03, Third door
Wills, done properly. Certainty for the people you love.
Whether you're protecting a home, a family, or a business you spent twenty years building, your will is the one document that only gets tested when you can't fix it. We build wills that hold up.
Prefer to read first? Download the Wills & Estate Planning guide (PDF)Which of these sounds like you?
Where things tend to go wrong most
They don't exist at all.
No will means the intestacy rules decide who inherits, and the result rarely matches what people assume. Unmarried partners receive nothing, however long you've been together. Married couples with children share on a fixed statutory formula that can force a sale of the family home. Writing one is the whole point.
They ignore how you own your home.
Most homes are held as “joint tenants”, meaning on death the whole thing passes to the survivor automatically. Your will has no say in it. If you want your share to go to your children, or into a trust to protect them, the ownership has to be changed first. It is a five-minute job. Most wills never mention it.
They don't survive a blended family.
Leaving everything to your spouse and hoping they will pass it to your children later is a leap of faith. On their death it goes wherever their will says, or to their new spouse's family on intestacy. There are safer structures. We use them.
They forget about your shares.
If you own a business, your will is where the wheels come off. Without a shareholders' agreement and a cross-option agreement in place, your family may be locked in with your co-owners for years, and up to 40% of the share value may go to HMRC unnecessarily.
They lose track of what's actually in the estate.
Pensions, life policies, joint accounts and death-in-service benefits usually do not pass under a will at all. They follow separate nomination forms most people have not updated since the last decade. A will drafted without checking these is guesswork.
They aren't reviewed by a solicitor.
Online will kits are cheap. So is a parachute you didn't check. If your will is challenged after you die, the file gets scrutinised by lawyers, judges and disappointed relatives. It is worth having a qualified solicitor sign it off before that.
If you never make one
So who actually inherits?
With no will, the intestacy rules decide, not you. Here is roughly where your estate lands in the five most common situations across England and Wales.
You die without a valid will
Married or in a civil partnership, no children
Your partner inherits everything. Straightforward, but only because a marriage certificate did the work your will should have.
Married or in a civil partnership, with children
Your partner takes your personal belongings, the first £322,000, and half of what's left. Your children share the other half. That fixed split can force the family home to be sold to pay them out.
Children, but no surviving partner
Everything is divided equally between your children. If a child has died before you, their share drops down to your grandchildren.
An unmarried partner
Most people assume long-term partners count as “common-law” spouses.
They inherit nothing, however many years you were together. Their only route is a slow, expensive claim through the courts.
The one that catches people outNo partner and no children
It passes up the family tree, parents first, then siblings, then wider relatives. If nobody qualifies, the whole estate goes to the Crown.
Simplified for guidance. The £322,000 statutory legacy is the current England and Wales figure; Scotland and Northern Ireland follow different rules, and pensions, life policies and jointly-owned assets often pass outside the estate entirely. A will lets you take every one of these decisions back.
Built the way a will should be built.
Guided questionnaire
You fill in an intelligent form on your phone or laptop, at your own pace. It asks the right questions in plain English, explains anything you don't recognise, and adapts to your situation. No jargon. No blank pages.
Live sense-checking
As you go, our system flags inconsistencies: a beneficiary who's already died, a share of the house you can't actually leave, a missing longstop, a witness who'd invalidate the gift. Nothing goes into the draft that shouldn't be there.
Solicitor sign-off
A qualified Bonsai Law solicitor personally reviews every will before it goes back to you. The AI supports the review; it doesn't do the review. You get the draft, plain-English signing instructions, and any companion documents, usually within 5 working days.
No account to set up and no blank pages to stare at. We guide you through it in plain English, one clear question at a time, and you can stop and pick up where you left off. It is the same considered, secure approach we use across the firm.
For homeowners and families
The house is usually the biggest asset. It's also where the biggest mistakes hide.
If you own a property with someone else, English law recognises two very different ways of owning it. Joint tenants means you own the whole thing together: on death, it passes automatically to the co-owner, and your will can't override that. Tenants in common means you each own a defined share, and your share passes under your will.
Most family homes are held as joint tenants. Most clients don't realise. If you want your share of the home to go to your children, for a second marriage, to protect against care fees, or because a straight-through inheritance isn't right for your family, the ownership needs changing. It's a document called a Notice of Severance. It takes effect the moment it's served, has no tax cost, and doesn't need your co-owner's agreement.
