Build Your Life, Secure Your Legacy: Writing Wills in Your Prime

If something happened to you tonight – who would get your flat? Your jewellery? Your car? The rights to your creative work?
And who would even know where to look?

Most people in their 20s and 30s assume wills are for retirees, not renters. But if you’ve started building a life i.e. have a partner, a flat, a business, tenancy rights, or even a dog – you’ve already started building a legacy. And if you don’t decide what happens to it, the law will do so instead.

I help people navigate some of the most difficult chapters of their lives – planning for death, managing grief, and resolving the legal consequences of loss. Probate and Estate Administration is a strange thing to specialise in when you are not yet 30. But if this work has taught me anything, it’s that the notion that “wills are for later” is a myth.

Whether you are single, in a relationship, have just bought a home or started building a business, or are in employment – the right time to write your will is now, not after life has already happened.

Where there’s a Will, there’s a Way… to protect what matters

We have all lived, or rather, are living through a period of extraordinary global upheaval:

• a pandemic that reshaped how we think about health and security
• wars and political unrest closer to home than we ever imagined
• and, most recently, devastating tragedies like the Air India flight incident that remind us how fragile life can be

These events have brought into sharp focus how quickly circumstances can change. We no longer have the luxury of assuming that important decisions about health, property, or loved ones can wait until we’re older or “more settled.”

What the past few years have taught us is that uncertainty is no longer the exception, it’s the norm. Planning ahead isn’t pessimism. It’s prudence. Most people in their 20s or 30s assume a will is something they’ll need in their 60s or 70s. But if you’ve taken even a few adult steps such as owning assets, having family responsibilities, living with a partner – you are already in a position where a will matters.

Consider this:

• If you die without a will, your unmarried partner receives nothing
• Your flat, savings or business could be tied up or passed to someone unintended
• The legal process for your family becomes longer, costlier and more stressful
• Your digital assets (photos, music, crypto, socials) may be inaccessible

In the absence of a will, your personal wishes, however clear to you, carry no legal weight.Instead, the law prevails through a rigid set of intestacy rules, which dictate who inherits and in what order.These rules often bear little resemblance to modern relationships or personal intentions.

In other words, without a will, the law takes over your preferences.

What a Simple Will Can Do

A basic, professionally drafted will can:

• Appoint people you trust to manage your affairs
• Specify who inherits what: from your home to your dog to your Spotify royalties
• Protect a partner you aren’t married to
• Support causes you care about
• Safeguard sentimental items or digital assets
• Avoid unnecessary conflict or confusion for those you leave behind
• Avoid your assets passing to unintended beneficiaries

It’s not about having huge wealth. It’s about taking control of what you do have and making sure your voice is heard.

Why I Wrote My Own Will Before 30 – and Encourage You to Do So

Professionally, I have seen too many families fall apart not only because someone died but because no one planned ahead. People assume their loved ones “will know what to do,” but grief rarely leaves room for clarity. That’s why I wrote my own will early. It wasn’t morbid, it was empowering. And that’s the message I want more young adults to hear: Planning isn’t about expecting the worst. It’s about giving your future and your people the protection they deserve.

Modern Wills Must Reflect Modern Lives

There’s also much more to modern estate planning than just a will.

Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) – for health or financial decisions allow you to appoint someone you trust to act for you if you ever lose mental capacity. For young people, especially those living independently or with partners, LPAs can be just as crucial as wills.

Managing Your Digital Assets – We are living increasingly digital lives with value stored in cloud accounts, crypto wallets, online businesses, and intellectual property. These digital assets can carry emotional, financial, and personal weight. Without guidance in your will, your executors may not be able to access or manage them.

Encouragingly, the law is beginning to catch up.

The Law Commission is in the process of reforming the law of wills in England and Wales, and one of its more forward-looking proposals is that courts might, in future, give legal effect to a deceased person’s wishes even if they’re expressed informally such as in an email, over a text, or note on a phone, or even by way of a social media post!

While modernising succession law is welcome, this raises important questions about intent, proof, and clarity. However, it could also open the door to greater uncertainty, cost and challenge from disappointed family members, as the Law Commission rightly acknowledges.

In effect, succession planning is evolving, and the law must keep pace with our increasingly digital, informal, and non-traditional lives.Good planning today isn’t just about inheritance, it is about avoiding future conflict.

Ready to Take Control?

At Karam, Missick & Traube, we support young professionals, creatives, business owners, individuals and couples in making practical, legally valid wills.

We offer:

• Remote consultations
• Practical guidance in plain English
• Ongoing support if your circumstances change (marriage, children, new property)

If you don’t yet have a will, now is the right time. We’re here to make it straightforward, stress free and secure.

Don’t Wait for Life to Teach You the Hard Lesson

If you’ve ever thought, “They’ll know what to do if something happens to me,” – they won’t. Let’s make sure they do.

And if you already have a will, remember that it’s just as important to review it regularly. Life changes and so do wishes, and your will should reflect those changes.