Wills in ireland

At Coghlan Kelly Solicitors, we believe that making a will is essential to ensuring that your wishes are catered for. As a responsible individual, regardless of your age, a will can protect your assets and ensure that your children are looked after, and guardians are appointed to support them.

Making a will is also important to avoid leaving a situation that could be difficult for your family down the line. If you don’t make a will, the law of intestacy will apply, and the law will control who manages your affairs after your death, which may not be ideal in some family circumstances.

Furthermore, charitable requests to support charities that are important to you may not be accounted for in the laws of intestacy.

Making a will gives you peace of mind that everything will look the way you want it to and can prevent leaving behind a difficult situation for your family.

You should think about making a will at any stage of your life. It doesn’t matter how young you are, or whether you are in ill health or not. As long as you’re over 18, you should always consider making a will and update it as major life events occur or as your personal circumstances change.

If you die without making a will, the law of intestacy applies, which means the way your estate is distributed will be governed by legislation dating back to 1965, and you won’t have control over how your assets are moved to your beneficiaries or who will be appointed to deal with your assets for you.

It is possible to amend a will at any point in the future, as long as the person has the capacity to do so. It is recommended to make a will as early as possible and consider changing it every five years or on major life events.

It is not required to have a solicitor make a will, but it is recommended as wills are complex documents and must meet certain formalities to be valid. If these formalities are not met, there is a risk that the will may not be valid and the person’s wishes would not be carried out.

At Coghlan Kelly Solicitors, we offer a will consultation for a cost of around 150 euro per person for simple, straightforward wills. If your will is more complicated and requires further advice on tax trusts or additional information, the cost may vary and increase. However, we will inform you of all the costs you’re likely to incur in advance.

Executors are the people you appoint in your will to handle your estate after you die. It is important to appoint at least two people as executors in case one is unable to act.

Executors should be trustworthy and capable of dealing with your estate. They should be individuals who can handle the task effectively. There are no specific restrictions on who you can appoint as your executor, but it’s important to consider whether the person you choose is suitable for the role. It can be anyone you wish, such as your accountant, solicitor, children (over the age of 18), any family members, or someone you simply trust.

This question often comes up as to whether an executor of a will can also be a beneficiary. The short answer is, yes. An executor can also be a beneficiary of the will, so you don’t need to worry about separating those roles. However, it’s important to note that a person cannot be both a witness and a beneficiary. So, while you can be an executor and a beneficiary, you cannot witness the will and also be a beneficiary.

Again, the short answer is your solicitor should keep the will. You should be provided with a copy of your will once you’ve signed it, however, the original document should be stored safely by your solicitor. Any other relevant documents that you might need should also be kept by your solicitor and stored with the will.

So when you die, your executors or family will notify your solicitor that you’ve passed away. The solicitor will then take the original will and read it to the executor, having provided a copy to the executor. And that is what starts the process. Once the relevant information has been gathered, that is when the will is submitted into probate, and probate will be extracted in relation to your will to enable the executor to process your assets and move them over to the beneficiaries as needed.