Why Write a Will?

Fewer than half of adults in the UK have written a Will and only 26% of adults with children under the age of five have one, even though 72,301 people died in the UK under the age of 60 in 2019 (16,886 of those being under the age of 40). 

What’s the point of a lifetime’s financial planning only to see swathes of an estate lost or needlessly taxed?   

It has been said that an adviser should dread the day his/her client dies intestate as, in allowing that to happen, he/she has, by neglect, failed to serve that client and their family just as surely as not having recommended the purchase of sufficient life assurance or failing to get them to save sufficiently for retirement. It is that important!! 

The laws of intestacy

The Laws of Intestacy are probably NOT what your client would want to have happen to their assets – worst case might be that people will inherit who your client would really rather didn’t!

What's the problem?

So why don’t advisers get involved as often as they should? This seems to be a combination of factors, including, but maybe not limited to: 

  • It’s a complex area, best left to lawyers 
  • It’s not core to what we do 
  • We don’t earn anything from it 
  • It’s time consuming 


We don’t agree!  

The Ridgecrest Solution

Ridgecrest Wills & Trusts Ltd have designed this most straightforward process to enable you to get this done. Whilst there are estates which are complex (which our will-writers can deal with anyway), in the majority of cases, for the majority of clients, this isn’t rocket-science! 

Remember, it is absolutely core to what advisers do, if they are to offer a truly holistic wealth management programme. 

What's in it for you?

Yes, there may not be much, if anything, directly to be earned by helping a client complete a Will Questionnaire but the wider business benefits are massive:  

  • It protects your business from claims of ineffective planning 
  • It protects your client bank – after all, once they’ve done their Will through you, they’re not going anywhere else for their Financial Planning!  
  • If you don’t do it someone else might (and take the client away from you)  
  • You get to know your clients so much better 
  • There is a massive and straightforward opportunity to ask for introductions to Executors/Trustees and beneficiaries 

 

And, as for it being time-consuming, nothing could be further from the truth. A Will Questionnaire is, essentially, an extension of a fully completed CFR. You can pre-populate much of it before you even attend the client meeting and, far from being seen as just more paperwork that needs completing, it should be viewed as the best tool you have at your disposal to unlock your clients and their family histories, enabling you to know your client even more intimately than you do already. And, if you really don’t want to complete a Will Questionnaire, we will!

Making a Will means:

Avoiding intestacy

Allows appointments of guardians

Allows choice of executors

Allows flexibility of instruction

Potentially gives executors greater powers than intestacy

Peace of mind

Tax planning

Allows specific protection for vulnerable beneficiaries

Allows specific legacies to be granted

Allows for planning to protect assets against future unforeseen events

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The Big Button

About Us

Ridgecrest Wills & Trusts was set up to serve the SJP adviser community and their clients with a straight-forward solution to ensure that not one client is left with their holistic wealth management programme incomplete because they have failed to carry out effective Estate Planning.  

Contact Us

For further information on our services, please feel free to contact us at:

Ridgecrest Wills & Trusts Ltd, PO Box 11156, Newark, NG24 9RG

(01636) 98 92 94
info@ridgecrestwills.co.uk

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