What’s the deal?
Have a will drawn up or updated for free in return for a donation to charity. The offer, called Will Aid, runs every November.
The suggested donation is £75 for a single will, £110 for matching wills and £40 for a codicil – a change – to an existing will.
The money raised is shared between a number of charities: ActionAid, British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Help the Aged. NSPCC, Save the Children UK, Sightsavers International, SCIAF (the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund) and Trócaire.
This year, 1,100 firms of solicitors are offering their services for free. The offer also includes free will registration (normally costing £28.75) with Certainty, a service that helps beneficiaries find the will of deceased people.
Is this good?
It offers a potentially low-cost way to sort out
a will while supporting charity.
The majority of UK adults do not have a will, in spite of intestacy rules often limiting what a spouse inherits and giving cohabitees no automatic rights. A recent survey by Which? found solicitors charging between £75 and £368 for a single will.
Will Aid donations are made tax-efficiently under Gift Aid, boosting their value by 28 per cent and allowing higher-rate taxpayers to reclaim 25 per cent of their donation.
What’s the catch?
The offer only covers basic wills: solicitors may charge fees for wills involving trusts and other complications.
Participating solicitors tend to be smaller firms.
What’s the alternative?
Which? has just launched an online will-writing service charging £89 for a single will and £129 for mirror wills. Solicitors for the Elderly is an association of 1,000 specialist lawyers whose members may draw up wills for as little as £125.
Less-regulated will-writers may charge as little as £60.
How do I find out more?
www.willaid.org.uk or 0300 0300 013
www.whichlegalservice.co.uk/which-wills.aspx
www.solicitorsfortheelderly.com or 0870 067 0282
