Making a Will in Your 50s

If your will was written when your children were young, it may still contain guardianship clauses and trust arrangements that are no longer relevant now they are adults. This is not usually a problem in itself, but it is worth checking your will reflects your current wishes, particularly around what age remaining children should inherit outright and whether you want to treat adult children differently, for example if one has received more financial help from you than another during your lifetime.

Some parents in this position choose to make gifts unequal deliberately, reflecting help already given, university costs covered for one child but not another, or differing needs. If you do this, it is worth explaining your reasoning somewhere, such as in a letter of wishes alongside your will, to reduce the chance of a dispute later.

By your 50s, a pension is often one of the largest assets you hold, sometimes larger than your home. Most private and workplace pensions do not form part of your estate and are not covered by your will; instead they pass according to a nomination or expression of wish held by the pension scheme, and the scheme trustees usually retain discretion over the final decision, though they normally follow your wishes closely.

It is worth checking these nominations now, particularly if your circumstances have changed since you first joined a scheme, for example following a divorce, remarriage or the death of a previous partner. A will and up-to-date pension nominations need to work together to reflect the same overall intentions.

For many people, their 50s are the point where inheritance tax moves from a distant concern to something worth actively planning around, particularly as property values and pension pots grow. Every individual has a nil-rate band, currently £325,000, plus an additional residence nil-rate band in many cases when a home passes to children or grandchildren, above which tax is generally charged at 40% on the value of an estate.

A will does not reduce inheritance tax on its own, but it is the framework that any planning sits within, whether that involves gifts made during your lifetime, trusts, or simply making sure exemptions such as the spouse exemption are used properly. Getting professional advice becomes more worthwhile the larger and more complex an estate becomes, but a clear, up-to-date will remains the essential starting point.

A will only takes effect after you die, but a lasting power of attorney deals with what happens if you lose the ability to manage your own affairs while still alive, whether through illness, an accident or a condition like dementia. Many people in their 50s put these in place alongside a will review, appointing someone they trust to make decisions about property, finances, health and welfare if they are ever unable to do so themselves.

Without a lasting power of attorney in place, your family may need to apply to the Court of Protection to gain the authority to manage your affairs, which is slower, more expensive and more stressful than setting one up in advance. It is a natural companion to a will, covering the part of your life a will does not.

Many people in their 50s already have a will, sometimes decades old, and the temptation is to assume it still works. In practice, a review is often quick, particularly online, and picks up on things like outdated guardianship clauses, executors who have since died or are no longer suitable, and gifts that no longer make sense given how your family has changed.

Treat your 50s as a natural checkpoint: update your will to reflect adult children, check your pension nominations, and consider a lasting power of attorney alongside it. At £69, updating or making a will properly is a small step that brings a lot of clarity to the decade ahead.