Advice on Wills and do it yourself Wills please.

Daniel_B

Hello all,
apologies if this in the wrong place, but I didn't really know which heading it should fit under, please can a mod move it if it is incorrectly placed.

My girlfriend and I feel we chould make a will, one each I assume?

We are not married, as you can tell, and feel it is therefore much more important that we do so.

Also we have no kids, and are not planning any either.

I have looked on Amazon and seen a Last will and testament kit for £6.99 - has anyone used this, and should it meet our needs?

If not, is the only other route to go to a solicitor, and if anyone has experiences of this, any ball park figures on what the cost per will is?

The will itself will be fairly simple - we co-own the house anyway - ie joint mortgage.

Thanks in advance, and apologies for the depressing content.

Dan

Savvy_Sue

The will question has been asked before so if you do a search I hope you'll find something. Look here and in the 'Anything else' board.

I have no connection with the legal profession but I do feel a will isn't something you want to get wrong, and it's easy to do so when you attempt diy. You may think that it's straightforward if you each plan to leave everything to the other, but what about if you both die in a very short time span - say in a car crash?

And I don't find this content depressing: we need to think about these things while we still can!

Hermia

My dad used one of those will packs and we didn't have a problem with it when he died. His will was very simple though. I am using one of those at the moment because (i) I am impoverished and (ii) I have so little to leave that I resent paying a fortune for something that will have to be changed in a few years. In the unlikely event that I ever get on the property ladder or own anything expensive I will get a proper will done.

Pennywise

The will itself isn't difficult.

What may be is deciding exactly what you want to happen in different scenarios.

Eg. Do you want your estate to go to the other partner, or to your own family?

Eg. If you want it to go to your partner, would you be happy for it to then be passed onto their family if they died shortly after you?

Eg. Should you be the beneficiary of a sizeable amount of money from one of your relatives, would you want it to be passed through to your partner's family if you both died (you first), or would you want it to stay in your family?

I would hope that what you are paying for with a solicitor is more than just writing the will - it should also include a consideration of all the what if's!

Bossyboots

Also, if you don't follow the instructions properly it will be invalid.

I recently saw a DIY will of someone who had died. It had a mistake in its execution and now her wishes have not been met.

shokadelika

You can write a legal valid will on toilet roll ! wallpaper or plain paper if you wish as long as it is witnessed it is legal.WH Smith sell a Lawpack will kit with two will forms inside and all instructions.Writing your own will is not complicated especially if you are leaving everything to your partner or other family members you have to think of this if as mentioned you both died at the same time or within I think it is 30 days of each other.My two aunts both used these forms and their wills were legal.I believe the Probate registry will store them for you for all eternity for £15? just let others know where they are. :A

sweetjamster

diy wills are fine as long as you don't have a lot of assets. however, if you anticipate you will acquire more assets as time goes by, those wills will have to be continuously changed to reflect those. also consider whether anything will be held in trust funds etc.

margaretclare

If you go to your local CAB they will do a 'simple' will for you for just the cost of a donation. Couldn't be cheaper.

As has been said, though, the most important thing is to decide what you want to happen to whatever you own. You may not have a house or kids, but you may have savings, or items that you value, whether they have any monetary value or not.

Aunty Margaret

fagun

You don't need the DIY Will Kit - all these have is a Will form (u can type that in yourself) and the legal requirements (loads of books in the library, with much more detial and informartion than the booklet that comes with the Will Kit). Personally, I didn't find the net very helpful for information on how to DIY a will.