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Financial planning warning as over half of British adults do not have crucial document


Over half of UK residents do not currently have a will and are not in the process of writing one, new research has found.

Research provided by financial services company Canada Life found that 51 percent of UK adults do not have a will with a further 13 percent stating they have no intention of writing one in the future.

Of the 2,000 people surveyed nearly a third (30 percent) of those 55 or over do not have a will and one in ten (9 percent) of those 55 or over have not made a will and have no plans to.

The top reason for not making a will is the belief of not having enough assets or wealth to warrant creating one 26 percent, whereas 23 percent simply feel they have plenty of time left to get their will written.

Many UK adults (15 percent) avoid the topic of wills as they don’t want to think or talk about death or deal with solicitors (8 percent) while 14 percent simply do not want to pay for a will.

Stacey Love, technical manager – tax, trusts and estate planning, Canada Life says: “It may feel like there are many reasons not to make a will, whether that be having time on your side, not having ‘enough’ wealth to pass on, it being a cost you could do without or unfounded assumptions that your estate will be divided up equally and as you see fit, without a will in place.

“However, it’s important to look beyond the short-term pain of having to think and talk about your own mortality as writing a will, will inevitably mean a long-term gain for your loved ones, when they do not have to worry about or deal with a huge additional burden, if the worst happens.

“If you have made a will, make sure you review it every so often, and especially when big life events have taken place like a divorce. You should also consider adding what you would like to happen with your digital assets if you haven’t already. This area is often overlooked but with around 95 percent of us owning at least one digital asset, it is becoming increasingly important to include your social media profile, smart phones, subscriptions etc. as part of your legacy planning.”

The most common worries for not having a will is leaving loved ones with a lot of paperwork to deal with (27 percent), the belief that an estate won’t be divided up as the person would like (23 percent), that the estate might take a long time to resolve (18 percent), and that it will create arguments (15 percent).

More than half of UK adults with a will had it written by a solicitor (55 percent) and around one in six (16 percent) have written a will themselves – 6 percent on a piece of paper and the remainder via an online will writing service.

Almost two-thirds (61 percent) of those who have written their own will did not seek legal or financial advice at any part of the process.

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