Aaron J. Flack
Who I am
If we ever sit down together, I'm going to want to know about you — your family, your circumstances, the people who matter most to you and why. That's not a formality; it's the only way I can genuinely help. So it seems only fair that you get to know a little about me first.
Before anything else, I'm a husband and a father of two. That isn't just something I say — it shapes how I approach this. When I sit down with someone to talk about their Will, their LPA, or what happens to their home when they're gone, I think about it the way I think about my own family. These aren't abstract legal exercises. They're real decisions with real consequences for real people.
I've been in this industry since 2011, when I started in an office learning the foundations — Wills, LPAs, the documents that make up the backbone of estate planning. Since then I've attended a great many seminars and continued learning across a wide range of subjects: trusts, law, financial planning, and much else besides. I don't think learning ever stops, and I'm not sure I'd want it to.
Away from estate planning, you'll most likely find me with my children in nature or on a football pitch. We homeschool our children — a decision rooted in the same belief that drives everything here: that the best education is one you're genuinely engaged with, not one that's handed to you by default. I'm a firm believer in the benefits of sauna and cold therapy for both body and mind. We travel with our family as often as we can; there are places and people in this world that can teach us far more than any classroom.
Why this matters to me
There's a gap in the world that I find genuinely troubling: most people leave education without the first idea of how to manage their own affairs. Not because they aren't capable — but because they were never given the tools. Tax, law, property, financial planning, estate administration — these aren't niche subjects for specialists. They affect every single person, and yet almost none of us are taught them.
That's the gap Redwood exists to help fill. Not by doing everything for people — though we can — but by making sure that anyone who wants to understand their position, actually can. There's something genuinely empowering about knowing how things work. About being informed enough to make decisions rather than having them made for you by default.
"Having your affairs in order is one aspect of navigating life well. It helps to think of it like a game — once you understand the rules, you can play it far better."
A broader curiosity
My interest in law goes beyond estate planning. I find the whole structure of it fascinating — the hierarchy from natural law and common law principles through to constitutional and statutory law, and the way those layers interact. Legal maxims that have stood for centuries. Rights that exist whether people are aware of them or not. The relationship between what is written and what is just.
I'm not suggesting estate planning conversations need to go that deep — they usually don't, and I read the room. But I think the breadth of that interest makes me a better practitioner, because it means I understand the context in which these documents exist, not just the documents themselves. Law isn't a dry technical exercise — it's a framework for how society organises itself, and the more of it you understand, the more clearly you can see your own position within it.
What I Value
Honesty
I'd rather tell someone something they don't want to hear than tell them what to do. Plain speaking, no smoke, no mirrors.
Discernment
Not every conversation needs to go the same way. I listen, I read the room, and I try to meet people where they actually are — not where a script says they should be.
Education first
Information belongs to the people it affects. If someone wants to understand something properly, I want to help them do that — not keep it unnecessarily complex.
Learning
I attend seminars, read widely, and stay curious. The law changes, families change, the world changes — staying still isn't an option.
““Always a student, sometimes a teacher, rarely an expert.””
Family
Everything I do professionally is shaped by what I believe matters most personally. Family is the reason most people come to us, and I never lose sight of that.
Integrity
I only do what I believe is genuinely right for the people I help. That sometimes means saying no — to a piece of work, to a relationship, to an instruction that doesn't sit right.
Experience & credentials
Over the course of my career I have been a member of both the Institute of Professional Willwriters (IPW) and the Society of Will Writers (SOWW). I remain an affiliate member of STEP — the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners — which represents some of the leading professionals in trust and estate planning globally. I hold both professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance, in place to cover the full scope of the planning we carry out.
Will writing and estate planning are self-regulated activities — there is no legal requirement to belong to a professional body, and membership of one carries no additional weight when it comes to the insurance that actually protects our members. I've been a member of the main bodies in this profession, and I have respect for the role they play — particularly for those who are new to the industry. But after more than a decade of practice, I think the most meaningful credentials are a track record, a reputation, and the judgement that comes from years of experience sitting with real families and helping them navigate real decisions. I continue to learn — attending seminars, reading widely, and following developments across law, trust planning, and related fields — independently, and not because any overseeing body requires me to.
On mistakes — and how they're handled
No practitioner — in any field — is infallible, and I think it's worth being honest about that. The good news is that estate planning documents, including Wills, are more correctable than most people assume. If a mistake is made, it can almost always be put right. And importantly, errors don't have to be corrected during someone's lifetime to be fixed.
A deed of variation allows beneficiaries to alter the terms of a Will within two years of the testator's death — whether to correct an error, update something that's become outdated, or restructure how assets are distributed in a way that's more tax efficient given the rules at the time. This is a genuinely useful tool that's underused, and it means that even a Will that was perfectly drafted at the time can be adjusted by the people it affects, if circumstances or legislation have moved on.
Wills are also frequently outdated simply because the law changes and the testator doesn't revisit theirs — which is entirely normal. What mattered in 2015 may look different in 2025. The option to use a deed of variation means a loved one's estate can still be handled sensibly, even if the Will itself wasn't updated to reflect the latest rules. It's one of the quieter but more powerful tools available to families dealing with an estate — and one worth knowing about.
"The insurance is there. The experience is there. And if something ever needs correcting — in most cases, it can be. That's a more honest position than pretending mistakes don't happen, and a more useful one than pretending they can't be fixed."