Have you heard of a Letter of Wishes and why would you want one?

A letter of wishes is a document that accompanies your Will, it is separate to your Will and provides guidance to the people who are dealing with your estate after you have passed away.|

When I meet with clients, I am so aware of their concerns about writing a Will, its often a very difficult discussion as it brings up their mortality and can also trigger memories of relatives who have passed away, and if there were difficult circumstances for them as beneficiaries, it can be triggering.

But I always talk about providing everyone who is left to deal with their affairs with as much information as possible about wishes, and some of those things can be a simple as what flowers or music they want at their funeral.

These types of wishes are best not included in the Will, as this is a legally binding document and if you decide to change your mind about some of the smaller things, it could get very expensive, so a letter of wishes provides a place to itemise all those things that you want to happen, and can be changed as often as you wish.

Its important to note that if there are things you definitely want to go to certain members of your family, jewellery, paintings, other personal items etc, then you may want to include and name these in your Will.

Like with a Will, it's helpful to make things as clear as possible so there is no room for misinterpretation. Remember your trustees or executors are having to navigate your affairs so being as clear as possible will support them.

So what are some of the things you might want to include in a letter of wishes?

Do you want to notify people of your death and how, will someone update your social media profile or do you want something published in a local or national paper

Any funeral wishes that you want your family and friends to follow, you might have attended funerals where you are asked to wear bright colours that’s probably been written in a Letter of Wishes.

You might want to let people know why you have made certain decisions in your Will, to give context and help your beneficiaries understand your thinking.

If you are interested in finding out more about how you would use a letter of wishes, why don’t you use my free confidential Will review service and we can look at the two things together.

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