‘Can’t take it with you’ – BBC2 – Friday 14th January

Were you watching BBC 2 last Friday at 9pm? The first in a 6 part series looking at wills, inheritance and intestacy aired. 'Can't take it with you' is fronted by businessman Gerry Robinson, ably assisted by wills lawyer Sue Medder from London firm Withers LLP. Each week the programme looks at the two familes and gets them talking about wills and how they want to manage their estates… sometimes with interesting (heated) comments and discussions!

The second in the series will air on Friday 21st January at 9pm on BBC. If you'd like to catch up, you can view it on the BBC iPlayer here.

Synopsis of programme 1:

"Sir Gerry Robinson helps two families torn over what to write in their wills.

Lesley wants to leave half the family home to charity, but husband David wants all of it to be left to his two sons by a previous marriage.

Meanwhile, army major Tom is bound for Baghdad, and urgently needs to make a will that includes his two stepdaughters. But his new wife Kiera is against the principle of inheritance and would rather leave everything they jointly own to charity.

Both couples need to face some uncomfortable home truths before they sign on the dotted line.

Sir Gerry is assisted by top lawyer Sue Medder, who sets out the legal options in each case, and writes the final wills. And Sir Gerry gets all the family involved in the debate, because keeping problems secret is no way to solve them.

Deciding who gets what in a will can be one of the toughest choices anyone can have to make. But making no decisions at all and dying without a will can cause rifts that tear families apart."

Dying without a will affects 60% of households in the UK. What fantastic news it is to see this topic being tackled on prime time TV! Here at Wards we encourage all of our clients to write a will, and to remember to review it regularly… particularly if they have recently divorced or changed their financial circumstances.