By Rachel
Wait
A new will-writing
service has been launched by Principality Building Society on the back of
EastEnders' latest storyline, which saw Pat Evans (better known as Pat Butcher)
pass away.
Millions of
viewers tuned into BBC One to watch Pat's (played by Pam St Clements) last
moments on New Year's Day. Today will see her family and friends give her one
of the biggest send-offs on EastEnders with a "premier" funeral
package, including black plumed horses, a cherry wood casket and two
limousines.
But her
family have no idea whether the funeral will be what Pat wanted after they
failed to find any reference to her funeral details in her last will and
testament.
Barclay
Sansom, insurance and protection manager at Principality Building Society, says
this highlights the "burden" that failing to make arrangements can
have on the lives of those left behind.
He points out
that ensuring your funeral wishes are documented is just one of the benefits of
a written will. Another benefit is to "ensure that your money, assets and
possessions go to who you want".
When people
die without having made a will (dying intestate), the law will decide what will
happen to your estate, meaning it may not go to who you wanted it to go to.
Yet according
to research by Hugh James Solicitors, between a half and two-thirds of adults
in England have not made a will.
Principality's
new will writing services will include advice from will experts, a professional
executor to deal with estate administration, free will storage and a review and
assessment of your existing will if you have one.
"While
none of us enjoy thinking about our deaths, failing to consider the lives of
our loved ones after we die means we risk leaving them with little more than
financial insecurity," says Mr Sansom.
