We all know why we need to put together a will. Any loved ones we leave behind when we die will depend on that legal document when the time comes to go through your estate, which refers to your money, your properties, and your assets.

Without a will, a person’s estate is sorted according to the rules of intestacy. These rules are very prescriptive, and don’t account for many of the most important relationships we will form in our lifetimes. Dying without a will can cause a lot of a stress, heartache, and anxiety for those people; they may need to enlist the help of contesting a will solicitors and go through a long, expensive court case, and that fact alone should be enough to get you to set aside the time to write one.

But when is the right time to write a will? How long can any of us afford to put it off?

There are no downsides starting decades in advance…

We don’t want to think about the worst-case-scenarios, but it always pays to be prepared. Writing a will when you’re still young and healthy is a far better decision than putting it off until the time feels (somehow) ‘right’, not least of all because many wills are declared invalid as a result of the testator’s lack of testamentary capacity, which can be caused by illness or injury.

Think of a will as an umbrella permanently held over any loved ones or dependents you have now. That umbrella is important whether you’re 25 or 85, since you never know when the rain will come.

…But remember that things can (and will) change

A will you write in your twenties is very unlikely to reflect your wishes by the time you reach your thirties or forties, and so on. This isn’t a reason not to write your will now, but a reminder that revisions are an inevitable part of planning for your loved ones’ futures.

This is one of the biggest flaws of DIY wills – the fact that they encourage testators to ‘get it out of the way’ and avoid any lengthy conversations about the future. A will completed without the help of a solicitor, then locked away in the filing cabinet, will gradually go out of date and could prove useless when the time comes.

Getting married or divorced, having children, experiencing the death of someone named within your will, acquiring (or losing) significant assets or buying property all represent major life events that should prompt you to return to your solicitor, and review your existing will.

You don’t need to reach a level of wealth to justify a will

All too often, we assume that wills are a lot more important for those of us with extensive estates – multiple properties, diverse investment portfolios, business shares, etc – than those of us who are still working to establish ourselves, or build our finances.

This couldn’t be further from the truth, and it’s a dangerous line of thinking – particularly if you have dependents. You don’t need to wait for any particular life event or change in circumstances to draft your will – and, for so many reasons, you’re taking a big risk if you are.