Many people find it difficult to make time for a visit into town to see a family lawyer in order to draw up a will.  If you die without a will, your family could be left with the time-consuming and distressing process of trying to sort out your estate without your clear instructions.  So what can you do?

Common excuses for not making a will

There are several excuses regularly used by people for not making a will:

• they are too busy and don't have time
• the process of using a family lawyer to draw up a will is far too expensive
• they live too far away from town and would have to make a special journey to see a solicitor

Possible solutions

Although it is possible to download a DIY will kit from the internet, this approach to drawing up your will is not recommended.  A will is a complicated legal document and the implications of getting it wrong are too serious to take the risk of the DIY route, especially if you have a large amount of assets in the form of money or property.  It's strongly advised that you ask a family lawyer to draw up and witness your will for you.

Luckily, there is a workable solution.  Most people have a home computer with a connection to the internet and many modern solicitors now offer an online consultation service via video link.  All you need to do is download Skype onto your computer or use Facetime via your iPhone, and this will allow you to have a face-to-face consultation with your solicitor over the internet. 

Obviously, you will need to make an appointment; it usually takes around half an hour to draw up a will, but you won't need to make the journey to your solicitor's office, saving you time and expense.  Before the appointment, make a note of everything that you want to include in your will, including who you want the beneficiaries to be so that you're prepared.  Once the will is complete, your solicitor will send it to you for you to review and sign.  You can then return the will to your solicitor for witnessing.  It's also a good idea to ask your solicitor to keep your will securely in a fire-proof safe in their offices, until it's needed so that it doesn't go astray during house moves etc.

In conclusion

If you haven't made a will yet, there's no longer the excuse that you don't have time to get to the solicitor's office!  Why not give your family lawyer a call to arrange an online appointment?