Drewberry Reviews Online Will Writing Service Farewill

About Farewill…

Farewill is an online will writing service that allows you to produce a legal will in as little as 15 minutes.

It starts by asking five questions:

• Whether you have a partner (including a fiancé[e] or live-in partner) or are single, separated, divorced or widowed
• Whether you have any children
• Whether you own your own home (including jointly or with a mortgage)
• Whether you live in England and Wales (wills and probate law differs in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Farewill only offer this service under English and Welsh law currently)
• Whether all your assets are in the UK (if you own assets abroad, you’ll likely need specialist legal advice on overseas tax jurisdictions that Farewill cannot provide).

Once you’re through all of these questions, the will is completed through a series of questions and prompts, asking about:

• Your name and date of birth
• Your assets and accounts you hold (the value of your estate)
• Who you want to inherit your estate (your beneficiaries)
• Who you want to carry out the wishes in the will (the executor[s] who’ll be responsible for distributing the assets you leave behind).

Optional extras include the ability to leave gifts of personal items or messages and instructions for your funeral.

Once the questionnaire is complete, Farewill will go away and produce a will for you based on the parameters you’ve provided, sending it off to be checked by its legal experts before returning it to you for signing by your witnesses (who cannot be the beneficiaries or married to beneficiaries).

How Much Does Farewill Cost?

Farewill offers a happy medium between writing your will yourself for free and using a solicitor. It charges much less than a solicitor — £90 for an individual will or £140 for couples — but offers a checked service via its in-house legal experts, meaning your will is checked by legal experts after it’s written rather than you going it entirely alone.

There’s also an optional £10 a year ‘subscription’ fee that allows you to access your will at any time and edit / rewrite it and print of new copies for signing. This can be incredibly useful if you think your circumstances might change, such as your assets rising or falling, or you may want to adjust the beneficiaries who’ll be receiving those assets.

There will be costs for not only writing your will through a solicitor — which can add up to hundreds of pounds — but also if you employ a solicitor to make edits to the will. This will typically be much more than the £10 yearly subscription fee you’d pay to Farewill for the same privilege.

Given how important we at Drewberry feel it is to have an up to date will we have been able to negotiate a discount which entitles you to 15% off Farewill’s services.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Farewill

As with anything, Farewill has pros and cons to weigh up before you decide whether it’s the right option for you.

A will is an important legal document, so you should consider carefully all of your options for writing one before deciding on Farewill. We’ve put together what we see as the advantages and disadvantages of Farewill to help you decide.

Advantages of Using Farewill

Cheaper than a solicitor

Using a solicitor to write your will can cost hundreds of pounds, either on an hourly basis or as a flat fee, whereas Farewill only charges £140 for a couple’s will plus the optional £10 annual subscription fee to edit the will at any point should you wish.

Simple and online

Farewill is entirely online, meaning you don’t need to visit a solicitor’s office and you can do it entirely from the comfort of your own home. There’s no solicitor to be concerned with and no legal jargon to worry about misunderstanding. Many people prefer a less formal setting to write their will.

Quick — write a will in as little as 15 minutes!

Farewill allows you to write a will in as little as 15 minutes and have it off for checking by in-house legal experts just as fast. Thereafter, it can take just 5 working days to turn around the will once payment is made, including having it checked and back to you for signing by your witnesses.

Online and telephone support

Confused? Farewill has help at hand during the will writing process between 9am and 7pm 7 days a week via its live chat and telephone hotline.

Will checked by legal experts

If you write your will yourself, there’s no telling whether it’s correct until it needs to be used, at which point it may be too late if there is anything wrong with the will. Writing a will yourself without any checks comes at the risk that it may be rejected and your wishes won’t be honoured if you’ve made any mistakes.

Farewill uses in-house legal experts to check every will produced on its website.

Update the will as many times as required, as you see fit, for just £10 per year

Farewill’s optional subscription fee of £10 per annum allows you to edit your will as desired and print off a new copy for signing as you see fit. Going back to a solicitor to make such edits could cost hundreds of pounds.

Disadvantages of Using Farewill

No legal advice given

Although Farewill has the will checked by in-house legal experts, there’s actually no legal advice given on the preparation of the will at all. The in-house experts will capture any mistakes you’ve made in your will, but they do not offer legal advice on producing the will itself, meaning there’s no recourse later if the will turns out to be unsuitable.

Not suitable for complex estates

A will for a complex estate — such as those with overseas assets, those exceeding the inheritance tax threshold, those which want to make lots of gifts and any other potential complications — is best administered by a solicitor with expert training in such matters.

Less suitable for complex family structures

If there are blended family structures, stepchildren, children from a previous marriage, an unmarried couple etc. then it can become very complicated very quickly as to who gets what.

Some people on their second marriage with children from their first marriage prefer to set up a trust that provides the second spouse with a life interest in their assets if they die but will see the capital ultimately pass to their children from the first marriage. This is complicated stuff and you’ll need a solicitor’s advice here.

No inheritance tax planning offered

Farewill offers no ability for you to plan for inheritance tax issues that may arise if your estate is over £325,000 (or £650,000 for a couple married or in a civil partnership who leaves everything to each other), potentially by setting up trusts or gifting assets appropriately. This will need a solicitor or an adviser.

Only available in England and Wales

Scottish and Northern Irish law differs in the area of wills and probate, so Farewill offers no support if you live outside England and Wales.

No support for overseas assets

If you have assets overseas, such as a holiday home abroad, you’ll need to seek the advice of a solicitor with expertise in the particular jurisdiction your assets reside in. This is because laws on overseas assets differ immensely across borders.

Farewill’s Reviews

As of mid-February 2020, 89% of Farewill’s reviews were 5 star reviews on independent platform Trustpilot.

Farewill has thousands of satisfied clients and label themselves as the UK’s ‘favourite death expert’.

Farewill has also won awards, for instance picking up the National Will Writing Firm of the Year 2019 at the British Wills and Probate awards.

The Drewberry Verdict: Should I Use Farewill?

Unfortunately, as a population we’re underprepared for death. Taking the necessary steps, including writing a will, can significantly alleviate the difficulties your loved ones’ might have after you pass away.

Farewill offers a cheap, fast and easy way to write a will online, but is it right for you?

Ultimately, if your estate is relatively simple then potentially yes, Farewill can be a fantastic option — its thousands of satisfied clients speak for themselves. Providing you don’t need legal advice and are happy not to receive it, using Farewill can be a massive help in plugging the gap in legal provisions you have for your death.

However, if your estate is more complicated and you need advice because you want to reduce your inheritance tax bill, perhaps, or have other issues you want addressing in a will, then an adviser such as Drewberry or a solicitor remain your best option.

Dying without a will can leave your finances in a tangle for your loved ones after you’re gone. It can make it difficult to determine who will inherit your assets, especially if you have joint responsibilities such as a mortgage and even more so if you’re living with a partner without being married or in a civil partnership.

We’ve partnered with Farewill, the UK’s favourite will writing service, to offer you a 15% discount on this service. Click below to start your will today.