Question 1

I've just bought a house. Do I actually need a will?

Accepted Answer

Almost certainly, yes. Buying a home is usually the moment your estate becomes worth writing down. Without a will, the intestacy rules decide who inherits, and the result rarely matches what people assume. Unmarried partners receive nothing under intestacy, however long they've lived together. Married couples with children share the estate on a statutory formula that can force a sale of the family home. If you've bought as tenants in common, your share of the property passes under your will (or intestacy) rather than automatically to the co-owner, so getting the will right is part of getting the purchase right. If we're acting on your purchase, we'll flag this at the outset and can prepare wills alongside completion.

Question 2

We're buying together. Should our wills and our joint ownership match?

Accepted Answer

They should be designed together, not separately. The way you hold the property (joint tenants or tenants in common) and what your wills say need to point in the same direction, or one will quietly override the other. Joint tenancy passes the whole property to the survivor by right of survivorship, regardless of what your will says. Tenants in common lets each of you leave your share where you choose, but only if the will actually deals with it. Blended families, unequal deposits, and family gifts towards the deposit all usually point to tenants in common plus wills plus, often, a declaration of trust and a life interest trust so the survivor has a home for life without the share leaving your children's line.

Question 3

I own a business. Why can't my ordinary will just deal with my shares?

Accepted Answer

It can deal with them, but "dealing with them" is not the same as "getting the right result". A will can leave your shares to your spouse, your children or a trust. What the will cannot do on its own is control what your co-shareholders are entitled or obliged to do next. Most shareholders' agreements and articles contain pre-emption rights, compulsory transfer provisions on death, or drag/tag mechanics that override the intended gift. Business Property Relief, which can take the value of qualifying shares out of inheritance tax at 100% or 50%, can be lost by the wrong drafting, the wrong recipient, or the wrong sequence of events on death. The will needs to be built to work with your company's documents, not against them.

Question 4

What is a cross-option agreement and why do people keep pairing it with wills?

Accepted Answer

A cross-option agreement is a private contract between shareholders (usually funded by life insurance) that gives the survivors an option to buy, and the deceased's estate an option to sell, the deceased shareholder's shares at a pre-agreed valuation basis. If either option is exercised, the sale must happen. The reason it's structured as options rather than an automatic sale is tax: an obligation to sell on death can strip out Business Property Relief, while options preserve it. Paired with a well-drafted will, a cross-option means the family gets cash they can spend, the surviving owners get control they can run the business with, and HMRC gets the outcome it expected. Without it, you get a widow or widower who owns 40% of a company they can't influence, or a co-founder who can't afford to buy the shares back, or both.

Question 5

What should be in our shareholders' agreement so the wills work properly?

Accepted Answer

At a minimum: what happens to shares on death (compulsory transfer, options, or nothing), how those shares are valued, who can buy them, over what period, and how the purchase is funded. It should say clearly whether existing shareholders have first refusal, whether the company itself can buy the shares back, and how life policies held in trust interact with the transfer. It should also address incapacity, not just death, so that a shareholder who loses capacity does not leave the company deadlocked. When we draft or review a shareholders' agreement for an owner-managed business, we routinely ask to see the wills at the same time. If we're drafting the wills, we ask to see the shareholders' agreement. Same conversation, same file.

Question 6

What is Business Property Relief and how do I not lose it by accident?

Accepted Answer

Business Property Relief (BPR) is an inheritance tax relief that can reduce the taxable value of qualifying business assets, most commonly unquoted trading company shares, by 100% (or 50% for some assets). From 6 April 2026 the 100% rate is subject to a £2.5 million allowance per person, transferable between spouses and civil partners, with 50% relief on qualifying assets above the allowance and 50% relief on AIM shares from the first pound. BPR is lost or reduced by: a binding contract for sale in force at death (the classic reason to use reciprocal options rather than a compulsory sale on death); shares held for less than two years before death; and shares held in a company that has drifted into investment rather than trading activity. A discretionary trust on the first death is usually the safer choice: it uses the allowance while the company definitely qualifies, keeps growth outside the survivor's estate, and doesn't depend on a formal transferable-allowance claim years later. One caveat on scope: we're solicitors, not tax advisers. We flag where BPR and Inheritance Tax matter and draft the documents so the relief isn't lost by accident; for formal tax advice we bring in a specialist or work alongside your own accountant or financial adviser (see our partners page).

Question 7

What is a life interest trust and when does it belong in a will?

Accepted Answer

A life interest trust in a will gives one person (often the surviving spouse or partner) the right to income from an asset, or to live in a property, for their lifetime, with the underlying asset passing to different beneficiaries (often children from an earlier relationship) on their death. It's the standard tool for second marriages, blended families, and property purchases where one party has children from a previous relationship and wants to protect their inheritance without leaving their new partner homeless. It also has uses on the business side: a life interest over shares can preserve family control while giving the surviving spouse the income they need. Life interest trusts have tax, practical and family consequences that need thinking through: a good tool used deliberately, and a source of disputes when bolted on without advice.

Question 8

What are mirror wills, and are they the same as a joint will?

