated documents that read consistently and cover both of you in one process. It’s faster, cheaper, and clearer than drafting two separate wills, and for couples with broadly aligned wishes it’s almost always the right starting point.
The scenarios I see most often around Staplehurst are:
- Young families with school-age children, where naming guardians and setting out day-to-day care preferences is the single biggest reason for getting a will in place at all.
- Couples with a shared mortgage on the family home, who want to be sure the surviving partner can stay in the house and the children inherit cleanly when the time comes.
- Blended families or second marriages, where mirror wills can still work, but need careful drafting to make sure children from previous relationships are properly looked after.
Mirror wills for a couple are quoted as one fixed fee — that’s both wills, drafted to match, with the option of a letter of wishes alongside them so you can cover funeral preferences, personal bequests, and notes for whoever ends up looking after the children. Drawing the pair from a single set of instructions costs less than commissioning two wills separately, and it’s the only reliable way to be sure the two documents agree with one another. We start with a free no-obligation phone call to understand your circumstances and settle the quote before you commit, and the signing visit is built into that price; I’ll take your instructions by questionnaire and phone, draft the pair, send them out for you to read at your own pace, and then come to you in Staplehurst, Headcorn or Frittenden with an independent witness so the wills are executed properly and stand up in law. Most couples are done inside a fortnight, and once they’re signed I keep a secure record of where the originals are stored so they can be found quickly when needed.
Questions from Staplehurst clients
Which villages around Staplehurst do you cover?
I cover Staplehurst itself, along with Headcorn and Frittenden, and I'm happy to visit families across the wider mid-Kent area from Marden through to the edges of the Cranbrook Weald. Home visits are included in the quoted price — there's no separate mileage charge for the smaller villages. If you're in a hamlet or farmhouse just outside Staplehurst and you're not sure whether you're inside the catchment, give me a call. The answer is almost always yes, and I'd far rather come to you than ask you to travel.
Why do mirror wills matter so much for commuter families in Staplehurst?
Most couples I see in Staplehurst and Headcorn have young children, a shared mortgage, and not a lot of spare time between the school run and the train into London. Mirror wills are the most efficient way to get the essentials in place — guardianship for the children, who inherits what, and how the house passes if something happens to one or both of you. They sit alongside each other and read consistently, so there's no ambiguity. For a couple with broadly aligned wishes, this is almost always the right starting point rather than two separately drafted documents.
Do you offer evening or weekend appointments in Staplehurst?
Yes — I'm available seven days a week, including evenings, with no extra charge for out-of-hours visits. That matters in Staplehurst more than most places I cover, because so many families here have at least one partner commuting up to London or Ashford every weekday. A Saturday morning appointment, or a 7pm visit after the children are settled, is often the only realistic option for busy households. I'd much rather work around your week than ask you to take a half-day off work to fit me in, and weekend appointments are no different in price.
How do we handle guardianship in the will if our children are still young?
Guardianship is one of the most important — and most often overlooked — parts of a young family's will. I'll talk you through who you'd want to step in if the worst happened, how to name a primary and a backup guardian, and how to phrase the clause so it stands up legally without sounding cold on paper. It's worth speaking to the people you have in mind before we finalise anything, and I can give you a draft to share with them if that helps the conversation. We can also build in a letter of wishes covering schooling, faith, and day-to-day care preferences.
I'm helping my parents in Headcorn or Frittenden sort their affairs — can you visit them at home?
Of course — a lot of my Staplehurst-area clients are introduced to me by adult children who want their parents' wills, LPAs or both updated. The questions come on paper and over the phone, so there's no office appointment and no long meeting to sit through, and then I come out to the kitchen table for the signing. I'm happy for you to sit in, and I can coordinate the visit around you travelling in. For older clients in Headcorn or Frittenden, a familiar setting genuinely helps — there's no rush, and we can take breaks whenever anyone needs one.
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.