PREPARATION OF A WILL OR ESTATE PLAN

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1. When we receive instructions from you to draft a Will, we will send you a Wills Questionnaire which we will ask you to complete. This is designed to elicit information from you about the extent of your inventory, both your real property and movable property. Real property comprises residential, commercial and industrial real estate. Personal property covers items such as furniture, jewellery, artwork, bank accounts, cars, caravans, boats, stocks and shares, insurance policies, investments and digital assets. (A digital asset is one that can be stored electronically and bought, sold, owned, transferred or traded; examples are convertible virtual currencies and cryptocurrencies.)

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2. A face-to-face consultation will then take place between your good self and ourselves at which you will be asked to select executors, trustees, guardians and witnesses etc. and designate the beneficiaries who are to receive your heritage.

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3.  We will advise on the testatementary documents you will need. Where you hold assets in multiple jurisdictions, an estate plan will be prepared. This may be a single multijurisdictional will or a principal will accompanied by situs wills (situs wills deal with assets situated or located in foreign jurisdictions). The plan may further include inter vivos conveyances, trust structures, letters of wishes, powers of attorney, insurance policies and beneficiary designations, powers of appointment, property structures (e.g. joint tenancy, tenancy-in-common, tenancy by the entirey) and powers of attorney. Where there is a single multijurisdictional will, it must be ensured that it will comply with the law of or be recognized in the foreign jurisdictions where assets are held. Many civil law jurisdictions (such as those on continental Europe) have forced heirship rules which have the effect of curtailing a testator’s freedom of disposition.  Jurisdictions may also have clawback provisions. Estate planning includes the use of techniques to circumvent such rules or provisions or mitigate their impact. Estate planning also includes mechanisms to ensure that probate fees and estate or inheritance taxes are kept to a minimum. In this scenario, very comprehensive instructions will be required from you and much more work will be involved, particularly, where situs wills are envisaged.

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4. When the Will or Estate Plan is prepared, we will send it to you for approval. You then have the option to attend at our consultation rooms to have the will executed and attested. Alternatively, we can send you the Will or Estate Plan with detailed instructions as to how the Will should be executed and attested in order to ensure its compliance with statutory requirements.

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5. Once your Will is properly executed and attested, we will then tie the will; this is an old-school ceremonial technique, involving the use of a will cover, ribbon and gold stamps, that is intended both to prevent the Will from being tampered with and to impart a sense of gravitas to the document.  We use high quality materials to ensure the longevity of the Will and that the print does not fade.

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6. If desired, we can hold the original Will or Estate Plan for safekeeping.

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There is a standard fee of €300 for a simple will.  For an estate plan, the price will vary and will depend on a number of factors including the complexity and novely of the matter, the skill or specialised knowledge needed to deal with the issues that arise and the time spent.  An estimate of the fees to be charged will be sent to you after we have perused the Wills Questionnaire - that is, before you have incurred any charges. We firmly believe in price transparency and the right of the client to know in advance what a service will cost.