Many people put off making a will because they can.

Those who make the decision to get a Will sometimes take a long time to actually do ‘the deed’ as well. In one case, I had first contact with a particular client and an appointment made which had to be cancelled. For one thing and another – mainly because they were too busy – the appointment was not reset until about 8 months later. Then it took another 7 weeks to deal with the draft will and then another 10 weeks to get the signing (attestation) sorted out.

In all it was over a year, which is a record for me.

I suppose a lot could have happened in that intervening year of delay a.k.a. an extra year of potential intestacy and lack of guardians appointed – just saying!

Now, I don’t know about you but I use Email a lot. It is an imperfect system and it can be difficult to know if the intended recipient has actually received it.

One ‘too’l that helps me is requesting Read Receipts. This is not foolproof, but if someone does give Read Receipts when they open an Email it does help the sender to know it actually got there.

When I was a barrister ‘in chambers’ our clerks started to use email extensively. They did give Read Receipts for a while. However, following a few things not being done by the said clerks in a timely fashion and having the time of the Read Receipt used as an indication of when the intruction Email was recived, they stopped doing it.

Since then I have always thought that any business that does not give Read Receipts has something to hide. Am I wrong about this? Is there a good reason not to do this? with good open communications in mind I managed to persuade Les Kinch of Parrot Hosting to do this as I am using him to do my new websites.

I went to the 4Networking group at the Forest of Dean today, which certainly is in a lovely area. I met up with a few people I had meet before including Michael Goody of Colour Sells who has done some printing for me – you see 4N does work and Pauline Masters of First Aid Training.

It was a nice friendly group and I spoke to most of the people there.

I did a 4Sight here too which was in fact 4Sight number 48. I will reach the milestone 4Sight number 50 at Swindon on 7th July if nothing prevents me from so doing. For those of you who don’t know that is a 10 minutes speaking slot which gives an insight into something of interest.

Well today I spoke about “How to get the right Solicitor” which is one of seven different topics I do all of which have a legal theme. This have proved to be a very popular 4Sight as I normally get quite a few questions or observations and today was no different. One lady commented on how badly served she was in her case and how she ended up suing the Solicitor for Professional Negligence.

I was pleased and slightly embarrassed when Pauline commented about something I did for her.  In fact she had left me a Testimonial for that on the 4N site.

Tomorrow morning I am going to 4Networking at Winchester and yes I am doing a 4Sight.

If you use a Financial Advisor (IFA) you normally have to let them know a lot about your financial circumstances.  They need this information to help give you the best advice. During the fact find about your circumstances an IFA is required to ask if you have a Will and when was it last reviewed. This is important as having a Will is a fundamental part of financial planning.  As the meerkat would say “Simples”!

If you were pointed in the direction of a Will Writer or solicitor did the IFA know who you were actually going to get to see you.

It surprises me that in some cases they do not know who will come to see. what can happen is that your details are sent to a company and someone ‘local’ contacts you to make an appointment about making your Will. Pot luck sometimes.

Have a look at this forum post on Cash Questions to see what can happen How many personal details should we disclose to a will-writing company?

I have been thinking about offering a package of a DIY with a check/review by me to see that the basics are done OK?

This has joint benefits I think for me and the DIY Will writer as follows:

(i) Lawscape can tap into the DIY Will market and

(ii) the check/review makes it a safer bet for those who choose the product.

Am I missing anything here?

Twitter is the latest big thing for getting involved with a wider community and building new ones. I had an interesting discussion today with Paul Tagent of Bath Marketing about this at a 4Networking meeting in Trowbridge.

The gravamen of the discussion was the question ‘Does posting or ReTweeting everyday ‘chit chat’ in your Twitter feed harm your brand’?

It maybe as long as a piece of string really. It might depend on what exactly you post or or ReTweet I suppose.

I tend to do social and business Tweets, but how can I really know if this is good bad or indifferent?

This new offering from Lawscape is very close to being launched. I can’t believe how much effort was involved behind the scenes getting this ready.

However it is not brilliant timing as most of my potential clients, namely English & welsh Ex-Pats will be leaving the UAE any day now for the summer break, right through to the end of August or early September. Hey Ho.

This has been a busy period for me as more people have made enquiries than normal. I think it is the New Year resolution ‘thing’.

 I would agree that the New Year is a good time to write your Will. So is February.

 Anytime soon is the absolute best time to do it though.  So don’t put it off any longer!

You may wish to to leave some or all of your estate to your dog (or other pet) when you die.  Many people build such strong bonds with their pets that they worry about how their beloved companions will be looked after should they die.

The law does not allow you to leave money directly to an animal. However, you can leave money in a trust appointing someone to be the trustee with the trust funds to be used for the care and upkeep of your pet.

The question then might be what should happen when your pet dies. Without any further provision it might not go where you want it to so it might be a good idea to make a dog charity the ultimate beneficiary.

An alternative might be to leave your estate directly to a dog friendly charity that will look after your pet.

However if you have close family there is every chance that your Will will be contested by those family members who thought they might inherit.

This is a bold statement to make but there are two good examples I can cite.

Picture two elderly parents who own their property as joint tenants.  When one dies the survivor will be the sole owner of the property.  If the surviving parent goes into care then the value of the property, save the exemption allowance of £14,000, can be taken into account to pay the fees.

A second example is when a parent remarries and buys a property jointly with their new spouse.  If your parent dies first the property is then solely owned by the surviving spouse (step-parent).

So in both cases the fact of joint tenancy brings about a less favourable postion for the potentail family beneficiaries than can be achieved with proper planning.

The simple answer is to sever the tenancy to make the parents tenants-in-common. Then make a Will including a life-interest trust which can leave the surving spouse the full use of the property during their lifetime but allows that shsre to go to the benficiaries after death.  This is a good result all around and simple enough to arrange.

If you would like to find out more, make a Will or if you want to arrange a visit please call Bill Ryan on 01225 582 582 or 07942 95 95 99. Alternatively use the contact page and you will be called back shortly.

The home visit Will service is available in Berkshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire.