Valoren vs. nothing

Most people have a will.
Almost nobody has a system.

The will tells the lawyer. Valoren tells the family.

A will is one document. It does about seven things — all of them important. The household around it needs more: the 33-record system that holds the asset register, walks you through the forms, hands the right brief to more than one Trusted Person, and keeps the whole register current year after year. The gap between the will and what an executor actually needs is where months of chaos happen.

UK adult preparedness gap33 ← total

What a will does7

Seven things. Important ones.

What Valoren prepares33

Thirty-three records. The asset register, form help, multi-Trusted-Person handover, and a register kept current.

The gap is where months of chaos happen.

The state of preparation in the United Kingdom

56%

of UK adults have no will.

Money & Pensions Service, 2024

47%

of bereaved partners cannot find key documents.

Royal London, 2023

£31.1bn

in lost UK pension pots, never paid out.

Pensions Policy Institute, 2024

The preparedness spectrum

Where you are now. Where Valoren takes you.

State I

UK adults · 39%

Nothing

39%

No will. No LPA. No record of accounts. Family reconstructs from scratch over many months.

Preparedness10%

Source: Valoren analysis, 2026❋

State II

UK adults · 47%

Will only

47%

A will exists somewhere. Beyond that, nothing structured. Most UK adults are here.

Preparedness35%

Source: Valoren analysis, 2026❋

State III

UK adults · 11%

Will + LPA

11%

Two key legal documents. Still no asset register, no medical record, no digital map.

Preparedness70%

Source: Valoren analysis, 2026❋

State IV

UK adults · <3%

Valoren system

<3%

33 records. Prepared documents. Trusted Persons Protocol. Annual maintenance. Living, monitored.

Preparedness100%

Source: Valoren analysis, 2026❋

What this can save

Doing nothing is not free. The bill falls due later — on the people left behind.

£0–0

Full solicitor probate

An indicative planning band — not a quote, + VAT, varies by firm and complexity. Arriving organised may keep an estate toward the lower end.

0–0 hours

Discovery and chasing

Arriving prepared can remove roughly 8–15 hours of asset-tracing per estate — the search around the forms, not the forms themselves.

£0 + £0 per sealed copy

Probate application

The statutory court fee on estates over £5,000 — the same whether your family applies themselves or through a solicitor.

A will tells the lawyer. A system spares the search — and the search is where most of the cost and the months are spent.

The honest comparison

What a will does. What it doesn't.

Wills are essential. They are not sufficient. The list on the right is the gap; the rest of this page is what Valoren actively does to close it — the records system, plain-English form help, a handover to more than one Trusted Person, and a register kept current.

The will · does

7 essentials · all important

What a will does.

Names your executor
Distributes named assets to named beneficiaries
Names guardians for minor children
Specifies funeral wishes (often non-binding)
Disinherits parties you choose to exclude
Establishes simple testamentary trusts
Becomes effective on death (subject to probate)

Valoren · will · scope❋

The will · doesn't

12 the will misses · also important

What a will doesn't.

Tell anyone where the will is
Many wills are unfindable on death. The document exists. Nobody knows which solicitor holds it.
List your bank accounts
Executors spend weeks tracking down which banks you used. Wills don't list account numbers, sort codes, or institutions.
List your insurance policies
Life cover, critical illness, income protection — the policies expire unclaimed because nobody knew they existed.
List your pensions
Multiple pots from multiple jobs. Average UK adult has 11 jobs across their working life. Wills don't track them.
Cover digital accounts
Email, cloud storage, crypto, photos, social media, subscriptions still draining the estate. None of it in a will.
State your medical preferences
If capacity is lost before death, a will is silent. Advance decisions and LPAs are separate documents.
Name an LPA
Lasting Power of Attorney is registered separately with the Office of the Public Guardian. Wills don't substitute.
Provide an emergency contact list
Hospital staff, executors, and family need contacts. A will doesn't list your GP, solicitor, or Trusted Persons.
Tell your family what to do first
The first 48 hours are the most chaotic. A will offers no guidance for the people in shock who must act fast.
Survive the company that drafted it
If your will-writer ceases trading, your filed copy may become unreachable. Valoren records work without us.
Update itself
A will is accurate the day it's signed and starts drifting the moment your life changes — marriage, divorce, births, house moves, new pensions. Most wills are years out of date. A Valoren-made will is watched for exactly this, and tells you when it's gone stale.
Tell anyone what you owned
An asset register is not a legal will requirement. Without it, executors reconstruct your financial life from bank statements.

