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Not got a will? Find out where your money'll go now ... its changed
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I understood that no matter what was specified in a will (eg if I stated I want my DDs to live with my parents should anything happen), that the parental responsibility of their father would override this?
If you appoint guardians in a Will, they will have a right to apply to court. If their father has PR, it is probably the case, as you say, that this will overide your wishes. However if their father was not an appropriate person for them to live with for any reason, the Court would take into account your wishes.0 -
My partner and I bought a place in 2007, and we got Life insurance to cover the mortgage should the worse happen to one of us. Am I right to assume that even though we are not married that if I go first then the insurance will pay out to him and not my parents...and vise versa???
You can check that with the insurance company. Do you hold the property as tenants in Common or Joint tenants?0 -
A friend of mine has bought a house as 'joint tenants' with her partner. Both my friend and her partner are still legally married to other people. They originally contributed unequal amounts to the cost of the house, though this has not been documented anywhere as they simply bought together as joint tenants. When one of them dies, in the absence of a Will, could anyone (both my friend and her partner have grown-up children) question the ownership of the house? And assuming they continue to live together whilst still being married to their original partners, would any Will stand up or could it be contested?0
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galvanizersbaby wrote: »I'm in the PCS too Jasper and I didn't realise they offered this free service.
However I'm divorced and don't co-habit with a partner so I'm assuming my estate would go to my 2 children (though they are only 6 and 4 years currently) - do you think I need to appoint some sort of guardian?
Would you be happy with your children inheriting at 18 if you were to die before then? Or would you prefer to choose people to look after the money on their behalf - otherwise it will probably be their other parent and a friend - and perhaps not hand it over to them completely until they are older, say 21 or 25. This would mean that at 17, money could be advanced for a car, but a little Fiesta rather than a Ferrari and an adult you trusted would be able to assist them in making these decisions. I'm sure that some people are adult at 18, but most of us are passing through a bit of a wild or irresponsible age at that time, perhaps esp without parental guidance.0 -
A friend of mine has bought a house as 'joint tenants' with her partner. Both my friend and her partner are still legally married to other people. They originally contributed unequal amounts to the cost of the house, though this has not been documented anywhere as they simply bought together as joint tenants. When one of them dies, in the absence of a Will, could anyone (both my friend and her partner have grown-up children) question the ownership of the house? And assuming they continue to live together whilst still being married to their original partners, would any Will stand up or could it be contested?
The house would automatically pass to the surviving joint tenant.
There are certain people who are allowed to make a claim against your estate and one of these catergories is a spouse, who would be entitled to roughly what they would be entitled to upon divorce. (Sorry, that's a "piece of string" answer.) A child can also make a claim. They can claim for what they meed for their maintenance. Usually in the case of a grown up child, that is nothing. A cohabitee who has lived with the deceased for over 2 years can also make a claim.
The claims can be made against a Will or an intestacy, but a claim is much less likely to be successful if it can be shown that someone made a Will considering the claims of their respective dependants and choosing to deal with it in a certain way.0 -
How do you check an existing will? Pretty sure I made one in the forces many years ago, but would like to amend it now. Thanks0
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I wish that I could persuade my oh to do this - he's convinced that he can do it himself with books for reference. On the other hand I would prefer to 'waste money' and 'do it properly' and so it goes on and has done for years .... If I make an appointment with a solicitor - how do I choose a good one - one who won't just pass the job to a junior and then we or more to the point our beneficiaries) find we have an invalid will. OH tells me that solicitor's don't always get it right!0
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postingsomething wrote: »How do you check an existing will? Pretty sure I made one in the forces many years ago, but would like to amend it now. Thanks
Who did you make it with? They would probably either have held the original or be able to tell you where it went.
If you know that you want to make changes, it doesn't matter if you can't find the previous one, you can do a new one that covers you now and warn the new executors that there was a previous Will which you can't locate.
If you have married since the previous Will, it would have been revoked on that marriage anyway.0 -
I question whether going to the expense of a Will is neccessary for those of us who live uncomplicated lives.
I am Married, our house in jointly owned out right value £250k I have 3 children all over 16. I live in England
If I or my wife die, half of the house and other assets and insurance would not exceed 250k so it would all go to the other half.
If we we both die at the same time it would be split between the kids.
I'd be interested to hear any other reasons I don't understand to explain why I should pay money to the legal profession for a Will when the Goverment seem to have it covered.
Do you own your house as Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common as this will make a difference to how the estate is distributed? If you both die at the same time do you want your 17 year old to have free access to the money? The legal profession will get some of your money anyhow unless the surviving spouse/children are savvy/dedicated enough to do the legal work themselves. If you make a will the solicitors will get less money than if they have to sort out the mess of intestacy. A will is not just about finances for example you can include bequests to specific people for items of sentimental value, funeral arrangements and arrangements for any pets etc.
Please everybody make a will. It needn't cost a lot of money. Simple back to back wills (identical wills for husband & wife) can be as little as £50 each. Ours were free as part of a house purchase, but as others have pointed out Unions can also have free or cheap deals for members. There's also, make a will week Nov '09, when participating solicitors do wills in return for donations to charity "The suggested donation level is £75 for a single Will, £110 for a pair of matching 'mirror' Wills, or £40 for a codicil to an existing Will". If you're strapped for cash, pay as much as you can afford.
At the moment the solicitors bill for my father in laws intestacy is £16,000 and counting and that's without any real fallouts between beneficiaries. Also, now my mother in law is ailing and if she becomes incapable or dies before everything is signed, well aghhhh!!!! is all I can say. Also it's now 2 & 3/4 years since he died an we're still not finnished. As another post testifies it can take much much longer and a good friend mine had a matter requiring legal advice stemming from her great grandfathers intestacy 30 years ago. We will not put our kids in the same position. We have basic wills in place and as soon as this intestacy (there is a substantial inheritance (farming again)) is sorted we'll be updateing them.
Finally these new laws are not relevant to Scotland where very different arrangements exist. For instance even with a will you can't disinherit your kids as they can claim their Prior Rights. Not that I'd want to but I might want to leave them less than their prior rights entitled them to.
Just Do It Please.
Yours
RRatchet0
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