Making a will as a new parent - My Local Will Writer

Having a baby changes everything, including what happens if you’re not around. For most new parents, the first reason to make a will isn’t money or property. It’s guardianship. Making sure the right person would raise your child if the worst happened. A will is the document that makes those wishes legal. Here’s what it should cover and how to get it sorted.

Do New Parents Actually Need a Will?

Yes. And if you’re unmarried, it’s especially urgent. Without a will, you have no way to say who should raise your child. That decision falls to a court, with no guidance from you. Unmarried partners face a separate problem: under the rules of intestacy, a surviving partner has no automatic right to inherit anything, regardless of how long you’ve been together or whether you share a home. Even married couples benefit from having things written down. If both parents were to die in the same incident, clear instructions matter enormously. And if you made a will before having children, don’t assume it covers them. It almost certainly doesn’t, unless they’ve been specifically named. A will is the only way to record your guardianship wishes and make sure your estate reaches your family. Here’s what it needs to cover.

What to Include in a Will as a New Parent

For most new parents, the main decisions in a will come down to four things.

The first is who you’re leaving your estate to. For most couples, everything goes to the surviving partner. If neither parent is alive, the will should say clearly where those assets go next.

Then there’s guardianship, which is the decision that matters most to most new parents. If both parents were to die, who would raise your child? The person you choose must be over 18, must be willing, and should also have a backup named in case your first choice can’t take on the role. It’s worth giving this serious thought. We’ve written a separate guide on how to name a guardian in your will if you want help thinking it through.

You’ll also need to name an executor. This is the person who carries out the instructions in your will after you die. It’s often the same person as the guardian, but it doesn’t have to be. What matters is choosing someone you trust to handle it properly.

Finally, a trust for your child. A child under 18 can’t inherit assets directly, so your will should specify that anything left to them is held in trust until they reach adulthood. You’ll also need to name a trustee to manage those assets in the meantime. Getting the trust clause right is one of the main reasons a professionally written will is worth using over a DIY template. The wording needs to be precise for the trust to work properly.

What Happens If You Don’t Have a Will?

If you die without a will, the rules of intestacy decide what happens to your estate and your family. You don’t get a say in those decisions. A court will decide who raises your child, with no written guidance from you to draw on. If you’re unmarried, your partner receives nothing automatically, no matter how long you’ve been together. Assets you intended for your child may be delayed or distributed in ways you wouldn’t have chosen. None of this is hypothetical. These are the default outcomes when there’s no will in place.

Do You Need to Update an Existing Will?

If you already have a will but it was written before your child was born, it likely needs updating. A will written before children were born doesn’t automatically include them. They need to be named. The same applies if your circumstances have changed significantly since the will was written, whether that’s a new partner, a new property, or a first child. Updating is quick. My Local Will Writer can handle it in the same process as a new will, and the whole thing takes around 15 to 20 minutes online.

What About a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A will covers what happens after you die. A Lasting Power of Attorney covers what happens if you’re still alive but unable to manage your own affairs. It lets someone you trust make financial or health decisions on your behalf if you’re ever incapacitated. Many new parents set up both documents at the same time. My Local Will Writer offers LPA alongside will writing.

You don’t need to have every detail figured out before you start. What matters is getting guardianship, beneficiaries, and a trust for your child written down and made official. You can always update your will later as things change. Start your will online and have it sorted in around 20 minutes.

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