Accepted Answer

Mirror wills are two separate wills, one for each partner, drafted so that they mirror each other: I leave to you, you leave to me, and if we've both gone, we leave to the same people in the same shares. They're not legally binding on each other. Either party can change their will at any time, before or after the other's death, unless a separate "mutual wills" agreement is in place. Mutual wills bind the survivor and are useful in some blended-family situations, but they are inflexible and can produce unfair results decades later. For most couples, mirror wills plus a considered use of trusts is a better answer than mutual wills.

Question 9

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney and do I need one alongside my will?

Accepted Answer

A will deals with death. A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) deals with the years before it, when you may still be alive but unable to make decisions for yourself, whether through accident, illness or age. There are two types: one for property and financial affairs, and one for health and welfare. Without LPAs, your family may have to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order, which is slower, more expensive, and more intrusive than putting LPAs in place while you have capacity. For business owners, the absence of an LPA can freeze bank accounts, block signatures on contracts, and stall a company at exactly the moment it needs to keep moving. LPAs and wills belong in the same conversation.

Question 10

What about digital assets, crypto, and online accounts?

Accepted Answer

Modern estates include things older wills were never designed for: cryptocurrency held in self-custody wallets, domain names, online business accounts, cloud-stored intellectual property, marketplace seller accounts, and social media. Some have significant value; others have significant sentimental or reputational consequences. A will should identify how executors will locate and access digital assets (without you writing your seed phrase into a document that goes on the probate court file), which platforms hold what, and who has authority to close, memorialise or transfer accounts. This is now a standard part of the estate-planning conversation, not an exotic add-on.

Question 11

I have children from a previous relationship. How do I protect them without cutting out my partner?

Accepted Answer

This is one of the most common reasons people come to us for wills, and the answer is almost never a straight choice between the two. The usual combination is: tenants in common ownership of the home, a will containing a life interest trust so the surviving partner can live in the property for their lifetime (or until specified events, such as remarriage or long-term cohabitation), and residue passing to your children. Life policies, pensions and business interests are dealt with separately because they don't pass under the will. Done well, this gives your partner security and your children certainty. Done badly, it produces litigation between them after you're gone. It's worth the hour it takes to design.

Question 12

When should I update my will?

Accepted Answer

On marriage or civil partnership (which revokes an existing will unless it was made in contemplation of that marriage). On divorce or dissolution (which doesn't revoke the will but treats the ex-spouse as if they'd predeceased you). On the birth or adoption of children or grandchildren. On buying, selling or restructuring a business. On buying or selling a home. On a significant change in the value of your estate, particularly one that crosses an inheritance tax or Business Property Relief threshold. On the death or serious illness of a named executor, trustee or guardian. And, as a fallback, every five years, whether or not anything has obviously changed. Wills are cheaper to update than to contest.

Question 13

Do you offer fixed fees, and how does the process actually work?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For straightforward single or mirror wills we quote a fixed fee at the outset. Estates involving business interests, trusts, foreign assets or blended-family structures are quoted individually once we understand the shape of the work, and we agree that quote before we start. The typical process is: an initial call or meeting to map out your estate and your objectives; a written summary of the recommended structure; a first draft; one round of amendments; a signing appointment with witnesses; and safe storage of the original will with an index copy for you. If your wills sit alongside a shareholders' agreement, cross-option agreement or property transaction we're handling, the joined-up work is priced as a package rather than as separate silos.

Question 14

Can Bonsai Law act if my business, my home and my wills all need to talk to each other?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and this is the point. Founders, owner-managers and homeowners often have three different firms doing three different pieces of work that quietly contradict each other. We deliberately keep residential property, corporate and commercial, and private client work under one roof so that the shareholders' agreement, the cross-option agreement, the property purchase, the declaration of trust and the wills are drafted as one coherent structure rather than a stack of unrelated documents. If any of that sounds like your situation, the first conversation is free.

Wills, done properly. Certainty for the people you love.

Which of these sounds like you?

You own a home. Maybe with a partner. Maybe with children in the mix.

You own shares in a business. Maybe you built it. Maybe you inherited it.

Where things tend to go wrong most

They don't exist at all.

They ignore how you own your home.

They don't survive a blended family.

They forget about your shares.

They lose track of what's actually in the estate.

They aren't reviewed by a solicitor.

So who actually inherits?

Married or in a civil partnership, no children

Married or in a civil partnership, with children

Children, but no surviving partner

An unmarried partner

No partner and no children

Built the way a will should be built.

Guided questionnaire

Live sense-checking

Solicitor sign-off

The house is usually the biggest asset. It's also where the biggest mistakes hide.

Joint tenants vs tenants in common, the one everyone gets wrong

Blended families and second marriages

Guardians, minor children and age-contingent gifts

Your will is where the succession plan meets the tax bill. Get it wrong and both come apart.

Do you have a shareholders' agreement?

Do you have a cross-option agreement?

Business Property Relief in 2026, the rules just changed

Company articles, pre-emption and unpaid loans

What you get.

Fixed fees. Nothing hidden.

Essential Will

Essential Mirror Wills

Family Protection Will

Family Protection Mirror Wills

Business Owner Will

Business Owner Mirror Wills

Estate Planning Review

Cross-option agreement

What's included in every fee

Quoted separately, only if you need it

Human-drafted. Machine-checked. Solicitor-signed.

Start with an Estate Planning Review.

Questions, answered.