Millions still fail to make a will

Almost 30 million UK adults have still to make a will, according to new research.

Data released by unbiased.co.uk, the website enabling consumers to find professional advisers, and Certainty, the national will register and will search scheme, showed that 29.3 million people – 58 per cent of the adult population – have no will in place.

The percentage of adults in their 40s who have yet to make a will increased from 60 per cent in 2009 to 69 per cent in 2013 while the number of people without a will aged 70 and over also rose, from 14 per cent in 2009 to 19 per cent this year.

The research was published to highlight unbiased.co.uk and Certainty’s Write and Register a Will Week, which began on 14 October.

The leading region for making a will was the South West, where 52 per cent of adults have one in place, followed by the South East (45 per cent) and the North East (44 per cent). Adults were least likely to have made a will in London (33 per cent) and Northern Ireland (32 per cent).

Despite the low numbers of adults to have made a will, the research also found that 76 per cent anticipate leaving financial assets worth an average of £46,000 to their loved ones when they pass away and 68 per cent to leave property, with an average expected value of £202,000.

More than one in ten (13 per cent) admitted they had never even thought about making a will while nine per cent who have no will believed their estate would automatically go to the right people.