• March 28, 2024
 New online tool brings will writing into the 21st century

New online tool brings will writing into the 21st century

  • More than 13 million 30-54 year olds in the UK have not written wills1

Making a will has become swifter and easier with the launch, today, of online will creation tool, affio.co.uk. Affio’s aim is to bring wills to the mass market by making them affordable, easy to understand and simple to create.

It’s high time the will-making process was overhauled. Currently, more than 13 million — over half of 30-54 year olds, who have houses, children and possessions – have yet to create one1. Why? Because, until now, creating a will has been a largely Dickensian process.

Enter Affio. Creating a will via Affio costs just £60 and, in a market first, holders can update their will for FREE an unlimited number of times, e.g. as a result of children, marriage, divorce or an inheritance windfall.

Crucially, for a product that’s applicable to everyone, the Affio will creation process is quick, easy to follow via the highly intuitive interface and written in a language everyone can understand. Legalese is strictly off limits. Affio’s philosophy is that, if the holder of the will can’t understand it, how could the guardians, executors or anyone else? Because data security is paramount, the system has 128-bit AES encryption, so the whole process is highly secure.

After writing their will, users can then download and print it – and then sign in it front of witnesses. Anyone wishing to update their will can log back in at any time, amend the information previously entered and then repeat the printing and signing process.

Ian Gosling, co-founder and CEO of Affio.co.uk, comments: "Although most wills are very straightforward, we’re poorly catered for by solicitors and will writers alike. The process can be long, confusing and expensive and you’re left with a document that’s often barely comprehensible, rapidly out of date and costly to amend. In fact, it’s fair to say the wills industry still has a grubby reputation and is woefully immature online.

"We want to change that. With Affio, people can create their will from the comfort of their own sofa with a glass of wine and your laptop – and perhaps even enjoy the process. As our lives are always changing, we’ve also enabled Affio users to update their wills effortlessly and at any time. The result is a will that reflects the holder’s wishes and circumstances as they are that specific moment in time, not 10 or 20 years ago."

References

1 According to the Legal Services Consumer Panel – only 12% of 30-34 year olds, 27% of 35-44 year olds and 48% of 45-54 year olds have a will.

According to 2012 population data from the Office for National Statistics — the estimated populations in the following age groups were:

30 to 34 years — 3,748,899

35 to 44 years — 7,647,840

45 to 54 years — 7,872,774

Estimated number of people between 30 and 54 years who don’t have a will is (0.88*3,748,899) + (0.73*7,647,840) + (0.52*7,872,774) = 13,007,479

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