World Wide Will creation?

Hi All,

I am looking to create a Will for my assets to be passed to my family members.  I am a US citizen but have been based in the UK (HSMP Visa) for the past 4 years.

Most of my assets are in the US, however, I do have a UK offshore account as well.  I have beneficiaries setup for my US accounts, however, i've asked my bank (barclays) to setup beneficiaries, similar to my US accounts and they said they don't do this - they only can add additional members to the account.  If i wanted beneficiaries it would need to be done via a Will. 

I'm not sure if this is correct and therefore I wanted to check with everyone here for their understanding - or if anyone can point me in the right direction.

I want to ensure the Will is valid in the US and UK at a minimum - has anyone set one up?  If anyone can recommend UK lawyers to go to so i can sort a Will out, it would be much appreciated as well.

Thank you

As far as I know, the US does not recognize UK wills and probably vice versa.

As far as I know, the US does not recognize UK wills and probably vice versa.

? Where did you hear that?

You only need one will as long as it states clearly under which jurisdiction(s) you want assets dealt with.  Sorry I can't recommendd any particular solicitor - have a search on the lw Society website. I think the US Embassy site also has a list of US lawyers in the UK which you may find helpful.

The UK solicitor who drew up my will basically said I'd need a US will, too.


Time to find a new solicitor I guess!

Bumping - would like to know if anyone knows of any knows of any solicitors which offer world wide will creation services?  Thanks

I have been advised that the best thing to do is get a will done for each country in which you have assets. So I'd go with what grumpyjet says. You need a British solicitor for the UK will and an American solicitor for the American one and get them to liaise, I would guess.