Confessions of a private client solicitor

People have a fascinating reaction when you quote for a Will.

There’s the polite blink.
The slight inhale.
The tiny grimace usually reserved for airport parking charges and artisan sourdough.

“Oh… right. That’s a bit more than I expected.”

And then, almost inevitably:

“I mean… I could probably just print one off the internet.”

Absolutely.
You could also get your mate Dave down the pub to draft one for you.

Dave’s done loads of things, hasn’t he?
Built a decking once.
“Knows a bit about tax.”
Had a disagreement with the council in 2009 and now considers himself legally trained.

Give him a pint and a biro — what could possibly go wrong?

And this is the thing people don’t really see about private client work. They think they’re paying for a document.

A few pages.
A couple of signatures.
Job done.

What they don’t see is that from the minute a client sits down in front of me, I’m already working. Quietly. Judging you from the moment you sit down… but in a way that might save you and your family a great deal of time, stress and money later on.

While we’re chatting warmly about children, your next holiday, and whether you take sugar in your tea, I’m mentally assessing:

• capacity,
• undue influence,
• safeguarding concerns,
• family dynamics,
• litigation risk,
• inheritance claims,
• vulnerable beneficiaries,
• tax implications,
• and whether the person answering every question for Mum needs politely removing from the room.

All while making the client feel completely comfortable and utterly unaware that any of this is happening. Because nobody wants to feel like they’re being interviewed by MI5 when they came in to sort out their Will over a cup of slightly disappointing office coffee.

Every family, by the way, describes themselves as “very straightforward.”

This is almost never true.

Within twenty minutes I usually discover:

• a second marriage,
• children who “don’t really speak,”
• someone who “already had quite a lot over the years,”
• a son who is “terrible with money,”
• a daughter-in-law nobody trusts,
• and one relative everyone refers to carefully as “difficult.”

“Difficult” in legal terms can mean anything from emotionally exhausting to “will absolutely contest this before the funeral flowers have wilted.”

Meanwhile, clients are still thinking I’m simply typing notes.

What they don’t realise is that while they’re saying: “We just want to leave everything equally,”

My brain is rapidly cycling through:

• What happens if a beneficiary dies first?
• Are there grandchildren?
• Divorce risks?
• Bankruptcy?
• Care fees?
• Blended family complications?
• Is there a risk of someone bringing a claim?
• Does the house legally belong to them in the way they think it does?
• Have they accidentally disinherited someone without realising?

And then - then - comes the drafting.

Which many people imagine involves downloading a template and changing a few names.

In reality, drafting a Will properly means translating someone’s wishes, assets, family circumstances, anxieties and future intentions into a document that:

• is legally valid,
• actually works,
• says precisely what it needs to say,
• avoids accidental tax consequences,
• minimises future disputes,
• and still makes sense years later when someone else is reading it after that person has died.

No pressure.

Because the problem with homemade internet Wills - or Dave-from-the-pub Wills - is that they often look absolutely fine right up until the moment they’re needed.

Then suddenly:

• the witnesses are wrong,
• the wording is contradictory,
• somebody forgot substitute beneficiaries,
• the executor can’t act,
• the signatures are invalid,
• or the phrase “split fairly” turns into a family civil war that lasts longer than the actual administration of the estate.

And here’s the crucial bit: once a Will takes effect, the person who made it isn’t around to explain what they “meant.”

That’s why the real value in a solicitor-drafted Will isn’t the paper.

It’s the experience.

It’s spotting problems before they happen.

It’s knowing which questions to ask.

It’s identifying risks clients don’t even know exist.

It’s quietly protecting families from future arguments while smiling warmly and asking:
“And how do we feel about Nigel?” Even though Nigel is clearly one passive-aggressive WhatsApp message away from litigation.

So yes - technically it’s “just a Will.”

In the same way a swan is “just floating.” You’re simply not seeing the frantic paddling underneath.

Contact a member of our Private Client team to discuss making or updating your Will, a very important document that documents your wishes.