Making a will..?

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stevewestern

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What experience do you have of making a will?
Wife and I think we should have one, it's going to be very simple (one house, no money..) and a local company want around £350.
Is it worth doing a DIY will, is £350 a lot or a good price - what can you tell me (please!)
 
We wrote our wills according to the published advice, leaving everything to each other, then if we are dead, the kids, then the grandkids.

It all depends how complicated your wishes are. My wife did several years as a legal secretary and typed up many hundreds of the things. Her boss said that if you keep it simple, giving everything to one person or equally to several people, there's little to go wrong. The problems start when you make it complicated by mentioning specific items going to specific people.

The key thing is to have your signature witnessed by two people, who know you and don't receive anything when you die. You and the witnesses must all be in the same room together, during the signing and the witnesses' full names and addresses must be clearly stated on the same sheet of paper as the will and your signature.
 
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I had one done by a solicitor last November, simple one paid £100 that was then paid to a charity in full. This was to update one made in 1980's, ( £25 each then).

Trevor
 
We have a similar will leaving stuff to kids, my union offered free will writing service and it was pretty simple. Lots of charities offer free wills - in the hope you leave them something.
 
Wills can contain many variables, and the more complicated they become, the better it is to get it done properly.

What do you want to happen if you both went at the same time? or within 14 days of each other?

How do you propose to distribute the estate? By £ value? By percentage? Or all to one person?

What happens if one of the (or the only) person(s) pre-deceases you? What if they all pre-decease you?

Are you going to be leaving anyone out that might feel they are justified to receive some inheritence?

Who do you want to be executor?

It's very easy to get an online will for next to nothing - but a mistake covering a variable you hadn't considered could be costly for those inheriting.
 
And for viewers in Scotland, we have our own legal jurisdiction and there are a few differences compared to England & Wales. Most of the "UK" online advice doesn't take this into account and you could be left without a valid will.
 
Thanks for the replies.
Our will will be very simple - all will go to the remaining one, or if we both go together then split equally between the two girls. That's it.
A charity (cancer research on our case) might be worth looking into if they offer the service and we'd be happy to give them a cut of the very little as I'd rather donate to them then pay a company all being equal.
 
We did ours through Which. You answer lots of questions online and they they turn it into a will with all the legalese, it is then checked by solicitors and is available as a download for you to print and sign and witness. Our were simple mirror wills with our son as "backup"
No idea what they charge now but it was good value when we had them done.
 
stevewestern said:
Thanks for the replies.
Our will will be very simple - all will go to the remaining one, or if we both go together then split equally between the two girls. That's it.
A charity (cancer research on our case) might be worth looking into if they offer the service and we'd be happy to give them a cut of the very little as I'd rather donate to them then pay a company all being equal.
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I know this isn't something you want to necessarily think about - but you have to when it comes to wills - what happens if the 'two girls' went at the same time as you? Or even before you by a matter of days or hours? Or even a week after you've gone? (Yes it's incredibly, incredibly, incredibly unlikely - but you have to cover all the bases. I've seen many people saying 'our will will be very simple' - and then through things not considered causes expensive legal repercussions.)

It might be worthwhile including a clause (bearing in mind you want it all to go to 'the two girls') - that if one should pre-decease you, the entire estate passes to the surviving beneficiary, and that if both should pre-decease you (Or not survive a period of 14 days beyond your demise), then you want your estate to be distributed to A N Other charity of 123 John Street, Anytown, and should that charity not exist at the time of your passing, you authorise your executor to select a charity that has broadly similar ethics and objectives.
 
cymruchris said:
I know this isn't something you want to necessarily think about - but you have to when it comes to wills - what happens if the 'two girls' went at the same time as you? Or even before you by a matter of days or hours? Or even a week after you've gone? (Yes it's incredibly, incredibly, incredibly unlikely - but you have to cover all the bases. I've seen many people saying 'our will will be very simple' - and then through things not considered causes expensive legal repercussions.)

It might be worthwhile including a clause (bearing in mind you want it all to go to 'the two girls') - that if one should pre-decease you, the entire estate passes to the surviving beneficiary, and that if both should pre-decease you (Or not survive a period of 14 days beyond your demise), then you want your estate to be distributed to A N Other charity of 123 John Street, Anytown, and should that charity not exist at the time of your passing, you authorise your executor to select a charity that has broadly similar ethics and objectives.
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Hi Chris,

I see the "beneficiaries hierarchy / sequence" needs to be taken into account, but what is the impact of them dying a very short period of time after you? You mention hours, days or even weeks a couple of time is this thread and I'm curious... Why does it complicate things if they die soon after you?
 
