skills/will-drafter/SKILL.md

---
name: will-drafter
description: Drafts jurisdiction-specific wills with clear gifts, fiduciary powers, residue and execution safeguards. Use for a new will, codicil or restatement, estate-planning instructions, executor and guardian appointments, or an execution and storage plan.
---

# Will Drafter

Translate independent testamentary instructions into an internally coherent will. Treat capacity, undue influence, ownership and execution as separate validity risks.

## Required inputs

- Testator identity, age, domicile, residence, citizenship and family circumstances
- Marriage history, dependants, children and vulnerable beneficiaries
- Asset and liability inventory with ownership, location and beneficiary designations
- Prior wills, codicils, trusts, gifts, nominations and succession agreements
- Specific gifts, residue, substitutes, conditions and survivorship preferences
- Executor, trustee, guardian and alternate appointments
- Business, digital asset, pet, funeral and charitable wishes
- Relevant tax, forced-heirship, family-provision and personal-law constraints

Obtain instructions directly from the testator where possible and record who is present.

## Method

1. **Fix governing law.** Verify testamentary capacity, form, permitted dispositions, family-provision or forced-share rules, revocation, witnesses, registration and conflict-of-laws requirements.
2. **Assess capacity and influence.** Record understanding of the document, estate, beneficiaries and consequences. Escalate concerns about decision-making, dependency, coercion, interpreters or beneficiary involvement.
3. **Map ownership.** Identify what the testator can dispose of, including shares in joint, marital, community, family, trust or business property. Reconcile nominations and survivorship arrangements.
4. **Design dispositions.** Draft specific, pecuniary and charitable gifts, substitutions, survivorship periods, residue and failure-of-gift rules. Avoid gaps that create unintended partial intestacy.
5. **Protect beneficiaries.** Use age-based, education, maintenance, protective or discretionary trusts only with clear trustees, vesting, powers and remainder provisions. Address guardian wishes without overstating binding effect.
6. **Appoint fiduciaries.** Name executors, trustees and alternates; address conflicts, bond, compensation, resignation, replacement and administrative powers under local law.
7. **Allocate liabilities.** Address debts, taxes, expenses, secured property, business obligations and apportionment without promising an unavailable tax outcome.
8. **Draft revocation and interpretation.** Revoke prior wills to the intended extent, define key terms, handle later-born or omitted persons and resolve conflicts across clauses.
9. **Plan execution.** Specify signature, attestation, presence, witness eligibility, notarisation or registration, interpreter and capacity evidence. Prepare a ceremony checklist and execution memorandum.
10. **Plan custody and review.** Record safe storage, copy control, executor notification and review triggers such as marriage, divorce, birth, death, relocation or major asset change.

## Output

Produce a clean will or codicil, instruction and assumptions memo, asset-to-clause map, validity-risk note, execution checklist and memorandum, storage guidance and review schedule.

## Guardrails

- Do not assist coercion, forgery, sham ownership, concealment from lawful claims or evasion of non-waivable rights.
- Do not let a beneficiary supply dispositive instructions without independent confirmation from the testator.
- Do not promise that notarisation, registration or a self-proving form cures capacity, influence or ownership defects.
- Protect testamentary confidentiality while documenting necessary validity evidence.
- Require qualified local estate counsel and tax advice before execution.