Wills

I have a will, and so does Mrs.w.

worth seeing the solicitor even for a simple will as they can clear up assumptions. I had made a bad assumption around current wife/son from previous marriage and without a will my millions would have not been distributed correctly.

I have very little will.

I have a very little will.

Restraint, too easy Tommy.

I have grown as a person.

There used to be a scheme, run by the Law Society, called "Make a Will Week" or something similar which entailed certain High Street firms offering Wills at a really cut price figure. Not sure if this still runs.

Wills that cover more than one jurisdiction have complications and advice should be sought.

Living Wills may or may not be binding. They dictate what happens to you. Actual Wills dictate how must additional and unnecessary stress your loved ones will be put to if you die without making one.

To underline Clive's point, it's not just the money you need to worry about. If you have children they can end up in state care unless you've explicitly pointed at the people who will care for them if you and their other parent die. Not sure how aggressive the state would be in forcing this if a willing grandparent (or similar) came forward, but I guess there'd need to be an adoption procedure, which would apply the same tests as if the adoptor had no connection with the adoptee(s), i.e. no smoking, no fat tummies, no shared bedrooms, etc.

Regarding challenging a will, I understand from a colleague who took a few steps towards this that the case has to be heard in the High Court, which means you need a reserve of about £100K to prepare the case and have it heard. If this is wholly true, the risk of an off-the-shelf will being challenged is mitigated, unless of course, you're a squillionaire.

Will Aid - www.willaid.org.uk

Get a solicitor to draft it for you and the fee goes to charity. My wife and I, ahem, did this a few years ago - a year or so after we got married. We had it writted sufficiently flexible so that it didn't need updating when we had kids (or, "issue" as I think they are known by lawyers).

I had a WH Smith DIY one when I was single - "All to Mum" or something like that. Once you've got more complicated financial affairs, it's worth making sure it's watertight. What happens if I die? What happens if my wife and I both die at the same time, say as a result of an accident? And so on.

My brother-in-law comes from a somewhat chaotic family. His father died a few years ago. He (brother in law's father) had separated from his wife about 6 months before his death and shacked up with what I believe my mother would call a floozy. He'd also decided to amend his will himself to share out everything he owned 6 ways - i.e. 5 kids and 1 floozy. This included the family house which he owned as"tenants in common" with his wife rather than as "joint tenants" which meant that floozy now owned 1/12th of the house and immediately started pushing for it to be sold so that she could get her hands on the cash. And my brother-in-law's youngest sisters were under 16 and still living at home.

My brother-in-law was listed as executor. In the end he gave up and refused to do any more as it was such a nightmare. Last I heard it was still being argued about.

nope the packs at WHSmith are a cosher boni fido will legally valid and supported by The Law Association / Society ( I reserve my judgement on the validity of this organisation ) Clive might be better placed to say if they are a decent organisation

@ spybot you are on this forum therefore i presume you ride a bike
who's gonna get your bike when you're gone
maybe you could state in this thread that you will happily hand over your bike to me in case of any sudden termination of life that would be good enough for me but i'm sure there is someone you love more than me who deserves your bike / underpants / skinny jeans etc...

yeah I have a bike - an OTP which is nothin special...and just you try fitting into my skinny jeans....I'm like a rake! On a serious note though, you are right, I should do it anyway.

yeah just make sure you spell my name right
i'm a waif too !

Clive, due to a recent change of circumstances, I need to look at a will.

My solicitors, who I am very happy with, have quoted me £400 for the will, which includes executing the will for nothing, when the time comes.

Of course whether they will still be around when I die is another matter, but does that sound like a reasonable price?

What is your opinion on DIY wills?

Homemade wills are a terrible idea. If you make a mistake, or the circumstances that are in it are wrong, they can be worse than nothing. Read the disclaimer in the instructions, then tell me how confident the manufacturers are. To contrast, if an IPW member writes your will you know it will work, and if something goes wrong, they are insured.

People in the legal trade love people that do wills for themselves. When it goes wrong, they make a lot of money from their families.

While I'm on about it, there is no such thing as a free will; if it is being offered for free (or too cheap), the organisation involved will try to sell you something else either then or in the future, or may not give you enough advice. About £100 is the least a single person should expect to pay for a will, or £150 for a couple. What's that as the proportion of the value of a house?

Clive, due to a recent change of circumstances, I need to look at a will.

My solicitors, who I am very happy with, have quoted me £400 for the will, which includes executing the will for nothing, when the time comes.

Of course whether they will still be around when I die is another matter, but does that sound like a reasonable price?

I hope you don't mind my interjecting here, but that sounds wrong.