Not sure but I have a feeling that over a certain age, it's sensible to have a mental capacity assessment when making a will to avoid complications should there be a falling out and a contestation of the will.
 
me and my missus need to do one, always putting it off but im coming up to having more surgery and last time they tried to operate i died for a whilst when on the operating table, plus i ride a bike so you never know whats round the next corner so to speak and ive had several near misses over the years ..ive a girl by a previous marriage that is complicating things as me and the other half are not married ( two kids) so i think we need to go down the solicitor route as i think the first one would inherit it all at the moment
 
jezgb said:
Hi Chris,

I see the "beneficiaries hierarchy / sequence" needs to be taken into account, but what is the impact of them dying a very short period of time after you? You mention hours, days or even weeks a couple of time is this thread and I'm curious... Why does it complicate things if they die soon after you?
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This is where a solicitor can give sound advice rather than google search - if the 'two girls' die just before you - their estate won't receive anything from your estate if you die very soon after, even if your will says they get everything. (Additionally, you may not have time between them dying and you dying to amend your will to leave your estate to others). So if it's not written properly - you could end up with the case that everything ends up going to the state rather than for example, a chosen charity.

Do the two girls have kids? Might they have kids? How about partners? Husbands? Wives?

If they die just after you, most wills include a survivorship clause, whereby they need to be alive a certain amount of time before your estate is classed as their estate. If they die sooner than the clause, your estate won't pass to theirs, even if you died first. So if there's no direction on where the money goes - my understanding is that it'll go to the state if there are no other living relatives. (I'm far from being a solicitor - it's just from my own research when I got my will drawn up recently - by a solicitor)

It's a bit of a minefield in some respects to ensure you have a will that reflects what you want, and also covers the 'what-if' bases.

In all likelihood, the scenarios I've mentioned have a very unlikely chance of ever happening - but if they did - a well-written will will ensure the government coffers don't get boosted by all your hard work over the years.
 
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Thanks Chris - I did not know about the potential requirement for benificiaries to be alive for a certain amount of time after you die... Can't imagine what the reason would be for that though!

As you say - better to consult someone who knows the ins and outs... Heaven forfend the scheming government get their hands on everything!! ;-)
 
If you are looking at wills I would have a look at power of attorneys as well. It just gives you peace of mind. I am not sure if I could have coped sorting out my mums finances, if we had not had a POA in place by the time her dementia really took hold.
 
We went to a local company. Our situation is relatively simple:1 son, 2 grandchildren, plus I have a brother.

However we did not want our house to have to be sold to pay for care homes etc, so we have a trust arrangement to prevent that, plus also clauses ensuring a surviving partner can continue to live in the house. If our son does first the stuff goes to grandchildren etc. There's also a house in France at the moment, though that's just stuff.

IIRC cost was around £600 but it wasn't a 'simple' will. We saw that as acceptable for the preparation it provided to cover a wide range of outcomes.
 
munch said:
If you are looking at wills I would have a look at power of attorneys as well. It just gives you peace of mind. I am not sure if I could have coped sorting out my mums finances, if we had not had a POA in place by the time her dementia really took hold.
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That's a good call - POA can be applied for online, although the application is laborious in terms of the amount of info it needs. I think it doesn't NEED a solicitor like a will does, as the steps are fairly straightforward, and there's an online guide. However if you don't have the confidence to get it done yourself, again a good solicitor can help. The official POA gov.uk website link to have a look is here:

UK Gov POA

(There are lots of 'links' that come up in google search that are 'companies' offering to do it for you for a fee)
 
The only advice I can give is to read the final will very carefully to make sure it is exactly what you want as a family member of ours had to immediately make another will to replace the first which they insist did not reflect what they said they wanted. I think there was an element of misunderstanding at beast or steering if not actual persuasion at worst when they saw the original solicitor but why I just can't know.

So be clear in what you want and make sure the final document sets out what you want.
 
cymruchris said:
That's a good call - POA can be applied for online, although the application is laborious in terms of the amount of info it needs. I think it doesn't NEED a solicitor like a will does, as the steps are fairly straightforward, and there's an online guide. However if you don't have the confidence to get it done yourself, again a good solicitor can help. The official POA gov.uk website link to have a look is here:

UK Gov POA

(There are lots of 'links' that come up in google search that are 'companies' offering to do it for you for a fee)
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POA is very simple to do yourself, I honestly didn’t find it complicated at all, you just need the right info to hand. You’ll need witnesses for all the various signatures and a friend/acquaintance of the donor needs to verify that they’re signing it willingly. I think it’s still around the £80 mark although you can get a discount if the donor is receiving Pension Credit. I helped my mum sort out hers last year and it took a very long time to come through, something like 6 months, so don’t leave it too late. It’s been a godsend for us as my mum has developed dementia and had to go into a home recently, it would’ve been a nightmare to sort out her finances without the POA.
 
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My old lawyer said never make your lawyer the executor, they will string it out and write lots of letter @ £xx a time.
Name your executor/s and make sure He/She is younger than you.
PoA as mentioned above.
Inheritance Tax allowance is £325k per person so no IT to pay if estate is less than £325k or you leave everything over £325k to your darling Hubby or Wife............also if left to some charities. The current IT rate is 40%.
 
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