❋Valoren · will · gaps

What gets prepared

The records are inputs. These are the outputs.

Once your records are completed, Valoren prepares companion documents — composed from existing data, never invented, always reviewed by you. They appear when they're needed, not before.

Document I

Composed · ready

The 48-Hour Letter

The first thing your Trusted Persons reads. What's happening, what to do in the first 48 hours, who to call.

Composed from

P-13R-03E-01

Valoren · output · 2026❋

Document II

Composed · ready

Emergency Medical Card

Wallet-sized, printable. GP, conditions, medications, allergies, LPA holder, next of kin. Bedside-readable.

Composed from

P-08R-03

Valoren · output · 2026❋

Document III

Composed · ready

Executor's Pack

What your executor receives when probate begins. Master Registry summary, every record indexed, response briefs, location codes.

Composed from

R-01R-04P-01–P-14E-01

Valoren · output · 2026❋

Document IV

Composed · ready

Bereavement Response Kit

Composed for the surviving partner in the first week. The 48-Hour Letter, registration steps, immediate financial actions.

Composed from

E-01E-07P-13

Valoren · output · 2026❋

Document V

Composed · ready

Solicitor / IFA / Accountant briefing pack

Profession-specific. The relevant subset of records, prepared once, walks into the first meeting fully briefed.

Composed from

P-02P-07R-01R-03

Valoren · output · 2026❋

Document VI

Composed · ready

Annual Governance Letter

Ready yearly, to print and file. Renewal reconciliation, life-event log, the system showing its receipts. Maintenance, not membership.

Composed from

R-02R-01

Valoren · output · 2026❋

Plus Form Help — plain-English walkthroughs of IHT400, PA1P, BSP1, and the other forms most families face. Free, no card required.

Six scenarios

What happens — with and without.

Scenario I

You die unexpectedly

Without a system

Months pass before every pension provider is identified, every reference number recovered, every policy traced. Some lapse unclaimed because nobody knew they existed. Probate is reconstructed from statements and post.

With Valoren

If something happens to you, your Trusted Person is guided straight to the Death & Estate Activation response brief. Every account, policy, and contact is reachable from the registry you completed. The details live inside, once you're set up.

Valoren · scenario · 2026❋

Scenario II

You lose mental capacity

Without a system

No registered LPA. Hospital staff make decisions you wouldn't have wanted. Bills go unpaid. The Court of Protection process takes 4–6 months.

With Valoren

Medical Abstract at the bedside. Master Registry tells your family where the LPA is registered. Incapacity & Medical Proxy gives the exact escalation steps.

Valoren · scenario · 2026❋

Scenario III

A parent dies and you become the executor

Without a system

Reconstructing their financial life from bank statements and post. Six months of evenings before the picture is complete.

With Valoren

If they used Valoren: open the system, everything is indexed. If they didn't: Valoren's Executor's Companion gives you the structure to work through it. Free Form Help guides you through IHT400, PA1P, and BSP1.

Valoren · scenario · 2026❋

Scenario IV

You separate or divorce

Without a system

Financial disclosure becomes a forensic exercise. Solicitor fees rise as the asset picture is rebuilt across both sides.

With Valoren

Financial Accounts and Asset Inventory contain the complete asset and policy picture. Separation & Custody Documentation structures the disclosure prep — weeks become hours.

Valoren · scenario · 2026❋

Scenario V

Your phone is stolen

Without a system

MFA codes lost. Backup routes unknown. Some accounts permanently locked. Recovery takes weeks per platform.

