How to make a Will for the first time

You should seek professional legal advice from a solicitor. But before you brief your solicitor, you will need to take the following steps:

• Appoint one or more executors who can administer your estate after your death. Their full names and addresses should be supplied to your solicitor for inclusion in the Will. Sometimes it is pertinent to appoint more than one executor. (You can opt for a solicitor to act as an executor and to be paid for doing so out of the proceeds of the estate.)

• Work out the likely value of your estate by making a list of the things you own (such as house, car, valuables and savings) with an estimate of their value. This should then be offset against your liabilities (such as mortgage, loans and credit cards).
  
  
• List any significant gifts of property or money that you have made during the last seven years. This will need to be recorded for inheritance tax purposes. The current basic inheritance tax allowance on gifts is only £3,000 per annum. (For more information on inheritance tax, please see the government’s published information.)
  
  
• Carefully consider the division of your estate, perhaps in consultation with a family member or close friend. The full names and addresses of individuals or charities you wish to include in your Will need to be provided to the solicitor.
  
  

A solicitor will initially prepare a draft of the Will and ask you to check that it reflects your wishes. When the content has been agreed, a final version is produced. To ensure it is valid and recognised, your Will must be properly signed and dated. This should be done in front of two witnesses who must not be beneficiaries, executors, or their spouses. The witnesses must then sign it in front of you and each other.

Your solicitor should retain the original Will and you should keep a copy for reference purposes. Your executor(s) should know where the original is located.

It is very helpful for any charitable beneficiaries of your Will to know that you have pledged a legacy to them. If you choose to leave a legacy to BibleLands, we would be very grateful to receive notification. Please contact our Legacy Officer, Sarah Shore, on 01494 897906 or via email.

How to update or change an existing Will

You can make minor changes and updates by way of a codicil, which is witnessed and signed in the same way as a Will, and supplements the terms of an existing Will, either by adding, amending or revoking part of it. A codicil must be executed in exactly the same way as a Will. This means that as well as including the amendments to your Will, a codicil must confirm all the other contents, and it must also be signed in exactly the same way as a Will – otherwise it is invalid. It is, therefore, wise to involve a solicitor when adding a codicil to your Will.

As with new Wills, charitable beneficiaries of your Will would be grateful to know that you have pledged a legacy to them in a codicil. If you choose to leave a legacy to BibleLands, we would be very grateful to receive notification. Please contact our Legacy Officer, Sarah Shore, on 01494 897906 or via email.

Why make a Will?

What next?

Glossary of terms