Ethical will
A letter to your family, the practical instructions nobody would find and, if you wish, part of what you own for a cause. Writing it down now spares them decisions on the day you die.
An ethical will means deciding that part of what you've built goes to those who need it most. It takes nothing from your family: their legal share stays intact and you choose the amount, the asset or the percentage. We start from your life — not from a list — and bring you the organisations that genuinely fit, with their accounts in hand.
You choose the organisation. We help you set it out properly.
The document holds two things at once: what you want to say to your family and what you want to carry on afterwards. The first saves them weeks of searching and a few arguments; the second makes sure part of what you built keeps being useful.
What you believed, what you learned and what you hope from them. Also why you divided things as you did — the question nobody dares ask and everybody asks themselves. It is written from conversations with you and drafted by a professional, but the voice is yours. It can stay sealed until the day comes, or be given while you're alive, which is usually better.
Where everything is and who needs to be told. Insurance, accounts, the copy of the will, the accountant, the direct debits, who has the keys. And how you want the farewell to be: the music, the place, who speaks. It's the question the family has to answer with the least time and the worst head, and you can leave it answered.
Twenty years of photographs in the cloud, the emails, WhatsApp, the subscriptions still charging every month and the profiles nobody knows how to close. We leave the inventory done, the keys where they belong, and written instructions on what is kept for your family, what is closed and who has permission to do it. It's the part that has grown most and the one least planned for.
Many people want part of what they have to go on doing good afterwards, and don't know where to start. Every foundation explains very well why you should choose them; we start from your life and bring you the ones that genuinely fit.
We start from your life, not from a list. The brother you lost as a child, the forty years teaching in a neighbourhood school, the day you learned to read as an adult: all of that points somewhere. We bring you three or four organisations that fit, with their accounts in hand, and you choose. Your notary is the one who writes and signs it.
Free and with no commitment. We look at what you already have, what worries you and what you'd like to set in motion. If this is no use to you, we'll say so on day one.
We go through what there is, where it is and who knows about it, from the flat to the accounts to the photographs in the cloud. Something almost always turns up that nobody had in mind.
Two or three recorded sessions, unhurried. This is where the letter to your family comes from and, almost always, it also becomes clear where you'd like part of it to carry on.
We hand you the complete folder, on paper and digitally, plus a copy for whoever you say. The original audio is always yours. If you've decided to leave part of it to an organisation, your notary handles that.
No, and it doesn't need to be. The letter of values is a private document. What has legal effect is the will you sign before a notary, and you should make that anyway. What we give you is what that document doesn't cover.
No. The part families are most grateful for isn't the estate, it's knowing where everything is and why you decided what you decided. That's just as true with one flat as with fifteen.
Our document can't be contested because it doesn't divide anything. You still sign the will before a notary, with the same freedom and limits as always. In fact, writing down the reasons usually prevents arguments rather than causing them.
Yes, as long as the person agrees and is able to decide for themselves. We work with them, not with whoever calls us. If we see there's no capacity, or pressure from someone, we stop.
Between six and ten weeks from the first session, depending on the size of the inventory and the pace you want to keep.
Then what you're looking for is The legacy, which is a book rather than a document of wishes. Many people end up doing both, and the conversations are shared so you don't have to repeat yourself.
Write to us and we'll call you. We'll tell you what's included, how long it takes and what it costs in your case, and if we think you don't need it, we'll say that too.
Received. We'll call you within 24 hours.