With Valoren

Digital Access Map shows every account on every device. Recovery Routes holds the backup codes — stored separately, in Location B, never on the phone itself. Access Loss & Identity Recovery runs the recovery sequence.

Valoren · scenario · 2026❋

Scenario VI

Your home floods or burns

Without a system

Filing cabinet gone. Insurance reference numbers gone. Property deeds gone. You file claims with no evidence of what you owned.

With Valoren

Everything digital, encrypted, accessible from any device. The two-location principle means your credentials survive the disaster. Property Damage & Incident Response gives the claim sequence.

Valoren · scenario · 2026❋

The cost of reconstruction

Estimate what unprepared estate admin actually costs.

When there is no system, your executor pays a solicitor or accountant to reconstruct your financial life. Move the sliders — the figure on the right is a conservative estimate of professional fees Valoren prevents.

Inputs

Estate value · accounts

● Estate value£500,000

£100k£2m

● Accounts / policies8

330

Valoren · inputs · 2026❋

Estimate

Saving vs reconstruction

£3,965

per estate, in professional fees that don't need to happen. The Household Continuity Dossier is £195 the first year, then £99/year.

❋Valoren · estimate · 2026

Estimate based on average UK private-client solicitor rates (~£180/hour) and typical reconstruction time. Not a quote. Real costs vary by estate complexity.

Compared with the alternatives

Honest, named comparisons — including where another service is the better fit. Each one was written to be read by someone deciding between us and them.

Farewill — an honest comparison

My Estate Kit, Age UK & WillSafe UK — compared honestly

Which? Wills, reviewed fairly

Octopus Legacy — wills & records

When probate goes quiet: your options

Make a Will Online, reviewed

Bequeathed — the free will, honestly

Wills through your adviser (Kinherit & others)

Beyond has closed — is your will still valid?

From reading to ready

This guide is free, and it stays free. The Household Continuity Dossier renders your household's own version — your people, your accounts, your wishes — into a maintained record your executor or trusted person will actually reach for, kept current every year.

See The Household Continuity Dossier

● Where do you stand?

Find out in two minutes.

The Estate Quiz scores your current preparedness against the same 33 records Valoren provides. No card. No email. No obligation.

Take the Estate Quiz →

● 32 questions● 2 minutes● Anonymous · on your device● No email gate

Most people have a will.
Almost nobody has a system.

Where you are now. Where Valoren takes you.

Nothing

Will only

Will + LPA

Valoren system

Doing nothing is not free. The bill falls due later — on the people left behind.

What a will does. What it doesn't.

What a will does.

What a will doesn't.

The records are inputs. These are the outputs.

The 48-Hour Letter

Emergency Medical Card

Executor's Pack

Bereavement Response Kit

Solicitor / IFA / Accountant briefing pack

Annual Governance Letter

What happens — with and without.

You die unexpectedly

You lose mental capacity

A parent dies and you become the executor

You separate or divorce

Your phone is stolen

Your home floods or burns

Estimate what unprepared estate admin actually costs.

Compared with the alternatives

Find out in two minutes.

If this was useful, you might also need —

Estate Readiness Quiz

Supporting a parent

Tiers & pricing

How it works

Most people have a will.Almost nobody has a system.

Where you are now. Where Valoren takes you.

Nothing

Will only

Will + LPA

Valoren system

Doing nothing is not free. The bill falls due later — on the people left behind.

What a will does. What it doesn't.

What a will does.

What a will doesn't.

The records are inputs. These are the outputs.

The 48-Hour Letter

Emergency Medical Card

Executor's Pack

Bereavement Response Kit

Solicitor / IFA / Accountant briefing pack

Annual Governance Letter

What happens — with and without.

You die unexpectedly

You lose mental capacity

A parent dies and you become the executor

You separate or divorce

Your phone is stolen

Your home floods or burns

Estimate what unprepared estate admin actually costs.

Compared with the alternatives

Find out in two minutes.

If this was useful, you might also need —

Estate Readiness Quiz

Supporting a parent

Tiers & pricing

How it works

Most people have a will.
Almost nobody has a system.