Bought a home? Make your wishes clear

A new home is a good time to review your will

Buying a property changes your financial position. You may now own a major asset, share a mortgage with someone else or have family members who rely on the home.

You may want to make or update your will because:

• You now own a valuable asset
• You have taken on a long-term mortgage
• You own the home with a spouse or partner
• Your family may rely on the property
• Your existing will was written before you bought the home
• Your executor may need to deal with the property
• Your wishes about who receives what may have changed

An executor is the person you choose to carry out the instructions in your will.

Your will does not change the legal ownership of your home. It can record what you would like to happen to any share of the property that forms part of what you leave behind.

What happens to the mortgage?

A mortgage does not automatically end when a borrower passes away.

Mortgage protection may repay the amount covered by the policy. This depends on the policy terms.

Where the policy does not cover the full mortgage, or there is no valid cover, the remaining amount will still need to be dealt with as part of the property and financial arrangements.

What happens can depend on:

• The mortgage agreement
• The insurance cover
• How the home is legally owned
• The money and property available

Own a home with your partner?

It is easy to assume that the person who survives will automatically receive everything. That may not always match the legal position, especially if you are not married or in a civil partnership.

What happens can depend on:

• How the home is legally owned
• Irish inheritance law
• Existing legal rights
• Your wider family circumstances

A will lets you record your wishes for anything that forms part of what you leave behind.

Advice from a solicitor may be helpful where property ownership or family arrangements need a closer review.

You may want to:

• Confirm how the home is owned
• Review your mortgage protection
• Choose who should manage what you leave behind
• Record who should receive what remains
• Consider children and other people who rely on you
• Choose an alternative person if someone named in your will is no longer living

Make your will without another appointment

Buying a home already involves paperwork, meetings and decisions. Making your will does not need to add another set of appointments where your circumstances are straightforward.

With Willable, you can:

• Start from home whenever it suits you
• Use your phone, tablet or computer
• Complete it without a routine office visit
• Work on it outside office hours
• Pause while you check information
• Talk through decisions with your spouse or partner
• Save your progress and return later
• Review your draft before paying

You do not need to make every decision during one meeting or call.

See your draft before you pay

1. Step 1

   Create your free account

   Get started without entering any payment details.

2. Step 2

   Answer a few guided questions

   Tell us about you, your family, the people you want to carry out your wishes, and how you would like what you leave behind to be shared.

3. Step 3

   Review your draft

   Read through the draft created from your answers. You can go back and make changes whenever you need to.

4. Step 4

   Pay when you are ready

   Once you are happy with your draft, choose the Willable plan and access your completed will.

No card is required to get started.