Some 57 per cent of UK adults do not have a will, equating to approximately 30.4mn Brits.
Research by Canada Life revealed that 33 per cent of UK adults aged 55 or over have not made a will while 12 per cent said they had no intention of making one in the future.
The top reasons from people for not making a will included:
- Not having enough wealth or assets to warrant making a will (25 per cent)
- The belief that they have plenty of time to make a will (22 per cent)
- Not knowing what to do with their assets or estate (16 per cent)
- The belief that loved ones will inherit automatically (15 per cent)
- Not understanding the process of making a will (14 per cent)
In March and October each year many charities and organisations offer a free will writing service to the public to help those who may be worried about the cost of making a will.
Stacey Love, technical manager of tax trusts and estate planning at Canada Life, said: “Although men (41 per cent) and women (40 per cent) are equally likely to have a will in place, among those that don’t have one, 32 per cent of women say that the reason for not having a will is because they don’t have enough assets to make one compared to 17 per cent of men.
“While 21 per cent of those aged 55 and over who haven’t arranged a will yet, say it is because they don’t know what to do with their assets, more than any other age.”
This news comes as research by St James Place, released in October last year, found that seven out of 10 Brits do not include their digital legacy in their wills.
Digital legacy can include a person’s online accounts, social networks as well as any other electronic data which someone can be nominated to manage in a will.
However, SJP expressed concerns that clients were not nominating any loved ones, potentially creating issues around being able to access someone’s digital legacy after they have passed.
alina.khan@ft.com
