Malcolm Finney gives an overview of providing for children on death.
‘Mutual wills’ are often perceived ideal by many married couples with children. Mutual wills are wills where the two spouses agree the respective content of each will but more importantly agree that after the first death the surviving spouse is bound by their agreement and is thus not permitted to change their will (thus offering some security to the first spouse to die as to what will happen to their joint estates).
In short, it is preferable to avoid mutual wills due to the uncertainty and ambiguity of interpretation of the concept.
Direct gifts and IPDIs
In a typical family scenario one option is for either or both spouses to simply leave gifts directly to the children (the balance of the estate being left to the surviving spouse). This results in no 
