subject: What Kind Of Will Would I Require? [print this page] A few people have asked me the question "What sort of will do I need?".
The answer to the question is "You might be asking the wrong question." "" To be able to answer the question presupposes that the questioner is aware of the "types of wills" there are.
To beg your indulgence. Like most people I own a motor vehicle. If I say so myself, I"m a reasonable driver, 60,000 miles in 5 years, and the only accident in which I was involved occured when a lorry driver from overseas rear ended me at Chiswick roundabout. As I agreed with the police sergeant who showed up at the scene, the fellow must have had difficulty judging the distances because his steering wheel was on the "wrong" side. Anyway, I understand the principles of internal combustion, know to drive without excessive wear to my engine or brakes, and I get good mileage especially compared to other drivers operating their car in similar configuration. The point is though, I could hardly pretend to know enough about cars to start to get a job a motor mechanic. It"s a modern car, so it never breaks down, all I need do is trot down to the local garage and let the good folk extract their pound of flesh.
The point being I have sufficient knowledge to be a proficient user, and that"s as far as it goes. Most people would say the same of themselves.
The question of what type of will one needs is a most interesting one. the point being, if the client knew which "type" of will he or she wanted, well, what"s the point of the question? A more pertinent question would be, "what do you want to achieve by this last will and testament?" put another way, the point question would be rephrased as a statement along the lines - tell me about your life, the important people in your life, and the things you own. Tell me how you"d like the things you own to be distributed among the important people in your life "" people and causes you want to support, entities such as the tax man whom you are not that keen to support. The hows and wherefores of how the will would be classified as to what type of will it is.
In sum, leave the classification and taxonomy to someone to the academics. The practicalities of what sort of a will you needed would be dealt with by you and your solicitor or will writer.
