A will answers one question

It answers: who gets what?

That is genuinely important. Without a will, the rules of intestacy decide who inherits your estate — and they may not reflect your wishes at all. Unmarried partners, for example, have no automatic inheritance rights under UK law, regardless of how long you've been together.

So yes — write a will. Use a solicitor. Keep it updated when your circumstances change.

But here is what a will does not do, and what most families don't realise until they are sitting in a kitchen, grief-stricken and searching.

What a will doesn't tell anyone

A will doesn't tell your family:

  • Which bank accounts you have — or where to find statements for them
  • Where your mortgage documents are — or who the lender is
  • What your phone passcode is — which means your photos, messages, and two-factor authentication codes may be locked away permanently
  • What subscriptions to cancel — direct debits will keep leaving the account until someone finds them
  • Who your life insurance is with — and whether there are any exclusions your beneficiaries need to know about
  • Where you want to be buried — or whether you'd prefer cremation
  • What to do with your social media accounts
  • The name of your accountant, your solicitor, your IFA

These are the things families spend weeks, sometimes months, trying to piece together. In some cases they never fully do.

The document that fills the gap

What your family actually needs — alongside your will — is something closer to an operational guide. Not a legal document, but a practical one. Where things are. Who to call. What you want. What to cancel. What exists.

This is what Sudden is designed to help you build. Not in a single overwhelming afternoon, but module by module, at your own pace. Nine areas of your life, structured as simple questions, stored in an encrypted vault that only you — and whoever you choose — can access.

Your will tells them who gets the house. Sudden tells them where the mortgage documents are, who the lender is, and what the account number is.

Both matter. Most people only have one of them.

A note on timing

The most common thing people say after losing someone is: "I wish I'd known where things were." Not: "I wish there had been a will."

That's not because wills don't matter — they absolutely do. It's because the will handles the legal transfer of assets. What it can't do is tell a grieving family what they need to know in the first seventy-two hours.

The phone passcode. The email password. The name of the GP. The funeral wishes. The list of direct debits. The emergency contacts.

That information doesn't belong in a will. It belongs somewhere your family can actually find it.