Getting A Will

[Reck B]

Every time I go to see my accountant she asks if i have sorted out a will yet, explaining I could be hit by a bus any day. Until now all I have done is cross the road more carefully as i walk back to the office but with another little me on the way i guess i ought to get one done.

I'm going to get an appointment with the sols this week. is it straight forward as "I'll leave all my worldy belongings to the mrs (we're not married) and children?" how much is it likely to cost?

[Bossybabe]

It isn't complicated. Try this Online Will site

[Reck B]

It isn't complicated. Try this Online Will site

Thanks. Just got to the last question.

Should I choose buried or cremated?

[Guest X-QUORK]

I believe all major electrical stores stock them, but X-Box 360s are the way to go IMO.

[Jadoube]

Every time I go to see my accountant she asks if i have sorted out a will yet, explaining I could be hit by a bus any day. Until now all I have done is cross the road more carefully as i walk back to the office but with another little me on the way i guess i ought to get one done.

I'm going to get an appointment with the sols this week. is it straight forward as "I'll leave all my worldy belongings to the mrs (we're not married) and children?" how much is it likely to cost?

Since you're asking that question I suggest its a good idea to either use a solicitor, or to think it through carefully before drafting a do it yourself one.

My dad died without a will. That experience suggests to me your accountant is correct, it will be a damn sight simpler than not having one.

Solicitors are cunning so and so's and will want to consider / make provision for obscure circumstances that you might not consider if you do it yourself. For example - mrs and the children can't both have the same money so do you mean

i) they each get a specificed share or amount when you go

ii) it all goes to the mrs (if she survives you) and otherwise is shared between the kids (And you trust the mrs to leave it to the kids when she goes in her turn - or, if not)

iii) you let the mrs live off the interest on your estate with the kids getting it when she goes

All this depending on how much you have to leave and so on. People might respond differently to that depending on whether the kids are yours/hers from a previous relationship, or yours jointly. The simpler the circumstances the more likely the do it yourself option might do the job.

I chose to pay a solicitor. (I'm sure it would have been cheaper to do it myself.) I think the solicitor's input ensured I thought it through more thorouglhy and avoided complicated instructions that migt generate unintended consequences. But that is purely a personal feeling, I'm sure other people feel just as positively about doing it themselves.

[winkie]

Last Will and Testament forms £1.50 down the local Post Office.....ok if a simple will but be careful how you word it, will need two independent witnesses that are not beneficiaries and appoint sole or joint executor/s.

[juvenal]

Since you're asking that question I suggest its a good idea to either use a solicitor, or to think it through carefully before drafting a do it yourself one.

My dad died without a will. That experience suggests to me your accountant is correct, it will be a damn sight simpler than not having one.

Solicitors are cunning so and so's and will want to consider / make provision for obscure circumstances that you might not consider if you do it yourself. For example - mrs and the children can't both have the same money so do you mean

i) they each get a specificed share or amount when you go

ii) it all goes to the mrs (if she survives you) and otherwise is shared between the kids (And you trust the mrs to leave it to the kids when she goes in her turn - or, if not)

iii) you let the mrs live off the interest on your estate with the kids getting it when she goes

All this depending on how much you have to leave and so on. People might respond differently to that depending on whether the kids are yours/hers from a previous relationship, or yours jointly. The simpler the circumstances the more likely the do it yourself option might do the job.

I chose to pay a solicitor. (I'm sure it would have been cheaper to do it myself.) I think the solicitor's input ensured I thought it through more thorouglhy and avoided complicated instructions that migt generate unintended consequences. But that is purely a personal feeling, I'm sure other people feel just as positively about doing it themselves.

Absolutely agreed. Legals make fortunes out of imprecisely worded or incorrectly witnessed DIY Wills. Spend a max of £100 on a proper Will, and never name a Bank as Executor or Co-Executor.

[6538]

Whatever a solicitor charges you will be trivial in comparion to the legal fees resulting from a badly drafted will.

A basic thing about making a will; do you realise that by making a will and appointing executors to that will that your executors are actually trustees of your property and are subject to all the relevent statute and common-law rules regulating their appointment, their powers and duties? Also, do you realise that if you word it wrongly then your property could become an outright gift to your executor, rather than him having to deal with it as trust property on behalf of your beneficiaries?

If you don't have an appreciation of the above then, with respect, you have no business drafting yoru own will. No offence.

[6538]

It's not rocket science though surely?

There must be books or, perhaps, even websites which can guide you through the issues you rightly point out.

But how many books do you want to buy? How much time do you have to read them? You don't have to spend too much time and money before it becomes easier and safer to give a solicitor his £70.

It can become quite complicated. I mean, you write something like, "I give £1,000 to my executors to erect a suitably dignified monument in my honour and £10,000 for the upkeep of said monument in perpetuityl". Are you able to spot the problems with this - are there even any problems? If you can't answer the questions then you have no business writing your own will. Again, no offence.

Honestly, having studied trust law (admitedly, not wills and probate specifically but it's a big part of trust law) - no it isn't rocket science but there is shit loads to it, quite honestly. For 70 quid it's well worth employing a solicitor - if only for the fact that if he fvcks it up then his malpractice insurance will pay out, which will be cheaper than your relatives having to contest your will.