Half the parents in Essex have no legal guardian in place to care for their children in the event of their deaths

According to the research, parents in Essex are almost completely unaware of the risks of not identifying a legal guardian in a Will. Only two out of ten (19% of) parents in Greater London understand that social services or the courts can step in to decide what happens to your children if you don’t have a Will in place.

SFE, a membership body of over 1,700 UK solicitors specialised in advising people planning for the future, is calling on parents to make sure they have an updated Will.

The new research commissioned by SFE and carried out by Censuswide also reveals:

• 80% of respondents in Essex have experienced a life changing event, such as getting married, divorced or having a child, since they last updated their Will.
• Over a third (35%) of respondents in Essex have not updated their Will within the last five years, meaning they are likely to be out of date.

Nearly one third (32%) of respondents in Essex know someone who has been affected by something going wrong with a Will.