online will writing services- any good? advice needed please!

charliee_3

Hello all, I'm not over 50, but I am hoping one of you will know or be able to help. I was wondering if anyone could recommend (or NOT recommend IYKWIM) online wills services.

I had a quote from a proper solicitor and they wanted over £200 each for me and my other half which we just cant afford. I am not legally trained but i am quite astute and i can make sense of things myself, so i thought maybe a semi DIY one would be a more affordable option.

It is fairly straightforward (or maybe not) in that me and OH are not married (yet) but we have a son, so if something happens to one of us we need everything to got to the other and if something happens to both of us then we need to make sure the boy (and any future children) are looked after by my SIL and the money and estate goes to the children for their upkeep and futures as i wouldnt want her to be out of pocket through looking after him/them.

also if something happens to all 3 of us (god forbid), that the money be split and half to my family and half to his.

we dont have lots of money or assets, we have a house with a decreasing life insurance policy each that would pay off the mortgage (so if we both went there would be a mortgage free house plus the same again from my policy) and i have a small death in service payment, but its more for the care of the kid/s that we need one.

i'm new to all this and its not something i really want to think about, but I'm a grown up now and it needs to be dealt with as i dont want social services and family arguments to decide my sons fate if the worst happens.

Willman_Rodders

Charliee,

You need to take care when selecting an online will-writer. There are a number of earlier threads [here on this forum] on this very topic.

A survey by the National Consumer Council in 2007 came to the conclusion that home-visit will-writers and solicitors generally provided a good service. Online will writers though varied significantly, to such an extent that the survey concluded that online will-writing needed to be regulated.

Savvy_Sue

Bear in mind that a will is cancelled by marriage, unless made in contemplation of marriage. So if you think you may get married at some point, you need some definite advice on that - I don't know if the 'contemplation' can only last a certain period of time IYSWIM.

Also you can't, in your will, leave your son to anyone as such. You can express your wishes, and name someone as a guardian, and set up a trust so that he can't, at the age of 10, insist on spending all 'his' money on computer games.

All of which means that your wills aren't quite as straightforward as you may think, especially (I think) as you are not married.

localhero

Only a face to face consultation with a qualified professional will ensure that your Will is tailored to your exact circumstances - and so in my opinion Wills purchased online or over the phone are inadvisable.

As you will see from the various horror stories that litter this forum - in the absence of any sort of meaningful regulation - choosing a solicitor or a willwriter who knows their stuff is a real lottery.

Do your homework and choose your professional with care.

Hawkeye4aneye

To give a balanced view perhaps sloughflint you should have also posted this reply below from the Law Society page quoted.
Its Anonymous but could have been said by any respectable Will Writer who has had the correct training via STEP or IPW or SWW and I certainly agree with the comments concerning Solicitors c0ck-ups in Wills - I have come across many in my years working on both sides of the fence at Solicitors and Will Writing organisations. I have also seen some shockers done by supposed will writers as well. From reading the Law Society article it is ONLY will writers and not Solicitors making such errors when this is not necessarily the case and I am sure others such as localhero would back me up.

As someone associated with a will writing company may I present this issue from my perspective? If I were to pay someone to cut my tall hedge with a power trimmer I would expect them to do so competently, use a proper working platform and have due regard for health and safety issues. If my car were to be professionally valeted I would expect the valeter to have a thorough knowledge of caring for the surfaces to be cleaned and correct use of the chemical cleaners. I would not however expect the hedge cutter to have a degree in horticulture or the valeter to be a time-served mechanic.
There are indeed many ’cowboys’ producing cheap wills with poor levels of competence. This needs to be dealt with and we would all accept that I am sure.
But there are also others who make a modest living producing properly executed wills with diligence and care. The latter may be STEP qualified, have substantial public liability insurance and ready access to professional legal advice for those tricky or contentious issues that will always crop up from time to time. They are offering a service that is not as cheap as the ’cowboys’ but cheaper than a solicitor. As specialists they have acquired the ability to do the job well as it is a daily practice for them, not something they are called upon to do a few times a month as is the case with some small solicitor practices. We offer a free will checking service for new clients and often find glaring errors and ambiguous clauses in existing wills drawn up by solicitors. It sometimes makes us wonder whether the practices concerned had delegated the will drafting to the office junior!
By all means ensure that the public is properly served, but not at the expense of reducing their choice and putting perfectly capable practitioners out of work. The priority should be to require that will writers should have adequate qualifications and competence levels to provide a good cost-effective product for their customers NOT to enforce a closed shop.

localhero

Hawkeye4aneye wrote:

To give a balanced view perhaps sloughflint you should have also posted this reply below from the Law Society page quoted.
Its Anonymous but could have been said by any respectable Will Writer who has had the correct training via STEP or IPW or SWW and I certainly agree with the comments concerning Solicitors c0ck-ups in Wills - I have come across many in my years working on both sides of the fence at Solicitors and Will Writing organisations. I have also seen some shockers done by supposed will writers as well. From reading the Law Society article it is ONLY will writers and not Solicitors making such errors when this is not necessarily the case and I am sure others such as localhero would back me up.

By stating that everyone should use a solicitor to write a will is the sort of pompous nonsense I would expect from the Law Society.

In actual fact, the IPW is the only willwriting organisation that ensures its members are properly qualified to be producing wills and other legal documents by insisting its members pass an entrance exam;

Secondly - its code of conduct exceeds all other professional bodies demands for its members to treat members of the public in a fair and ethical way.

The SWW fleetingly appeared (post no 52) on the thread that sloughflint links to but disappointingly failed to respond to my questions (post 56) about the ethics of one of its members.

6feet5

It is true that you do not need a Solicitor to write your Will. You can get a legal Will direct from an online will writing service. Ensure you choose one that states that they check the content of the Will before it is sent to you, rather than one that instantly emails you it.

alanq

See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-cheap-wills

Browntoa

mmmm, they bumped an old thread from 2009 , how long before they are back with a "good online will writing service I found" ??

Baggysdad

It is true that you do not need a Solicitor to write your Will. You can get a legal Will direct from an online will writing service. Ensure you choose one that states that they check the content of the Will before it is sent to you, rather than one that instantly emails you it.

Why is that of any value? If incorrect information is entered into the website, the checker will check the content of the Will against incorrect information.

A checking service is pointless.

B

jago25_98

For someone who isnt bothered about it being enforced properly, or even at all, surely I can write one myself. Solicitors are ok people but we should all avoid the cost to society of using such services if possible.
You can buy Will Packs in WHSmiths. Id love to see an example of a Will copied and pasted to this thread, that would be easy to edit.