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

daffyd_2

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: its so easy to leave your estate to your cat !
all you have to do is leave it all to me and i shall look after your !!!!! ,obviously i would have to allow for expenses such as a new car etc etc etc but i would do my best purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

antoniomontana

Pee wrote: »

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If you have married since the previous Will, it would have been revoked on that marriage anyway.

I made a will many years ago when I had no children and put my sister down as inheriting my estate; now that I have children will a new will with them as my heirs suffice or do i need to explicitly cancel the previous will?
Also are these online will makers any good (e.g. the tesco will pack etc) or is it best to see a solicitor?

Pee

antoniomontana wrote: »

I made a will many years ago when I had no children and put my sister down as inheriting my estate; now that I have children will a new will with them as my heirs suffice or do i need to explicitly cancel the previous will?
Also are these online will makers any good (e.g. the tesco will pack etc) or is it best to see a solicitor?

So if you died and the old Will was still in place, assuming you haven't got married but have had children, your sister would still be the beneficiary.

The wording of your new Will will revoke any previous Will.

If you use a solicitor, you will be looking at about £100 plus VAT. The online will makers are very unlikely to undercut that by much. It is easier to address queries in person than through an internet form.

Pee

buylessthings wrote: »

DG - a 'worst case scenario' you might want to consider is that if your husband outlives you, and relations between him and your children deteriorate, then there could end up being some tension if he feels they are waiting for him to die / pressuring him to go into a care home so that they could inherit / have access to their former family home.

Obviously this might not happen, but it's one scenario that leaving someone a 'life interest' can result in.

And that's why you should appoint Trustees who may not be your children, but who are chosen to protect your husband's life time interest.

Pee

soco1 wrote: »

Her Maj & the State are welcome to my estate. I have no dependants or spouse/partner so don't care what is done with it all once I'm gone!

Suppose I could say I want certain %ages of my house/car/investments etc to go to various charities etc but have no real affliations to any so don't see any reason to write a will.
Only family I have are distant people that I've never met and don't even know the names of so they wouldn't be in any will if I did have one

State will need all it can get by then!

I don't know how distant your relatives are, but quite distant relatives can inherit, quite possibly one of those people you have never met and couldn't name.

If you intended to leave a reasonable amount to charity there are various schemes whereby you can make a Will for free. This might be useful for you. (Other people reading should note that this is a cheap way to make a Will but it is not moneysaving if you do not intend to benefit a charity by at least £1,000, it is just a way of ripping a charity off.)

vickyo

I made a will four years ago leaving everything to my sister but last year had a baby daughter. Will my daughter automatically now be the main beneficary or is it still my sister?

Pee

vickyo wrote: »

I made a will four years ago leaving everything to my sister but last year had a baby daughter. Will my daughter automatically now be the main beneficary or is it still my sister?

Your sister would inherit under the Will, but your baby daughter would have a right to make a claim against your estate.

Pee

jollyme wrote: »

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!

I suggest you phone up a solicitors who are convenient and ask to speak to someone about the cost of a Will. See how your query is dealt with. Ask some questions about what you want to do, whatever your concerns are and rate the response. If you feel that no one is prepared to answer your questions, try another number.

You can look at the Law Society website, and see solicitors who specialise in Wills and Probate. There is also Solicitors for the Elderly and STEP.

Sometimes a bigger firm can offer a better service, but quite often you will find a bigger firm is more likely to have juniors dealing. Their work would tend to be well supervised - Solicitors do make mistakes, they result in negligence actions. I'm sure there are lots of horror stories, but statistically, it is very unlikely.

(I'm sure that your husband could read up about it and do it himself. Just like I could read up about replacing the Head Gasket on my car and do that. (It is a very old car!) It might take me a long time and I wouldn't quite know if I had got it right...)

Mojisola

vickyo wrote: »

I made a will four years ago leaving everything to my sister but last year had a baby daughter. Will my daughter automatically now be the main beneficary or is it still my sister?

A new will is needed - not just to cancel the old one but to make arrangements for your daughter's future. Do you really want Social Services to decide what happens to her?

Mojisola

antoniomontana wrote: »

I made a will many years ago when I had no children and put my sister down as inheriting my estate; now that I have children will a new will with them as my heirs suffice or do i need to explicitly cancel the previous will?

As Pee says - your children would need to make a claim against your sister - the solicitors involved will all make money from the dispute and your estate. If the children are older and not dependent on you, they probably won't get anything. If they are still young, make a will to make sure they will be cared for in the way you want if you die.

If you have the will, destroy it and make another as soon as possible.