Now's The Time To Make A Will

If you don't have a Will, take advantage now of a scheme which enables you to get one drawn up simply by making a donation to charity.

If you haven't recently reviewed your Will, or, indeed, even made a Will, then you have a few more days left to take advantage of this month's Will Aid campaign.

Will Aid is a bi-annual scheme that takes place throughout November and involves solicitors offering a free will-writing service in exchange for a donation to charity. A recent survey revealed that 70% of people do not have an up-to-date Will, either because they have never written a Will or because they have failed to keep it up-to date and do not fully realise the possible consequences.

Married couples often wrongly believe that their husband or wife will automatically receive everything should they die without a Will but this is not always the case.

The boom in house prices in recent years has also meant that many estates could be subject to Inheritance Tax and you can use a Will to set up a Trust to mitigate the tax. At the moment, you can leave everything to your spouse free of IHT but, of course, when the second partner dies, there's a 40% tax rate levied on anything over and above the IHT threshold, which currently stands at £285,000.

A Will is particularly important if you are unmarried and simply cohabiting. In that instance, relatives will have first call on the estate

Obviously the Will Aid scheme isn't really free and the 'suggested' donation is usually expected to be in the region of £75 for one uncomplicated Will and around £110 if more if your partner wants a mirror version drawn up as well. If you just want to review and alter your current Will then your donation for a codicil should be in region of £40. If the suggested donation is hard to find, note that it can be incorporated into the Will so you don't need to stump up now.

The Will Aid website has a searchable database of solicitors taking part in the scheme and it's certainly of benefit to the charities involved in scheme. In 2004 Will Aid received £570,000 in donations from will-makers and the scheme has raised nearly £6 million since it was founded in 1988.

Check out The Fool's Guide to Wills & Probate and Will Aid