Will writing, LPAs and probate in Tenterden
Personal, professional estate planning across Tenterden and the surrounding villages — at your home, on your schedule.
Tenterden — the so-called "Jewel of the Weald" — is a historic market town in southern Kent, surrounded by a band of villages stretching across to Romney Marsh. From my base I regularly visit clients in Biddenden, Smarden, Woodchurch, High Halden, St Michaels, Appledore, and Wittersham. 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 Tenterden
Every fee is quoted in writing before you commit, and will and LPA prices include a signing visit to your home in Tenterden 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 Tenterden
“Emma came out to our cottage in Biddenden on a Saturday morning and walked us through the property trust step by step over a pot of tea. My husband had been dreading the conversation, but she made the whole thing feel genuinely straightforward — including the severance of the joint tenancy.”
Property Trust Wills in the Tenterden area
For couples in Tenterden, Biddenden and the surrounding villages, the family home is almost always the most valuable thing in the estate — and how it passes on matters as much as who eventually inherits it. A standard will leaves your share of the property outright to your partner, which suits many couples, but it isn’t always the right answer when there are children from a previous relationship, real worries about care costs, or simply a strong wish that the home stays in the family.
A Property Trust Will — sometimes called a Property Protection Trust — lets you ringfence your share of the home. After you’ve gone, your partner can continue living there for the rest of their life, but your share is held in trust and ultimately reaches the people you want it to. It’s a popular choice for households around Tenterden because so many estates here are dominated by a single Wealden property, and a clear plan for that property tends to be the foundation everything else sits on.
It’s particularly relevant for:
- Couples on a second marriage or blended families, where each partner wants to be sure their own children inherit their share of the home rather than rely on later decisions.
- 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 way an outright inheritance would.
- Families with a substantial Wealden property — typical of the houses around Smarden, Woodchurch and the wider Tenterden catchment — where the home represents most of the inheritance and you want certainty it reaches the next generation intact.
The process includes severance of joint tenancy — the legal step that changes how you hold the property so the trust can actually take effect. Most couples around Tenterden hold their home as joint tenants without realising what that means in practice, and severing it is straightforward once you know what’s needed. The severance is covered by the price we agree for the two wills, and so is my coming out to see you for the signing — at your kitchen table rather than in a solicitor’s office, at a pace that suits you, with time to ask every question that comes to mind.
Questions from Tenterden clients
Which villages around Tenterden do you cover?
I cover Tenterden itself and all of the surrounding villages, including Biddenden, Smarden, Woodchurch, High Halden, St Michaels, Appledore, and Wittersham. Whether you're in the town centre, out towards the Marsh, or tucked away on a lane between villages, the signing visit is included in the quoted price. There's no additional travel charge for any of these locations, and I'm happy to make the journey out to the more remote farmhouses and cottages just as readily as into the centre of town.
Why do so many couples around Tenterden choose a Property Trust Will?
The Tenterden area has a high proportion of older couples whose estate is dominated by a single Wealden property — often worth well above the national average, with most of the family's wealth tied up in the home. A Property Trust Will lets you ringfence your share of that home so it ultimately passes to your chosen beneficiaries, while still letting your partner live there for life. It's also a sensible safeguard against future care costs eroding the inheritance you've spent decades building up.
Do you offer evening or weekend appointments in Tenterden?
Yes — I'm available seven days a week, including evenings, with no extra charge for out-of-hours visits. Plenty of my Tenterden clients prefer a Saturday morning at the kitchen table, or an evening appointment once the working day has finished. If you're coordinating with a partner who's still commuting, or with adult children driving down from London at the weekend, I can fit the appointment around whichever time works best for everyone involved. The same goes for clients out in the villages — Smarden or Wittersham on a Sunday afternoon is no different to a Wednesday morning in the town centre.
We're on a second marriage — how does a Property Trust Will protect our children?
This is one of the most common reasons couples in the Tenterden area come to me. Without a trust, your share of the home typically passes outright to your surviving spouse, who is then free to leave it however they wish — which might not include your children from a previous relationship. A Property Trust Will protects your half of the property in a trust, gives your partner the right to live there for life, and then directs your share to your own children when the trust ends. It's a clean way to look after both families.
I'm helping an elderly parent in Smarden or Appledore — can you visit them at home?
Absolutely — and for older clients in the villages around Tenterden it works far better than asking someone to travel into a town-centre office. Most of the detail is gathered by questionnaire and phone, so there's no formal appointment to sit through, and then I come out to them for the signing. I'm very used to elderly clients, taking my time at their own kitchen table and explaining things in plain English without legal jargon. Family members are welcome to join the conversation if that's helpful, and I'm happy to coordinate timing around relatives travelling down from elsewhere in the country to be present.
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.