A business has been launched in Warwick specialising in writing wills for people with property abroad.
New rules have been introduced to set-up a legal framework to unify and simplify the law within the European Union to reduce the cost and time involved for those who are dealing with wills involving property overseas.
Tony Unitt and Gwen Leader have started Global Wills along with John Hopkins at the University of Warwick Science Park’s Warwick Innovation Centre in Gallows Hill to write wills and give estate planning advice to clients living abroad or those with international property.
Tony, who has over 20 years’ experience in the industry, said the majority of its business was centred on dealing with international wills.
“Many people have holiday homes in Europe and there are now EU will writing laws which may help people to put everything in one will,” he said.
“Previously, people had to write wills in separate jurisdictions because of the different laws in different countries.
“Now, in many cases it is often okay to have one UK will because of the new EU regulations and there is going to be a European Certificate of Succession coming out shortly which people will need to apply for.
“The will’s executors will need the certificate when it comes to gaining access or selling the property.
“Overall this will make the process much smoother and remove some of the stress which has previously been involved for executors and administrators.
“Most of our work is carried out on-line which helps to speed up the process and makes it easier when dealing with clients based overseas since we don’t have to worry about different time zones.
“We also carry out traditional will writing and estate planning services in face-to-face meetings or on-line in this country, whatever is preferred.
“Global Wills was launched in October and the business is going well with many customers based in Spain and Italy.”
Tony added: “The office is situated in a great location in Warwick and there is plenty of free parking which isn’t often the case in town or city centres.”
Karen Aston, centre manager at the Warwick Innovation Centre, said will-writing is a recession-proof business.
She said: “Writing a will is a subject which is easy to put off but it is very important that it is dealt with so that your estate is transferred to your chosen beneficiaries.
“Tony and Gwen provide a sympathetic and expert service and meetings can be held in our suites at the University of Warwick Science Park since this is one of the many services that we offer to our tenants.
“We are here to help small companies grow and Global Wills illustrates the variety of the innovative businesses that we have here.”