If you live in England or Wales and die without writing a legally valid will, the government will decide who gets what. If you have no living family members, all your property and possessions will go to the Crown. If you have children under 18 years old, other people can make decisions about who will take care of the children and manage their finances, education and living arrangements. By making a will you can specify your wishes.

• appoint people you trust to look after your children under 18 years (called guardians)
• appoint people you trust to carry out the terms of your will (called executors)
• name the people or charities you want to benefit from your estate (called beneficiaries)
• leave gifts of specific items or fixed sums of money (called legacies)
• create trusts to help protect your assets for future generations, protect against residential care costs or help vulnerable or disabled beneficiaries
• state your funeral wishes

When you’re writing your will, there are a number of ways you can divide your estate:

• a fixed sum of money (such as £5,000 to your nephew) is called a pecuniary bequest
• a specific item (such as a family heirloom or piece of jewellery) is called a specific bequest
• a percentage of your estate (after everything else has been paid off) is called a residuary bequest

It’s also possible for your will to say that you would like to leave a gift to someone if they survive you, but that you would like this gift to be passed on to someone else if they don’t. This is called a reversionary bequest.

To make a will, you have to fully understand what you are doing and its implications. This is known as having mental capacity. You need to have capacity to understand what you are doing at the time the will is made and also at the time it is signed in the presence of two witnesses.

There are four things that must exist at the same time to prove testamentary capacity. A person must:

• understand that the document will deal with the distribution of their estate when they die
• understand what’s in their estate (this doesn’t mean every individual asset and liability, or their exact values but there must be a general awareness)
• understand if there are people who could have a moral claim on their estate, regardless of whether that person is included as a beneficiary in their will
• not be suffering from a ‘disorder of the mind’

One way to help prove testamentary capacity is to have your will professionally written. A professional service should ensure that an assessment of capacity takes place and this should be recorded on file for future reference.

Yes – all wills can be challenged. The real question is ‘can my will be successfully challenged?’

If your will includes your nearest relatives and dependents such as your husband, wife or civil partner and your children, there is little reason why your will should be challenged. But, if you exclude someone who might expect to benefit from your will, or there is a suggestion that you do not have mental capacity or have been influenced or coerced whilst making your will, then there is a real possibility your will could be challenged.

You can reduce the risk of a successful challenge by getting your will professionally drafted with the help of a will writing specialist. A properly drafted will is more likely to hold up to any future challenge.

Talking to your family and loved ones about your will is also important, particularly if you are going to exclude them. This prevents questions about your motivation after you’ve died. Alternatively, you could write a letter to your executors which sets out the reasons why you’ve excluded a particular person from the will. This is called a Letter of Wishes and it can be stored with your will.