Last will and testament (example)

An example for learning the drafting library — not suitable for real-world use. The clauses are short illustrative sketches, not legal drafting. Every page of every export says Example document — not suitable for real-world use, and each document carries a draft banner until someone marks it reviewed.

What's inside

• A document type, Last will and testament (example): the opening declaration, then Appointments, Gifts, Residuary estate and Administration, then the signing block. Clauses are numbered throughout, the title reads Will of and the testator's name, and the footer carries the firm and page numbers.
• 13 building blocks, from Revocation of former wills to Attestation.
• 14 fields, grouped on the form as The testator, Family, Gifts and Wishes. Firm and Firm address are fixed: set by the workspace and read-only on the form.

Templates and selection tests aren't in the pack, so the import adds only what the document type needs. Build a template and Build the selection tests describe the ones this example was designed around.

New to drafting? Feature tour (example) shows every feature of the library in one document; this will shows the plan's rules on a familiar kind of document.

Import it

1. Download the zip and import it: Drafting → Drafting library → Document types → Import a library. How importing a library works covers each step.
2. If your workspace already has Firm and Firm address (the feature tour brings Firm too), choose Use the existing field for each.
3. On the Blocks tab, open each of the thirteen blocks and choose Publish.
4. If you like, set Firm and Firm address to your own details on the Fields tab; they print in the signing block and the footer.
5. The document type arrives restricted to you. Widen its Who can use when others should try it.

Build one yourself

On the Drafting page choose New draft, pick Last will and testament (example), then Build it myself:

• Revocation of former wills and Attestation are already in the plan and can't be removed: the document type always includes them.
• Tick Residuary estate — to my children equally. Trustee powers joins, marked as required by another block.
• Tick Residuary estate — to my spouse absolutely as well. The plan keeps one of the two and offers the other as an alternative; Swap exchanges them, since a will leaves its residue one way.
• Tick both Survivorship and Exclusion of the survivorship condition. The plan is blocked, naming both, until you untick one.
• Continue to the form and set Children under 18 to 2. Appointment of guardians joins the plan by itself (set it back to 0 and it leaves again).
• Leave Guardian empty and assemble. The guardians clause prints [Guardian] where the name goes, and the To finish card lists the question; fill it in and assemble again. A question that takes a list, such as Executors, prints nothing while it is empty and is listed the same way.
• Export as Word or PDF. The residuary gift refers to Trustee powers by its clause number, worked out when the document is assembled, so it stays right when clauses move.

Ask the AI

Choose New draft → Ask the AI, pick the will and paste one of the briefs below. Each lists the blocks a good selection picks. The blocks the document type always includes, and the blocks the rules add, come in either way.

A widow with adult children

A 70 year old widow, Margaret Hale of 4 Orchard Close, Bath, three adult children, wants everything split equally between the children, her jewellery to her daughter Anne Hale, and to be cremated. Executors: her son Peter Hale and her daughter Anne Hale.

• Picks: Appointment of executors, Funeral wishes, Specific gift, Residuary estate — to my children equally and Survivorship. The rules add Trustee powers.
• Leaves out: Appointment of guardians, since no child is under 18, and the other two residuary gifts. Those two appear under Set aside by the AI with its reasons, each with Use instead.
• From your brief offers, each quoted from the brief: the testator's name and address, Cremation, Peter Hale and Anne Hale as executors, jewellery given to Anne Hale, and no children under 18. Accept all quoted fills them in.
• Gaps: none.

A young family, everything to the spouse

Tom Baxter, married to Sarah Baxter, two children aged 4 and 7. Everything to Sarah; if she dies first, the children equally. Sarah's brother Mark Ellis should be guardian. He does not want a survivorship clause.

• Picks: Appointment of executors, Appointment of guardians, Residuary estate — to my spouse absolutely and Exclusion of the survivorship condition.
• Leaves out: Survivorship.
• From your brief: Sarah Baxter as the spouse, two children under 18 and Mark Ellis as the guardian, among others.
• A gap to report: nothing in the library passes the residue to the children if Sarah dies first.

A gift to charity and a named residue

Mrs Patel wants £5,000 to Cancer Research UK, the rest to her nephew Raj Patel and her niece Priya Patel equally, and a trust for her grandchildren until they are 25.

• Picks: Appointment of executors, Pecuniary legacy to a charity, Residuary estate — to named beneficiaries and Survivorship. The rules add Trustee powers.
• Leaves out: the residuary gifts to the children and to the spouse.
• From your brief: Cancer Research UK, £5,000, and Raj Patel and Priya Patel as the residuary beneficiaries.
• A gap to report: nothing in the library holds a trust for grandchildren until they are 25.

Leave the document type to the AI

With another example library imported as well, choose Let the AI choose from your document types instead of a document type, and paste:

My mother wants to leave her flat to me and her savings to my sister.

• The type choice names Last will and testament (example), with its reason on the Brief card.
• Picks: Appointment of executors, Specific gift for the flat, and a residuary gift.
• A gap to report: the library has one specific-gift block, so the savings to the sister need a clause it doesn't have.

The AI chooses from each block's description and Use when note, and from the document type's guidance; it never sees a block's text. When it picks the wrong block, the fix is usually a sharper Use when note, or a line in the document type's guidance.

Build a template

A template fixes the blocks a document starts with, so a member goes straight to the form. Once the blocks are published, choose + New template on the library's Templates tab:

• Name: Simple will — everything to the children.
• Document type: Last will and testament (example).
• Blocks: Appointment of executors, Residuary estate — to my children equally and Survivorship. The blocks the type always includes are added for you, and the rules add Trustee powers.

Save it, then choose New draft → Use a template: the plan is fixed, and the draft opens on the form. Templates in the user guide covers the editor.

Build the selection tests

A selection test checks the AI's picks for a brief. Once the blocks are published, create each test below with + New selection test on the library's Selection tests tab: give it the name shown, paste the brief from the section it links to, and fill in Must pick and Must not pick.

Widow, adult children, cremation — the brief from A widow with adult children:

• Must pick: Appointment of executors, Funeral wishes, Specific gift, Residuary estate — to my children equally and Survivorship.
• Must not pick: Appointment of guardians, Residuary estate — to my spouse absolutely, Residuary estate — to named beneficiaries and Exclusion of the survivorship condition.

Young family, everything to the spouse — the brief from A young family, everything to the spouse:

• Must pick: Appointment of executors, Appointment of guardians, Residuary estate — to my spouse absolutely and Exclusion of the survivorship condition.
• Must not pick: Residuary estate — to my children equally, Residuary estate — to named beneficiaries and Survivorship.

Charity and named residue — the brief from A gift to charity and a named residue:

• Must pick: Appointment of executors, Pecuniary legacy to a charity and Residuary estate — to named beneficiaries.
• Must not pick: Residuary estate — to my children equally and Residuary estate — to my spouse absolutely.

Then choose Run all; each should pass. Each run is one model call on your workspace's allowance. Selection tests in the user guide explains the scores.

Once they pass, try the lever an author has over the AI. Change the Use when note on Survivorship to the single word Rarely and publish it again: the widow's test, which expects Survivorship, should start failing. Put the note back, publish, and it passes again.

What it shows

Related: Ask the AI, producing a document and the drafting library in the user guide.