Friendly, fixed-fee will writing, lasting powers of attorney and estate planning across Durham and the wider County Durham area. Home visits at no extra cost.
Will Guard's Durham consultants visit homes across the entire DH1 to DH9 postcode area, covering every neighbourhood in the city and the surrounding County Durham towns and villages. We sit with you at your kitchen table, work to a fixed fee agreed in writing, and never charge for the first consultation. Home visits are available Monday to Friday up to 7pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm at no extra cost.
We are members of the Society of Will Writers and carry full professional indemnity insurance. Every will we draft is plain-English, properly signed and witnessed under section 9 of the Wills Act 1837, and (if you wish) registered with the National Will Register and stored in our bonded fireproof storage. Our fixed-fee service starts at £95 for a single will and £165 for mirror wills for a couple — with no hourly rates, no surprise bills and no pressure to add services you do not need.
Durham is one of those English cities where the geography really did make the history. The River Wear loops back on itself in a near-perfect horseshoe, and on the high peninsula at its heart — defendable on three sides by water — the Saxon monks of Lindisfarne built a small wooden church in 995 to house the relics of St Cuthbert. By 1093 work had begun on the great Romanesque cathedral that still dominates the skyline, and within a generation Durham had become the seat of the Prince Bishops, an extraordinary palatinate jurisdiction that gave its bishop powers over the North that were second only to the king himself. UNESCO recognised the cathedral and adjoining castle as a World Heritage Site in 1986.
Below the historic core, Durham grew slowly outward through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — first as a market town, then as the administrative heart of the County Durham coalfield, which by 1900 was producing some forty million tonnes of coal a year from the pits ringing the city. The Miners' Gala, held every July on the Racecourse just north of the city centre, remains one of the great surviving celebrations of British industrial culture. Today the pits are gone, but the city itself has become a centre of education and government, with Durham University consistently ranking in the top ten in the country.
Around 50,000 people live in the city itself, with another quarter of a million in the surrounding district — communities like Chester-le-Street, Newton Hall, Brandon, Ushaw Moor, Bowburn, Coxhoe and Sherburn that we visit regularly. The DH postcode area covers a huge mix of property: stone-built city centre flats, Edwardian and 1930s suburbs around Newton Hall and Crossgate Moor, ex-pit-village terraces, and modern executive estates on the city fringes. Each brings its own kind of estate to plan for.
From £95. A simple, plain-English will for one person, drafted at your home in Durham.
From £165. Matching wills for couples — efficient and cost-effective for partners with shared wishes.
From £165. Allows a trusted person to manage your finances if you ever lose capacity.
From £165. Lets a chosen person make medical and care decisions on your behalf.
Ringfence your share of the family home from care fees and remarriage. Suitable for many Durham couples.
Fixed-fee probate handling for Durham estates. Newcastle District Probate Registry, accessed through the centralised Probate Service.
Durham sees an unusually high number of academics and university families — many with international elements to their estates, holiday property abroad, or pensions in multiple jurisdictions. We are comfortable with all of these and will explain clearly when something is genuinely outside the scope of a UK will writer (cross-border probate of foreign assets, for example) and refer you to a specialist if needed.
We also see a steady flow of clients from the former pit villages around Durham — Easington Lane, Wheatley Hill, Trimdon — where modest estates can carry surprising sentimental complexity. A two-up two-down terrace passed down two generations is rarely just a house. Our consultants take the time to listen.
Will Guard does not operate a high-street office — we come to you. The map above shows central Durham; we cover the whole of County Durham and travel is included in every fixed fee.
Probate for Durham residents is now processed centrally by HMCTS via the online Probate Service. The Newcastle District Probate Registry handles any in-person interview requirements for the wider region. Most Durham estates are grant-only and processed within eight to sixteen weeks. We can manage the entire probate process for a fixed fee if you would prefer not to handle it yourself.
Yes. Our Durham consultant covers every DH postcode and regularly visits Chester-le-Street, Sacriston, Bowburn, Coxhoe, Brandon, Pity Me, Framwellgate Moor, Ushaw Moor, Sherburn, Spennymoor and the surrounding villages. Travel is included in our fixed fees, even to the more rural addresses.
Yes. Agricultural property has its own inheritance tax reliefs (Agricultural Property Relief and, for some land, Business Property Relief) and we are experienced in drafting wills that make full use of them. We will also coordinate with your accountant or land agent where helpful, and will be honest if your situation is complex enough to need a specialist tax adviser alongside us.
Yes, but with care. We can draft a UK will covering your UK assets and will explain clearly whether you also need a separate will dealing with foreign property — often the better approach where, for example, you own a flat in another country. We will refer you to a trusted specialist for the foreign element rather than attempting to cover something we are not qualified to handle.
Yes. We run home visits across the Durham area on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm at no extra charge. Evening visits Monday to Friday up to 7pm are also available. Most clients prefer either a Saturday morning or a weekday early evening once the day has settled down.
A selection of recent reviews from clients across the Durham area. All reviews are from real, verified clients and are reproduced with their permission.
"We met our consultant at home on a wet October evening and she made the whole thing remarkably easy. Mirror wills, lasting powers of attorney for both of us, and clear advice on which assets needed to sit outside the will. Excellent value compared to the local solicitor's quote."
"I've farmed the same fields outside Durham all my working life and was worried about how to leave things fairly between three children only one of whom wants to take on the land. Will Guard sat with me for two hours and came up with a plan that works. Honest, plain-spoken folk."
"Professional, thorough, and not patronising — exactly what I was looking for. They were realistic about the limits of a UK will for my international assets and pointed me to a tax adviser for that side, then handled the UK will and LPAs efficiently for a fixed fee."
"Came to my bungalow on a Saturday morning, made me feel completely at ease, and explained the property protection trust option clearly without any pressure to take it up. In the end I did, and I sleep better at night for it. Genuine and caring service."
The first conversation is always free, in your home, and entirely without obligation. Call 0330 223 7844, email info@willguard.co.uk, or use our contact form and a Durham consultant will be in touch within one working day to arrange a visit at a time that suits you.