We check the Land Registry title as part of every will instruction. If severance is needed, we draft and serve the notice for a fixed £195 plus VAT; the Land Registry does not charge for the restriction we enter.
“Everything to my spouse, then to the children” is the most common will instruction we see. It's also the most dangerous one for blended families. When the survivor eventually dies, their will controls everything, including your share of the home and your savings, and it may leave your children with nothing.
The fix is a life-interest trust (IPDI): your spouse has the right to live in the home and use the income for the rest of their life, but the capital is protected for your children on the second death. Spouse exemption from Inheritance Tax still applies. Your children can't be cut out.
If you have children under 18, appointing a guardian is the single most important clause in your will. We ask you to name a first-choice, a substitute, and, where you want to, provide a modest allowance from the estate for their inconvenience.
We also structure gifts to minors so that income can be used for their education and upbringing before they reach adulthood, and set the age at which they take full control (18, 21 or 25 are the usual choices).
For directors, founders and shareholders
Your will is where the succession plan meets the tax bill. Get it wrong and both come apart.
If you own shares in a private company and you don't have a shareholders' agreement, your family's inheritance is governed by the company's articles and the Companies Act, which almost never produces a good outcome. There will usually be pre-emption rights forcing your family to offer the shares back to the surviving shareholders, but no obligation on anyone to actually buy them, and no agreed price. Deadlock is common. It can last years.
A shareholders' agreement is the private rulebook between owners: who can sell, at what price, what happens on death, exit, dispute or divorce. We draft them using the same tokenised questionnaire flow as our wills.
Read about our shareholders' agreement serviceA cross-option agreement, sometimes called a double option or buy-sell agreement, gives your co-shareholders the option to buy your shares from your estate on your death, and gives your family the option to sell them, both at a pre-agreed price. Life insurance held in a properly drafted business trust provides the cash to complete the purchase.
Done correctly, it does three things at once: your family gets fair value in cash, your co-shareholders keep control of the business, and, crucially, HMRC accepts that Business Property Relief on the shares is preserved because neither side is contractually obliged until the option is exercised.
Without it, your estate holds illiquid shares your family can't sell and your co-shareholders can't afford to buy.
Read about our cross-option serviceBusiness Property Relief (BPR) can wipe out up to 100% of the Inheritance Tax on qualifying business assets. It's one of the most valuable reliefs in the tax system. From 6 April 2026:
• A £2.5 million allowance per person applies to the 100% rate, transferable between spouses (so up to £5 million between a couple). Qualifying assets above the allowance get 50% relief only, an effective 20% IHT rate on the excess.
• AIM-listed shares dropped from 100% to 50% relief, from the first pound. If you hold an AIM portfolio, your IHT position has changed materially.
• The 2-year holding period still applies. Shares held for less than 2 years usually get nothing.
If your business assets are substantial or you hold AIM shares, your will needs to be part of a wider IHT plan, not just a distribution document.
We're solicitors, not tax advisers. Our job is to spot where BPR bites and draft your will and company documents so the relief isn't accidentally wasted. Where you need formal tax advice we bring in a specialist through our network, or work alongside your own accountant or financial adviser — see our partners page.
Read our 2026 BPR guideEven with a shareholders' agreement, the company's articles of association still govern what can and can't happen with your shares. We check them as part of every business-owner will instruction to make sure your will doesn't say something the articles won't let happen. We also make sure things owed to you by the company, director's loan accounts, unpaid dividends, earn-out sums, are captured properly. They're separate from the shares and often the largest single asset in the estate.
What you get.
Included in every will
- Your will, drafted by our clause library and reviewed by a qualified solicitor
- Plain-English execution instructions (who can witness, who can't, what to do next)
- Personalised summary explaining what happens if you died tomorrow, first death and, for couples, second death
- Optional Letter of Wishes for private guidance to your executors
- A check of how you own your home, flagging where a Notice of Severance is needed to make your will work (drafted separately, £195 + VAT)
- IPFDA exclusion statement, where anyone with a claim is deliberately left out
- Land Registry title check on every property in the estate
- Digital assets clause covering cryptocurrency, online accounts and monetised platforms
- Storage of the original in the Bonsai Law vault (optional, no extra charge)
- A calendar reminder in three years to review
Business-owner tier adds
- Review of your existing shareholders' agreement (or note that you need one)
- Review of your cross-option agreement and life-cover trust (or note that you need one)
- Review of your company articles for pre-emption and compulsory transfer provisions
- BPR eligibility check on each shareholding
- Executor powers to enter cross-option arrangements and appropriate shares
Fixed fees. Nothing hidden.
