A will is not a luxury item - JEP article

19th February 2026

Image: Corbett Le Quesne article in the JEP

Corbett Le Quesne Private Client JEP Article by Emily Moore

February 2026

It has been a busy start to the year for the Private Client team at Corbett Le Quesne and, according to Simon Lofthouse, who heads up the team, it is not unusual for people to include estate planning among their New Year resolutions.

Simon, together with his colleague Advocate Elizabeth Le Guillou, who joined the firm last August, are keen to challenge the idea that estate planning is only relevant if you have substantial assets.

“A will is not a luxury item”, says Elizabeth “it is an essential document which aims to ensure that your assets pass to your chosen beneficiaries. The size of the estate is not the point. The point is avoiding uncertainty, delay, and minimising the scope for conflict by ensuring that your wishes are clear.”

“Many people also underestimate what counts as an estate in modern life”, Simon adds. “For a lot of families, the principal assets are property, savings, pensions, life assurance and personal possessions with sentimental value. There may also be assets in different jurisdictions, or family members living abroad. Even where things feel straightforward, there are usually enough moving parts that it is worth putting a robust plan in place.”

“Another misconception”, says Elizabeth, “is that making a will is something you only have to consider in later life”.

The team also encounter clients with very old wills which have not been updated to reflect changes to personal or financial circumstances. 

“If you die without a will, then the laws of intestacy apply and your assets may end up in the hands of individuals you never intended to benefit,” Elizabeth explains. “The same risk can apply to an out of date will. The person may have since married, divorced, remarried, had children or grandchildren, acquired property, started a business, moved jurisdictions, or changed their financial arrangements. Sometimes the executor named in the will has died, lost capacity, or is no longer appropriate. A will is not something you do once and forget.”

Both Simon and Elizabeth agree that drafting a will is often more complex than people expect, and that enlisting the support of an experienced lawyer helps clients navigate the detail and avoid costly mistakes.

“It is surprising how many people regard their estate planning as simple when it is quite the opposite,” says Simon. “Jersey’s legal framework can take people by surprise, particularly those who assume the Island follows the same approach as England and Wales.”

Jersey succession law has its own character, and two areas that regularly catch people out are forced heirship rights in relation to movable estate, known as légitime, and the principle of rapport à la masse.

In broad terms légitime can be summarised as the rights belonging to a spouse or children to receive a fixed portion of the deceased person’s movable estate and the concept of  rapport a la masse requires lifetime gifts of movable property to be brought into account for the purpose of calculating the estate position, so that the overall position can be assessed fairly.”

Simon gives a straightforward example, “If a parent has made a significant gift to a child during their lifetime, perhaps £100,000 towards a house deposit, that can be relevant when calculating the movable estate for distribution. Families are sometimes surprised, because they assumed a gift made years ago was simply in the past and not part of the conversation.”

The point, they stress, is not to alarm people but to encourage informed decisions. “Once people understand the rules,” Elizabeth says, “you can plan sensibly. The difficulty is when people make assumptions without appreciating that Jersey’s rules are different.”

Another area that requires careful consideration is the choice of executor in a will of movable estate. Simon notes that appointing a trusted friend or family member who lives overseas is possible, but there are practical considerations.

“In some cases, the executor may need to travel to Jersey to apply for a grant of probate, unless they appoint a locally resident attorney to deal with the application on their behalf,” he explains. “It is not a reason not to choose them. It is simply something to understand and plan for.”

Other matters include whether the chosen executor will have the time and inclination to deal with estate administration, particularly where the estate is complex or where documents and processes are required across more than one jurisdiction.

Clients are increasingly asking us about how to deal with their digital life in wills. Online banking, subscriptions, cloud storage, email accounts, photographs and devices can all create practical issues for families if there is no clear record of what exists and where key information is stored. A straightforward inventory, kept up to date, can prevent significant delay and frustration at a difficult time.

Alongside wills, Simon and Elizabeth encourage people to consider lasting powers of attorney, introduced in Jersey in 2018.

“The importance of making lasting powers of attorney for property and affairs, and for health and welfare, should not be underestimated,” says Simon. “They enable people to retain an element of control if they lose capacity. We always encourage people to grant a lasting power of attorney to someone they trust and who knows their wishes, because if they do not, and they lose capacity, the court will appoint a delegate on their behalf. That may not be someone the individual would have chosen.”

“While losing a loved one is never easy,” says Simon, “if you have done the planning, had the right discussions and put the correct documents in place during your lifetime, we can then make it as easy as possible for your family to navigate the legal processes that inevitably arise, and spare them at least some pain.”

If you have any questions regarding your wills, LPAs, probate, delegations or estate planning you can book a free thirty minute consultation with Simon or Elizabeth.

Please email privateclientteam@corbettlequesne.com or call 01534 733030 or visit our website for more information:www.corbettlequesne.com

A 2026 checklist, five reasons to review your documents

• A change in relationships, including marriage, separation, divorce or remarriage
• A change in family, including children, grandchildren or new dependants
• A change in assets, including property purchase or sale, inheritance, new business interests
• A change in executors, where they are no longer suitable, willing, or accessible
• Capacity planning, putting lasting powers of attorney in place before they are needed