Will

About this document

This will has been written for use by someone who wishes to leave all of his or her possessions to one person after having made specific gifts of money and/or possessions to others. We expect that most commonly, the main beneficiary would be a husband or wife, and the specific legacies and bequests would be made to children, grandchildren, extended family members and charities.

There is an option in the template to leave the remainder of your estate is to another person, a group of other people, or a charity if the original beneficiary does not outlive you by a certain time period,

You can use this template to leave gifts to minors under 16.

We include our own Net Lawman trust provisions. These have been written for use where a trust has been created by a will and the testator wants the trustees to have fairly wide ranging powers to be able to manage the trust fund. Of course, the powers of the trustees can be reduced if required.

There is an alternative provision for gifts to children to be paid to a parent or guardian for safekeeping if you prefer not to create a trust. However, if you do this, you have much less control over how the gift will be used.

Alternatively, you may like to consider using our will for parents with a young family.

Our guidance notes explain how to edit the document and provide extensive information about why we include each paragraph and the decisions you might need to make. Creating your own will is a straightforward process.

Once you have finished editing the document, you simply need to print, date and sign your will (witnessed by two other people) to make it legally binding. We explain exactly how to do this in the guidance notes. You don’t need to involve a solicitor.

So that you can be confident that your wishes will be carried out, users of this template qualify for two additional free services. A qualified will writer can check that your signed will is legally binding, and we can safely and securely store your will for you – protecting it from accidental damage (such as damp or fire) and keeping the decisions about how your estate will be distributed private until your death. We explain how to take up these services in the notes to the document.

This document is in Microsoft Word format, which is compatible with many other word processors including Mac Pages, LibreOffice and WordPerfect. We can provide it in other formats on request.

Who should use this template?

This will template could be used in many different circumstances, but we envisage that it is most likely to be used by someone who:

• is a parent or grandparent, leaving an estate to a husband, wife or partner after having made gifts to children, extended family members and/or charities;
• wishes to leave specific amounts of money or possessions to family from a previous marriage or relationship, before gifting the rest to a current partner or spouse;
• is a single person, who wishes to leave specific gifts to friends and family and the rest of the estate to one person, equally to his or her children, or to a charity.

This template is suitable for a man or for a woman - it isn't gender specific. We follow normal, modern legal convention of using the masculine form of a word regardless of the gender of the person.

Note that this will template does not contain provisions that seek to minimise inheritance tax. If this is important to you, you should look at the other Net Lawman last will and testament templates, a number of which cover basic IHT planning (largely as illustrated by HM Revenue and Customs). If the value of your estate could exceed the nil rate band, then we suggest that you seek advice from a qualified tax specialist before signing your will.

The nil rate band remains £325,000 in 2022/23. If you own a your own home, and leave it to a direct descendant, then the NRB is increased by £175,000 to a maximum of £500,000.

Why we provide this template for free

Our motivations for providing free will templates are both ethical and commercial. We have one of the largest ranges of will templates for download from the Internet, but only provide a small number for free.

A will is an important legal document, and we believe that everyone should make one. Because the law sets out how your estate will be divided if you don't have a will, without one, the people you care about are less likely to receive specific gifts (whether of financial or sentimental value) that you want to pass on to them.

The reason why most people don't write a will is the financial cost of doing so. We want to remove that barrier. Our free templates are most suitable for less complicated estates that are valued below the inheritance tax nil rate band (when no tax would be paid).

Our commercial motivation is simply that once you have used a Net Lawman will, we hope that you will be more likely to return to us for legal documents for other aspects of your personal or business life. Providing a complete, commonly used, free template that is based on our more complex paid versions is a great way for our visitors to assess the quality of our documents.

When to use this will

You can write a will at any time in your life. Most people consider a new will when their financial circumstances change, or when relationships change. The Law Society advises that you review you will every five years, and that you make a new will after a major life change such as having a child, marriage, separation or divorce. It is possible to change a will without making a new one, but a new one is usually the better option.

More information on writing your will

The law on wills can seem complicated. We have prepared a number of short articles to explain the more difficult legal concepts. You may like to read some of our articles on writing your own will.

Document contents

• Revocation of all earlier wills
• Appointment of executors and trustees
• Appointment of guardians for children
• Legacies (gifts of money)
• Bequests (gifts of possessions)
• Instruction to executors to gather in assets and pass to main beneficiary
• Gift over provision if the beneficiary does not survive you by more than a given time
• Options for payment to children without creating a trust
• Option for creation of a trust for children (or other dependents)
• Payment to executors
• Alternative wishes for burial, cremation, or use of your body for advancement of science
• Signatures and witnesses