Write your own Will

The cheapest – and perhaps riskiest way – to write a will is to do it yourself. You can buy templates online or at stationery shops.

This is only really a suitable option if your affairs are very simple. For example, if you’re married or in a civil partnership and have children, and you want to leave everything to the survivor of you on the first death, and your children in, say, equal shares on the second death.

The template should show what you need to do to make sure that it is signed, dated and witnessed properly, and that your old wills are revoked.

It’s important to follow these rules, otherwise there is a risk that your home-made Will will be invalid.

The law about inheritances and how they’re taxed can be complex and things might change between when you write your Will and when you die. That makes it risky to write your own Will without any advice at all. But you can do it if you want to.

Expect to pay: as little as £10 for a basic template.

There are two types of gift that you can leave and we would suggest that you use the following wording to indicate what type of donation you intend to make 

Pecuniary Gift (cash sum)

A pecuniary gift can be a cash gift of any amount. This is our recommended wording:

I give the sum of £________ to Sheffield Mind of The Wellbeing Centre, 110 Sharrow Lane, Sheffield, S11 8AL  (registered charity number 276108) for its general charitable purposes and I declare that the receipt of the honorary treasurer or other proper officer shall be a full and sufficient discharge for the said legacy.

If you prefer you can choose an alternative option:

Residuary Gift

Otherwise known as a share of your estate. This is when you leave a portion of what you own to us, after your family and friends have received what you want to give them. This is our recommended wording:

I give [insert percentage] of my residuary estate to Sheffield Mind (registered charity number 276108), The Wellbeing Centre, 110 Sharrow Lane, Sheffield, S11 8AL, to be applied for its general purposes and I declare that the receipt of the finance director or appropriate officer shall be a complete discharge to my trustees.

Any changes to the name and or address of your beneficiary can be made using a codicil