You’re never too young to make a will – so why haven’t you?

According to a new survey, cost is a main reason people defer end-of-life planning – but you can’t put a price on sparing your grieving family from doing your ‘deathmin’, says money coach Talia Loderick

The cost of a basic will drawn up by a solicitor is just a few hundred pounds (PA)

How did you spend Friday, 5 July, 2024? I’ll never forget – not because it was the day after the general election; but because I spent it in hospital, at the bedside of a much-loved relative.

At the time, I beat myself up for not having had “the conversation” with them about their will. It’s hard to honour someone’s final wishes if you don’t know what they are.

According to new research by will-writing charity Will Aid, some 67 per cent of UK adults do not have a will or have an out-of-date one.

But the thing about death is that it doesn’t go away. So, let’s talk about wills.

A will is a legal document that details the people – and organisations, such as charities – you want your money and possessions to go to when you die.

If you’re in a relationship but not married or in a civil partnership, and don’t have a will, your partner isn’t provided for. This is the case even if you have children and are living together.

If you have children, a will covers guardianship. Peter de Vena Franks, campaign director at Will Aid, said: “If both parents die without officially appointing a guardian, courts will decide who is best to look after their children, which means the person chosen to look after them until adulthood may not be in accordance with the parents’ wishes.”

Wills aren’t just for the asset-rich. With a will, you can detail your wishes – from your funeral plans to what you’d like to happen to your possessions. And of course, your pets – where will they go?

Doing this work saves your loved ones the worst sort of admin – there’s a reason it’s sometimes known as “deathmin” or “sadmin”.

As someone said to me this week: “If you die without a will, for your surviving relatives, at a time when they’re reeling from grief and shock, they’ve now got to be the most organised they’ve ever been in their life.”

That’s probably not the legacy you want to leave your loved ones. But we avoid making a will for a number of reasons.

According to new research by Will Aid, 27 per cent of people say they don’t have a will because they don’t think they have anything worth leaving, 21 per cent cite cost, 18 per cent say they never find the time, 16 per cent cite discomfort talking about death and 16 per cent say it’s due to the complexity of the process.

Kim Crewe is a relationship therapist at the Crescent Practice in Brighton and says death remains a taboo subject: “People feel anxious about death. They think if they talk about it, then it’s more likely to happen, that they’ll bring it forward somehow.

“People also put it off because nowadays it’s much more complicated with remarriages and blended families.

“I work with couples on second marriages and help them talk openly, in a safe space, about what they want to happen when they die.

“People worry about hurting their partner by saying they’d like to leave money to their children from a previous relationship. Or working out who gets to keep possessions like their wedding rings if they both have children, for example.

“It’s complicated and it’s sensitive. But the more we normalise having these conversations the less likely it is that there will be awful family fallouts.”

And let’s talk cost. Because the cost of getting a will done can put 21 per cent of people off.

Every November, participating solicitors volunteer their time and waive their fee for writing a basic will. Instead, they invite clients to make a voluntary donation to Will Aid, which is then split among seven charities.

The suggested donation amounts are £100 for a single basic will or £180 for a pair of basic matching or “mirror” wills for couples.

Typically, a basic will covers an estate where you are leaving everything to a few family members, friends and charities, which does not require detailed inheritance tax advice and has no assets outside the UK. It will also include a couple of executors.

Outside of Will Aid month, the cost to get a basic will drawn up by a solicitor is around “a few hundred pounds, depending on what you need and want”, says Will Aid’s De Vena Franks.

More complex requirements such as setting up trusts and powers of attorney would cost more. As with most things, it pays to do your research and shop around.

Importantly, have the conversation with loved ones about making a will.

Kate Mitchell, a writer who specialises in bereavement and end-of-life-planning says: “Saying you’d like to get your will sorted can be a conversation prompt in itself.

“Don’t think of it as one big conversation but something you’re trying to speak about more often.

“Look out for opportunities to bring the subject up naturally, as a part of life that’s just accepted. If it’s in the news, or in a TV drama, or a celebrity dies, for example.”

Talia Loderick is a money coach: talialoderick.co.uk