£400 is a reasonable price (well, actually, a bit on the steep side for most). But storing the will for the rest of your life, then acting as the executor for free? Give over. Either it's a lie and you need to spend on something else, or it is bad business and they won't be there.

I hope you don't mind my interjecting here, but that sounds wrong.

£400 is a reasonable price (well, actually, a bit on the steep side for most). But storing the will for the rest of your life, then acting as the executor for free? Give over. Either it's a lie and you need to spend on something else, or it is bad business and they won't be there.

Oh, I agree, and I'm ignoring that bit, as I don't really care about that, but yes they claim they will keep in in their safe and act as the executor if I want. I only really care if £400 is reasonable for a will from a solicitor.

Hourly rates of solicitors vary. High street ones run at lower overheads than City ones. £400 will not buy you an hour of a corporate law partner in a major firm but could buy four or five hours of a probate lawyer in a High Street firm, which is probably what it would take to do you will. They will then store it for you and act as executor. They will probably charge the estate for the executor thing but charge nothing for storage. Solicitors are cheaper than banks for simple executor roles. Banks charge a percentage which for a simple estate but valuable can be very high. Solicitors generally by the hour. Call around and ask for quotes or do the Willaid thing mentioned above.

I have a will.
organised or what?
I'm 23. (tomorrow)

Hourly rates of solicitors vary. High street ones run at lower overheads than City ones. £400 will not buy you an hour of a corporate law partner in a major firm but could buy four or five hours of a probate lawyer in a High Street firm, which is probably what it would take to do you will. They will then store it for you and act as executor. They will probably charge the estate for the executor thing but charge nothing for storage. Solicitors are cheaper than banks for simple executor roles. Banks charge a percentage which for a simple estate but valuable can be very high. Solicitors generally by the hour. Call around and ask for quotes or do the Willaid thing mentioned above.

Cheers. I've had various dealings with them in the past, and always been very happy with them, so as that's a reasonable rate, I'll go with them.

Oh, I agree, and I'm ignoring that bit, as I don't really care about that, but yes they claim they will keep in in their safe and act as the executor if I want. I only really care if £400 is reasonable for a will from a solicitor.

If you have a partner, a basic will for both of you is £145 from us, which is what about 80% of our business is. Most IPW members will charge about that.

Good you reminded me that, Cliveo.
I had some kinda DIY will before, but I'm not sure what happened to it.
Now I'm married, we've got a little daughter, my wife's two teenagers. I've got property abroad which I own 50/50 with my ex (yes!), but my parents paid most of the mortgage (deeds are for me and my ex, mortgage for my both parents, me and an ex). Real mess...

I would suggest:

simple will - go to an IPW
Slightly more complex will (kids, divorce, international issues, tax issues, potential estate - including life insurance and house proceeds - worth over £500,000) - go to a solicitor

Avoid diy wills unless you simply cannot afford anything else, in which case, provided you follow the instructions carefully and keep things simple (all to mum and not lots of individual bequests and you don't have children) they are better than nothing.

If you buy a house do a will and use the solicitors doing the conveyancing (?).

If you get married do a new will - your old one will be invalidated by your marriage unless made and expressed to be made in contemplation of marriage.

If you get divorced do a new will. Again, use the solicitors doing the divorce.

and keep your will up to date (said he reminding himself that he and MrsO need new wills as kids now both over 18 and new executors needed anyway)

Clive, with the greatest respect to solicitors, there is nothing they can do in a will that an IPW member can't. Of course they do more complicated wills than the basic ones, with prices to match. But better than that, they don't do anything that isn't a will, hence there is nothing else they will try and sell you.

Someone who wants to become an IPW member has to sit a lot of exams in order to make sure their advice is sound, then do CPD to keep heir knowledge up to date. Some solicitors are very knowledgeable about wills, but it's possible for a solicitor to be fully qualified without ever having any training at all about wills and probate, as it's an optional module in a law degree.

Honestly. Willwriters can't do wills for people with an estate under £500,000? If that was true, there wouldn't be any in London.

I'm 23. (tomorrow)

Well Happy Birthday then. (today)

Well Happy Birthday then. (today)

thanks!
its a bit of a downer so far, but who knows, maybe I'll get a present later.

Some free wills, and other useful info

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-cheap-wills#ipw

I suppose I should get this done really. I'm in the very lucky position of genuinely not forseeing any disputes over my rather meagre assets. Even to be on the safe side, I've rather carefully kept out of any sense of participation of ownership of our house to make sure that there is no claim from my family on it. Still, it would be nice to bequest something to some good causes just in case I inadvertently get rich quick and then die.

What you talkin' about? Wills?

(Too soon?)