Will Writing Service Terms

1. Scope of will-writing service

Depending on your agreed instruction, the will-writing service normally includes:

• gathering relevant information and discussing your wishes;
• identifying relevant will provisions;
• preparing a draft will and providing it for review;
• making reasonable amendments needed to reflect the agreed instructions;
• preparing the final version; and
• providing signing and witnessing instructions.

The exact service and fee will be confirmed before work begins. Other services are not automatically included.

Reasonable amendments needed to reflect the agreed instructions are included. A change in instructions or additional work outside the agreed scope will be discussed and priced before chargeable work is undertaken.

These terms do not promise unlimited amendments or impose an unapproved numerical revision limit.

2. What is not included

Our standard will-writing service does not include:

• inheritance tax calculations, tax planning, financial advice or investment advice;
• valuation of assets;
• conveyancing or transfer of property;
• preparation of lifetime trusts;
• probate, estate administration or contentious probate advice;
• litigation;
• foreign-law advice or advice on the validity or tax treatment of foreign assets; or
• care-fee avoidance planning.

If you need specialist work, we may recommend an appropriately qualified independent professional. A separate specialist instruction does not become part of our will-writing service unless its scope and provider are clearly agreed.

3. Client information

We prepare the will using your information. Please disclose information relevant to your wishes and circumstances, which may include:

• current marital or civil partnership status and previous marriages;
• children, adopted children, stepchildren and dependants;
• property ownership and jointly owned assets;
• businesses and overseas property;
• existing trusts and previous wills;
• significant lifetime gifts; and
• potential claims against the estate.

Not every item is required in every case. Please tell us about material changes before finalisation and ask if you are unsure whether something is relevant.

The General Terms explain your responsibilities and the limits on any responsibility for missing information; they do not excuse a failure by us to exercise reasonable care and skill.

4. Marriage, civil partnership and divorce

Marriage, civil partnership, divorce and dissolution can affect a will. The effect depends on the circumstances and applicable law.

Tell us if you are planning marriage or civil partnership, if proceedings are ongoing, or if your status changes before signing. Complex circumstances may require additional specialist advice. Do not assume that an existing or unsigned will continues to have the intended effect after a change in status.

5. Beneficiaries

You decide whom you wish to benefit. We may explain drafting options and their consequences, but we do not decide how your estate should be distributed.

If instructions create obvious uncertainty, inconsistency or potential difficulty, we may ask for clarification or recommend specialist advice.

6. Executors

Executors are responsible for carrying out the will and dealing with the estate, subject to applicable law and any specialist assistance needed. You choose the proposed executors and should consider their willingness and suitability.

Clear Will Writing does not automatically act as executor and does not sell professional executor appointments as part of its ordinary will-writing service.

The ordinary service does not appoint Clear Nexus Limited, Clear Will Writing, an employee or an associated person as a professional executor. These terms do not create any professional executor appointment arrangement.

7. Guardians

Where relevant, a will may include appointments concerning guardianship of minor children. Your circumstances need to be discussed and proposed guardians should normally be consulted.

The effect of an appointment can depend on parental responsibility and circumstances at death. We do not guarantee that a will appointment determines every guardianship outcome.

8. Testamentary trusts

Some wills may include testamentary trust provisions relevant to:

• minor beneficiaries;
• delayed inheritance;
• vulnerable beneficiaries;
• life interests; or
• other appropriate circumstances.

A trust provision does not automatically include ongoing trust administration, tax advice, trustee services or lifetime asset transfers.

Complex trust or tax issues may require specialist advice. Separate service-specific terms for Wills with Testamentary Trusts will be provided when approved; they are not an unfinished public document.

9. Inheritance tax and tax

Our will-writing service does not provide tax advice. We may identify circumstances in which tax advice appears worth considering, but general inheritance-tax information is informational only.

Where taxation may materially affect planning, we may recommend an accountant, tax adviser or solicitor. Any separately agreed specialist service must be expressly identified. We do not promise or guarantee tax savings.

10. Foreign assets and foreign connections

Tell us about foreign property, citizenship, domicile issues, overseas beneficiaries or another will abroad where relevant.

Specialist foreign-law or tax advice may be necessary. Our standard service is based on England and Wales and does not purport to advise on foreign law. A will prepared for this service does not automatically resolve arrangements in another country or the interaction between different wills.

11. Business assets

Business ownership, partnership interests and shares may require additional planning and specialist tax, corporate or legal advice.

Do not assume that a standard will alone resolves shareholder agreements, partnership terms, restrictions on ownership or business succession arrangements. Please provide relevant information and obtain recommended specialist advice where needed.

12. Pensions, life policies and nominations

Some assets may pass outside the will, depending on the arrangements. Examples can include jointly owned assets, some pensions, life insurance written in trust and certain nominated benefits.

Not every asset in these categories necessarily passes outside the will. You may need to review nomination forms and other arrangements with the relevant provider. We do not change provider arrangements as part of the standard service.

13. Jointly owned property

How jointly owned property passes can depend on the form of ownership and the relevant documents. A will does not by itself necessarily change those arrangements.

We do not provide conveyancing services. If ownership is unclear or needs alteration, appropriate legal or conveyancing advice should be obtained before relying on a proposed will provision.

