Wills survey reveals Britons intend to have interesting beneficiaries

Posted 01/11/2010

A new survey on Wills has revealed that British people intend to leave their assets to some interesting beneficiaries.

Although 87 per cent of respondents to the Unbiased.co.uk research said they will leave their estates to members of the family, 1.5 million reported intending to leave everything to their pets.

Meanwhile, 4.5 million Britons are to bequeath money to specific charities and one million people will make the church their main beneficiary.

However, despite 92 per cent of the survey’s respondents knowing exactly where they want their money to go when they pass away, more than 30 million did not have Wills in place.

Unbiased.co.uk representative Karen Barrett said: “It has never been more important to clearly state your wishes in a Will. This will give you peace of mind your money will go where you want it to after you die.”

In a recent article for Sun Live, legal writer Alan Tate recommended updating Wills every five years to ensure they reflect changes such as having children.

The software behind Ashtons Legal’s Online Wills service provides for all these sorts of options, including enabling people to specify who should care for their pets after their death. However, the majority of users of the service since its launch earlier in 2010 have taken a more traditional approach, leaving legacies to their families and favourite charities rather than to their pets.