Wills 'need to be a higher priority'

Estate planning needs to become a higher priority for private banking customers of all ages, new analysis suggested today.

The Co-operative said that public ’misconception’ still shrouds the process of making a will - which is often more complex than many think.

Singletons and divorced people were cited as groups who needed to pay special attention in their financial planning.

The comments follow the release of research from Which?, which claimed that consumers were showing ’apathy’ on the matter.

According to the poll, 33 per cent of British over-45s had yet to make a will.

Dave Smith, spokesperson for Co-operative legal services, said: ’There is a lot of misconception about wills with people believing they can just pick one off the shelves and write it out by hand but this can cause almost as many problems as not taking out a will at all.

’It is important that you get specialist help and advice because family life is far more complex these days with many people having second marriages and many people not getting married at all - family life is not as structured as it was 50 years ago.’ ADNFCR-2318-ID-19270529-ADNFCR