Will Aid: Get a free will in November

penedawn

By the way don't forget to download and fill in the will aid planner on the will aid site. http://www.willaid.org.uk/will_makers/will_planner-88

mrcoxexcel

I believe the most important thing for the solicitor is to persuade you to make their firm executors of your will. This way they stand to benefit by several thousand pounds worth of work per will - they can therefore afford to offer a very cheap or even free will writing service knowing they will benefit in the long term. The charities benefit too, of course. But please don't think the solicitors are all doing this out of the goodness of their heart.

whmon

joshm wrote: »

Suspect this is just the writing service. Your solicitor will most likely charge if you ask them to be listed as executor. They will keep a copy on record, I would expect, but again may charge if asked to (re)produce? Not sure about that one though.

BEWARE! You won't need to ask your solicitor to be listed as executor. The solicitors will try every trick up their sleeves to get to be named as executors (including hoping you won't ask about executors so that they can just go ahead and name themselves.)

The reason is that the solicitors, as executors can charge up to 6% of your final estate - leaving your beneficiaries a bill of thousands of pounds. You don't even need to pay the £75 requested for charity - most solicitors will do your Will free, as long as they can be executors.

You can certainly get a very cheap/free Will from a solicitor, but in the long run it will work out to be very expensive for the people to whom you want to leave your estate.

This 'Will aid' is purely and simply good marketing by the solicitors concerned. Have a look in your local newspaper, there are now countless solicitors advertising Wills, simply because they've lost a lot of business re conveyancing due to the property slump. Many of them are not experienced Will writers and all of them will fleece you. When did you last hear of a solicitor who didn't try to get blood out of a stone.

My advice is to consult a professional Will-writer. Pay the money upfront then 'rest in peace' knowing your beneficiaries aren't using their inheritance to pay the solicitor's 'executor' bill.

pinkfluffybabe

mrcoxexcel wrote: »

I believe the most important thing for the solicitor is to persuade you to make their firm executors of your will. This way they stand to benefit by several thousand pounds worth of work per will - they can therefore afford to offer a very cheap or even free will writing service knowing they will benefit in the long term. The charities benefit too, of course. But please don't think the solicitors are all doing this out of the goodness of their heart.

Not at all. The solicitor I went to was very clear about the disadvantages of her being the executor of the wills and did not in any way try to persuade us to take any other business from her firm.

I think it is harsh to say that they aren't doing it out of goodness. Maybe they want to give something back? There is nothing wrong with that and it shouldn't be treated with suspicion.

moon-pig_2

whmon wrote:

My advice is to consult a professional Will-writer. Pay the money upfront then 'rest in peace' knowing your beneficiaries aren't using their inheritance to pay the solicitor's 'executor' bill.

That is exactly what we did. In fact we used the services of someone who regularly posts on this forum. The firm was properly qualified and insured and offered us the convenience of coming round to our home one evening to take our instructions. The fee for a single Will is still only £75 or for a couple £120 and there were no hidden extras.

The solicitors we had previously contacted, quoted us almost £1000 for what we required. Remember also that the solicitors involved in Willaid will only supply the most basic of Wills for their fee - they will be looking to charge extra for anything else they can, or try and get themselves appointed as your executors. Like another poster says, it is clever marketing to get you through their door.

Here's a useful link anyway.

willaid_press_officer

Since the changes to the inheritance tax thresholds and the new rules on married couples and civil partnership couples, many more people will find that a basic will is adequate for them and they don't need to set up expensive trusts etc. See Paul Lewis' guide to inheritance tax:http://www.web40571.clarahost.co.uk/archive/saga/inheritance_tax_guide_2007.pdf

seilbahn

Readers of this thread may also be interested to know that the Stroke Association is offering free wills to the over 60's
http://www.stroke.org.uk/donate/give_through_your_will/free_will_scheme.html

wend33

Just a quick note about will writers. Many will say that you should 'sever the joint tenancy' on a jointly owned property. Be aware that some will charge you a Land Registry fee to register this. The Land Registry does not charge for this type of application!
http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/public_guide_018.pdf

moon-pig_2

wend33 wrote:

Just a quick note about will writers. Many will say that you should 'sever the joint tenancy' on a jointly owned property. Be aware that some will charge you a Land Registry fee to register this. The Land Registry does not charge for this type of application!

There are often very good reasons to own the property as tenants in common, and a decent willwriter wouldn't do it for no reason.

You are right, one co-owner can place a restriction at the Land Registry for nothing, but they would also want to see some evidence that the other co-owner has been informed - so there would be an additional document for this. In addition a third document - an agreement which confirms the exact shares owned by the parties should be signed and kept with the wills.

It is likely most people wouldn't be able to do all of that themselves which is why we paid our willwriter £75 to do it for us.

I would though advise that you obtain the services of a decent willwriter, as they are not all the same - ours is a member of the Institute of Professional Willwriters.

philpmcs

My parents made a will for free with a local Solicitor using the Charity donation ´method´and duly donated... After receiving the Will, they noticed that the Solicitor had put themselves in as the Executor and not myself, which was the intention. After checking the smallprint, the Solicitor was going to charge 8% of my parents estate to act as Executors!!! They have since shredded this will (and all associated copies) and had a new will written with no mention of the Solicitor!

I think the scheme is great and depending on the Solicitor used, should work a treat, but people need to be aware of small print and are they actually getting a will for ´free´ or will the family end up payìng the Solicitor a fortune at the end of the day...