14. Claims against an estate

Making a will does not guarantee that nobody can challenge it or bring a claim against the estate.

We do not guarantee prevention of disputes, immunity from challenge, effective exclusion of a particular family member in every circumstance or protection against every claim.

If you intend to exclude someone who might reasonably expect provision, or a dispute is foreseeable, we may recommend specialist advice and additional records of your reasons and instructions.

15. Draft will

We provide a draft for checking. Please carefully review:

• names and relationships;
• gifts and beneficiaries;
• executors and guardians; and
• all other provisions.

Tell us promptly if anything is incorrect or does not reflect your instructions.

16. Approval

Before finalisation, you will normally be asked to confirm that the draft reflects your instructions.

Approval does not waive statutory rights or remove our duty of reasonable care and skill. It does not make us responsible for information which was not disclosed, subject to the protections and limits explained in the General Terms.

17. Signing and witnessing

We will provide signing instructions. Follow them carefully and make sure witnesses meet the applicable legal requirements. Do not assume that every person can safely act as a witness.

The execution instructions provide the detailed process; this contract does not attempt to summarise every rule.

If you have any doubt about execution, contact us before signing. Tell us if illness, disability, practical circumstances or another issue means different appropriate signing arrangements need to be considered.

18. Validity before execution

A draft or unsigned will is not a completed will.

Until a new will is properly executed, an earlier valid will may continue to operate, or you may remain intestate if there is no valid earlier will. The position depends on the circumstances and applicable law.

Supplying a final document or an electronic copy does not by itself complete its execution.

19. Changes after signing

Do not handwrite on, alter or informally amend a will after execution.

If your wishes change, contact us or another competent provider about a new will or a legally valid amendment. A codicil is not necessarily appropriate for every change.

20. Life changes and review

Review your will periodically and after important life changes, which may include:

• marriage, civil partnership, divorce or separation;
• birth or adoption of children;
• death of an executor or beneficiary;
• significant changes in assets or acquiring or disposing of property;
• business changes or moving abroad; and
• a major change in your wishes.

Unless a separate ongoing service is agreed, it is your responsibility to contact us if circumstances change. We do not monitor your circumstances after the service ends.

21. Storage of original will

You are responsible for safely storing the signed original will unless separate written storage arrangements have been agreed.

A copy is not generally a substitute for the signed original. Make sure the original is kept safely and appropriate people know how to locate it.

These terms do not promise permanent storage or custody of original wills by us. Any separate storage service requires agreed written arrangements.

22. Copies and records

We may retain instructions, drafts, correspondence, a copy of the final document and relevant records in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable retention arrangements.

Retaining these records does not mean we hold your signed original will. An original is held for storage only where an actual separate arrangement has been agreed.

23. Completion of service

For the standard will-writing service, full performance normally occurs when:

• relevant information and instructions have been obtained and considered;
• the agreed will has been prepared;
• the final will document has been supplied to you;
• signing and witnessing instructions have been supplied; and
• any other work specifically included in the agreed service has been completed.

Supplying a draft alone is not full performance. Whether the service is complete depends on the work actually agreed and supplied, not merely on an invoice or a label describing it as complete.

You do not have to sign the final will for our agreed drafting service to have been fully performed. Until it is correctly signed and witnessed it is not an executed will. Payment and consumer rights are not made unfairly dependent on whether you subsequently sign it.

Fees and starting work straight away

Fees are those agreed in writing under the General Terms. Any additional chargeable work requires prior agreement.

Our normal will-writing process is to begin drafting once we have received your instructions and the agreed payment and confirmed the engagement. Before beginning during the cancellation period, we obtain your express early-start request and separate full-performance acknowledgement. A payment or a general acceptance of terms alone is not sufficient.

Cancellation before full performance

Starting work does not itself end your cancellation right. If you cancel before full performance after requesting an early start, any charge must be lawful, reasonable and proportionate to what has actually been supplied, with any balance due refunded in accordance with applicable law.

After full performance

Where you expressly requested early commencement and acknowledged loss of the right in advance, the statutory cancellation right ends on full performance, provided all legal requirements are met.

Once the service has been fully performed in those circumstances, you will not be entitled to cancel the completed service under the statutory 14-day cooling-off right simply because you later change your mind.

This does not affect any other rights you may have if the service has not been provided with reasonable care and skill, does not conform to the agreed contract, or where another statutory remedy applies.

Section 10 of the General Terms & Conditions and Cancellation Information explain the full process, including the optional cancellation form and durable confirmation.

24. Our role after completion

Unless separately agreed, we have no ongoing duty to monitor your family circumstances, assets or tax law, update the will automatically, contact beneficiaries, act as executor or administer the estate.

You may contact us for a review at any time. A new review or other service will have its own agreed scope, price and applicable terms.

Complaints

Complaints should initially be sent to contact@clearwillwriting.co.uk. The fair complaints process and liability protections in the General Terms apply equally to this service.

25. Relationship with General Terms

These Will Writing Service Terms should be read together with the General Terms & Conditions. If there is a genuine inconsistency concerning the will-writing service, these specific terms take precedence for that service.

The General Terms cover matters including fees and payment, reasonable care and skill, cancellation, complaints, liability and governing law. They are not unnecessarily repeated here.

Nothing in these service terms affects your statutory rights.