WORCESTER residents can write or update their wills this month without having to pay the solicitor.

Instead, residents are being asked to donate some money to Will Aid charities, helping to transform the lives of children, elderly people and whole communities in the UK and around the world.

The suggested donation level is £65 for a single will or £95 for a pair.

But the initiative is only running this month, when more than 2,000 solicitors will give their expertise.

A Will Aid survey found 76 per cent of people under the age of 44 have no will and almost 50 per cent of people aged 45-65 have not updated theirs.

"If everyone who needed to make a will did so during November, we would make £1m for charity this year," said Will Aid founder, solicitor Graeme Pagan.

"There are still far too many people who don't realise the problems it can create if they die without a will.

"The biggest problem is that people assume their spouse will automatically receive everything. That is not necessarily the case."

Alexander & Co, of Foregate Street, Worcester, Martyn Slocombe & Co, of Avenue Road, Malvern, and Orme Dykes and Yates, of The Homend, Ledbury, are just some of the local solicitors taking part in Will Aid.

For more information, call 0870 6060 239 or log onto www.willaid.org.uk