All prices exclude VAT. Each fee covers solicitor review, one consolidated set of amendments, your final will and plain-English signing instructions.
Essential Will
£395+ VAT
One person, straightforward estate. Executor and guardian provisions, standard gifts and residue, solicitor review and plain-English signing instructions.
Start the conversationEssential Mirror Wills
£695+ VAT
Two substantially matching wills for a couple, with the same solicitor review and signing support.
Start the conversationFamily Protection Will
£795+ VAT
One person. Blended family, life-interest structure, contingent gifts for children, or home-ownership work where a Notice of Severance may be needed (charged separately, £195 + VAT).
Start the conversationFamily Protection Mirror Wills
£1,195+ VAT
A couple. Protective structure and coordinated wills, with a Notice of Severance where required (charged separately, £195 + VAT).
Start the conversationBusiness Owner Will
£995+ VAT
One person. Reviewed against your shareholders' agreement and articles, covering business assets, director's loan, dividends and earn-out provisions.
Start the conversationBusiness Owner Mirror Wills
£1,495+ VAT
Two business-owner wills where the business and family arrangements are best handled together.
Start the conversationEstate Planning Review
from £295+ VAT
A paid 45-minute remote advice and document review. £295 for one person, £425 for a couple reviewed together. Half the review fee (£147.50 single, £212.50 joint) is credited against a Wills or Combined Wills + LPA package instructed within 30 days.
Start the conversationCross-option agreement
from £1,500+ VAT
A separate agreement, priced on shareholder numbers, existing documents and any negotiation involved.
About cross-optionsYour fixed fee is agreed before we begin. If your circumstances need work beyond the package, we explain why and quote it first. No hourly rates, no surprise invoices.
- A qualified solicitor's review of your will, personally
- One consolidated set of amendments after your draft
- Your final will, plus plain-English signing instructions
- A Notice of Severance drafted and served where your ownership needs it, a related property fee of £195 + VAT (Family Protection tiers)
- Your will checked against your shareholders' agreement and articles (Business Owner tiers)
- Lasting Powers of Attorney
- Standalone lifetime trusts and their administration
- Formal tax advice (we bring in a specialist or work with your own adviser)
- Overseas assets and foreign-law wills
- Drafting or negotiating a shareholders' agreement
We always quote anything outside the package before starting, so there are no surprises.
To start, our team sends you a secure online questionnaire to complete in your own time; the usual five working days begins once that, your ID checks and any documents are complete.
Human-drafted. Machine-checked. Solicitor-signed.
We use AI throughout the process, not to write your will, but to make sure the will we draft actually does what you asked. Every answer you give is checked in real time for internal consistency. Every draft is read back to you in plain English before you sign. Every file is reviewed by a qualified Bonsai Law solicitor.
Our AI provider's commercial terms bar it from training its models on your instructions, and it deletes them automatically within 30 days. The Solicitors Regulation Authority requires human oversight on legal work, and so do we: the AI supports us, it doesn't replace us.
Not sure where to start?
Start with an Estate Planning Review.
A 45 minute meeting with a solicitor, held by video or phone once you have completed our interactive questionnaire, followed by a written inheritance tax position note and a clear recommendation. A fixed £295 for one person, or £425 for a couple reviewed together, and half the review fee comes off if you go on to instruct a Wills or combined Wills and LPA package within 30 days: £147.50 after a single review, £212.50 after a joint review. It is not credited against LPA-only work.
Questions, answered.
Estate planning rarely stands alone
Residential Property
Buying, selling or remortgaging? How you own your home decides what your will can actually do with it. We check the title as part of every will.
ExploreShareholders' Agreements
If you own a business, your will and your shareholders' agreement have to agree with each other. We draft both so they line up.
ExploreCross-Option Agreements
The mechanism that gets your family paid fair value for your shares, keeps control with your co-owners, and protects the tax relief.
ExploreDraft it once. Draft it properly.
Fifteen minutes on the guided questionnaire, whenever it suits you. A solicitor's draft on your desk next week. A will that actually does what you meant it to.
Official guidance
Prefer to read the source first? These are the government's own pages. They're general information, not advice on your situation, but they're a sound place to start.
Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA No. 8000734). This page is marketing material and not legal advice. A will drafted through this service is legal work carried out under a formal retainer with Bonsai Law.
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