You have done the paperwork. This is the other half.
Writing a will is an afternoon of deciding who gets the house and which of your children can be trusted with the admin. It is useful, nobody enjoys it, and when it is done you file it and feel briefly responsible.
What it does not do is leave anybody anything to visit. A will distributes possessions. It has nothing to say about the part people actually want afterwards, which is somewhere to stand and think about you.
Three reasons it belongs with the paperwork.
It fits in the same afternoon
You are already in the frame of mind, with the documents open and the difficult conversations half-had. Ordering a tree takes ten minutes and gives that afternoon something in it you will still be glad about in August.
It puts your wishes somewhere findable
The tree record holds notes on where the tree is, what you would like to happen to it, and who you have told. It carries no legal force. It is in one place, rather than in the heads of three people who each remember it differently.
It is the part that starts now
Everything else you arranged that day only happens after you die. This is the one item on the list that begins the week you order it.
What to write down while the file is open
- Where the tree is, precisely enough that somebody who has never been in the garden could walk out and find it.
- What you would like to happen to it, and who you would rather decided if that turns out to be impossible.
- Who you have told. A record nobody knows exists does the same job as no record at all.
- Keep the two things straight in your own head: the will binds people, the tree record does not.
English Oak
If the rest of the afternoon was about the long term, the oak matches it. It also needs the most thought about where it finally goes, which is a decision worth making while you are already making decisions.
From £149.
A starting point, nothing more — all four are here with their mature sizes side by side, and what a legacy tree is and is not covers the ground this page assumes.
The will is the part that matters legally. This is the part you get to watch. Doing both in one afternoon is efficient rather than morbid.
