Not got a will? Find out where your money'll go now ... its changed

obiwons

could someone tell me from which date the new rules are to be enforced from as my brother passed on 30th jan and had not made a will.

SueWh

I looked at the directgov.uk site this morning and they have not changed the rules there yet.
If you want something up to date in the meantime, I went to www.TenMinuteWill.co.uk where they have a table to help you work out what would happen if you died intestate.

humunculous

Thanks for the post Wendy. You are absolutely right of course! Like others, I sorta find the whole subject a little bit morbid so I've been putting it off for years, but now I've read your post I'm going to go and do my Will right now! Then I'll......uggggghhhh.....ummmphhh.........eeeeeeeekkkkkkkk.........ohhh......shi..

:A :A :A

cherryblossom_3

I don't wish to drift from the thread too much, but thought I would mention something from my experience.

When I went to see a solicitor about my divorce he suggested I make a will immediately. It is fairly obvious that your other half might inherit in these circumstances, but unfortunately at an emotional time it isn't the first thing on your mind. Do you want your separated partner to receive your worldly goods?

Now I'm divorced it makes no difference as we are no longer next of kin, but originally I was going to divorce after 2 years separation - I wouldn't have realised had my circumstances not changed and I applied for divorce earlier.

:j

lukiesgirl

This is a subject close to my heart! My DH and I made a will when we were in our twenties because at the time we had no children and did not want certain relatives to benefit!!! We now have a 6 year old and one of the 1st things we did after he was born was to update our wills. We set up a guardianship and trust for DS and also an Enduring Power of Attorney. In the event of both of us being unable to communicate (coma or something) our DS guardian will have Power of Attorney to make the necessary financial arrangements for him. I look at it as making arrangements for our most precious possession being kept safe and looked after if anything should happen.

My dad died suddenly without a will and it took 3 years to finalise things. It was alot of stress at a time when we were least able to cope. My Mum made a will because she did not want to put us through the same thing again. The other thing to note is that you would incurr unnecessary legal costs to sort every thing out - sometimes upto 20% of the estate.

HeyBigSpender

This is going to sound like a stupid question, but hey I'm not that bright, so forgive me!

What if you have no "estate" to speak of? No assets, only debts.

squirrelchops

My Dad died 31 years ago and unfortunatley hadn't left a will.

We are still sorting it out unbelievalby as his Dad had also died wihtin the 12 months before and had left land just 50/50 to my Dad and his brother but without saying x field is yours and x is yours as farmers.

Now my Uncle has died we are within a few months of FINALLY sorting it all out. Is my 32 birthday this week adn I can't help but at times relfect upon when i was little and Mum really struggled to bring me up on her own and how different it would have been for her if she had had money left from my Dad. Admittedly she got the £25k allowed in those days and had the house but times were still hard.

so my message as one who has expereinced it when soemone dies without a will is:

MAKE THE WILL NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jo_R_2

HeyBigSpender wrote: »

This is going to sound like a stupid question, but hey I'm not that bright, so forgive me!

What if you have no "estate" to speak of? No assets, only debts.

I have been wondering this sort of thing for a while. I don't own my own house, or have savings or any other assets - except my children Do I still need to make a will? I'm not married and my main concern was who would look after my children if anything happened to me, made slightly more complicated by the fact that my two DDs are by my ex, and I am about to pop very soon with baby#3 by my now-OH. Ex has parental responsibility for DDs, and OH will have PR for this LO.

I have envisioned that DDs would go to my parents - how the ex would feel about that I don't know, I'm not against him having them but my first choice would be my parents who I know would be happy to. Having discussed this with OH, he would care for baby - unless something happened to him as well in which case we'd look to either his mum or my parents.

I think this isn't really what's covered in a will though - am I right in thinking it's a separate thing entirely to making a will and would depend on PR initially despite my wishes?

SandC

cherryblossom wrote: »

I don't wish to drift from the thread too much, but thought I would mention something from my experience.

When I went to see a solicitor about my divorce he suggested I make a will immediately. It is fairly obvious that your other half might inherit in these circumstances, but unfortunately at an emotional time it isn't the first thing on your mind. Do you want your separated partner to receive your worldly goods?

Now I'm divorced it makes no difference as we are no longer next of kin, but originally I was going to divorce after 2 years separation - I wouldn't have realised had my circumstances not changed and I applied for divorce earlier.

:j

Absolutely and also notify your employer if you have a work pension and/or death benefit (life assurance). An employee of ours unfortunately took his own life some months ago. He was separated. Because he hadn't changed his nomination/expression of wishes form his ex wife was entitled to the life assurance sum and his pension. That might not have been what he wanted at the time.

newlywed

Jo_R wrote: »

I think this isn't really what's covered in a will though - am I right in thinking it's a separate thing entirely to making a will and would depend on PR initially despite my wishes?

You can cover guardianship in the will as to who will look after the kids in each circumstance. However I don't know what would happen if your ex-OH disputes it. You can also do something extra to go with your will which stipulates to the guardian how you want your kids brought up - can't remember what it's called though.... think you need a solicitor to advise.