Founder of ClearLegacy and lead editorial reviewer of every guide, calculator and policy page on the site. SL has 12+ years of experience in UK estate planning, online product and editorial review. Every page is reviewed against current UK statute and HMRC guidance, and is dated on every page.
Professional credentials
Areas of specialisation
- UK estate planning — wills, intestacy, Inheritance Tax structuring
- Lasting Power of Attorney (property & financial affairs; health & welfare)
- Probate administration and executor duties under HMCTS process
- Online legal product design for the Wills Act 1837 framework
- Cohabiting-partner estate planning under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
Experience
- 12+ years in UK estate planning, online product and editorial review
- Founder of ClearLegacy — designed and built the end-to-end online will service from questionnaire to legally-valid PDF
- Lead Editorial Reviewer of 135+ pages on this site (guides, calculators, comparisons, policy pages)
- Authoring and reviewing against the Wills Act 1837, Administration of Estates Act 1925, Inheritance Tax Act 1984 and Mental Capacity Act 2005
Primary sources used
- GOV.UK · HMRC · HMCTS · legislation.gov.uk
- Office of the Public Guardian (LPA registration)
- Citizens Advice (consumer-facing guidance)
Independence
- No commercial relationship with any solicitor firm, will-writing competitor or financial-services provider whose content is cited.
- ClearLegacy does not pay for, accept, or display third-party reviews on editorial pages.
Professional profile
- LinkedIn: profile coming soon
- Author profile: authors/sl
- Editorial policy: editorial-policy
SL founded ClearLegacy to make legally valid UK wills affordable and accessible online. SL reviews every page against the Wills Act 1837, Administration of Estates Act 1925, Inheritance Tax Act 1984 and Mental Capacity Act 2005, plus current HMRC and GOV.UK guidance. ClearLegacy is fully automated — SL is the editorial reviewer, not a customer-facing legal advisor.
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Background
SL is the founder of ClearLegacy. SL designed and built the fully automated online will-writing service from the ground up — including the guided questionnaire, the legally-compliant document generation, and the editorial content library that supports it.
SL's background spans digital product, estate-planning research and the operational design of a zero-human-input UK will-writing service. SL is the lead editorial reviewer for every published guide on ClearLegacy.
Areas of review
- UK wills and the Wills Act 1837 — validity, signing, witnessing, capacity, revocation
- Intestacy rules — the statutory order under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (as amended)
- Inheritance tax — nil-rate band, residence nil-rate band, transferable allowances, 7-year gift rule, charity reduced rate, Business and Agricultural Property Relief
- Probate — HMCTS process, IHT400, letters of administration, executor duties
- Lasting Power of Attorney — property & financial affairs, health & welfare, registration with the OPG
- Cohabiting and unmarried partners — gaps in intestacy and the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
Editorial standards
Sourcing
- Every threshold, rate and statutory rule is cited to a primary source — GOV.UK, HMRC, legislation.gov.uk, Citizens Advice, or the Office of the Public Guardian.
- Secondary sources are used only where primary sources are silent (typically operational HMCTS data).
- No reliance on training-data recall — every numeric figure is verified against the live primary source at review time.
Accuracy and corrections
- Pages are dated with the most recent reviewer name and date.
- Corrections are published openly — substantive corrections include a "Last corrected" note.
- Readers can flag errors via contact; we aim to verify and correct within 5 working days.
Independence
- SL has no commercial relationship with any solicitor firm, will-writing competitor or financial-services provider whose content is cited.
- Pages do not promote ClearLegacy's commercial service inside the educational body — CTAs sit in clearly marked CTA blocks at the end of relevant articles.
- ClearLegacy does not pay for, accept, or display third-party reviews on editorial pages.
What SL does not do
- SL does not provide individual legal advice on the will-writing journey. ClearLegacy is fully automated.
- Reviews cover educational content only; for complex estates with trusts, business succession or significant overseas assets, readers are referred to a qualified solicitor.
Pages reviewed by SL
This list is maintained as part of the editorial process. Every page below carries an "SL" byline and "Last updated" date.
Tools and calculators
- UK Inheritance Tax Calculator
- Do I Need a Will? Quiz
- Probate Timeline Estimator
- UK IHT Calculator (2026 thresholds)
Wills — foundations
- Can I Make a Will Online in the UK?
- What Makes a Will Legally Valid in the UK
- How to Write a Will in the UK
- Cost of Making a Will in the UK
- Online Will UK
- Best Online Will Service UK
Intestacy and unmarried couples
- What Happens if You Die Without a Will in the UK
- What is Intestacy
- Unmarried Partner Inheritance Rights UK
- Cohabiting Partner Inheritance UK
- The Common Law Marriage Myth
- Wills for Unmarried Couples UK
- Can My Partner Inherit Without a Will?
- What Happens if My Partner Dies Without a Will
Inheritance tax and probate
- What is Inheritance Tax
- What is Probate
- What is an Executor
- What is a Beneficiary
- What is a Residuary Estate
- What is a Mirror Will
- What is the Wills Act 1837
Comparisons
- Online Will vs Solicitor
- Cheap vs Solicitor Wills
- Farewill vs ClearLegacy
- Co-op Wills vs Online Wills
- LegalZoom UK Will Alternative
About and editorial
Editorial integrity, then a will in 20 minutes.
ClearLegacy is a fully automated online will-writing service. Reviewed content. Reviewed wills. No solicitor visits.
Start your willEditorial policy · Review process · Author profile (SL) · Reviewers hub
Profile last reviewed: 31 May 2026 by SL.