Free and Cheap Wills discussion area

martinjh

Good comment yogayogi.


And I would add that if the original will is stored at a solicitors' office you want to make sure that they will release it to the executors once the testator has died.


Once when I was an executor I discovered that the solicitors holding the will refused to release it unless the executors agreed to them administering the will.


It was an extreme hassle to get the will off them. I wondered how many other people would have had my determination to succeed.

hethmar

Hi, forcing myself to get round to making a Will. I am confused by conflicting information - could anyone kindly advise the best course of action.


I am married and we own a largish property and have savings. We have joint ownership of the property. I was told by several people we should change this to tenants in common but I have been reading this may be a bad move as the half owned by one partner will be taxable on their death? Whereas with joint ownership half will just pass to the surviving partner? We have two adult children - one who is estranged.



Also are diy wills valid? Are the online will writer cheap companies reliable? We have had some awful experiences with incompetent solicitors in the past so have little faith in the legal profession.


Many thanks

Savvy_Sue

hethmar wrote: »

Hi, forcing myself to get round to making a Will. I am confused by conflicting information - could anyone kindly advise the best course of action.

Take advice. Proper, legal advice (notwithstanding your previous experience), because this is the kind you can rely on, ie you can sue the pants off them if it turns out to be bad advice.

And do some of your own reading: an up to date version of something like the Which Guide to Wills and Probate could be a good investment.

hethmar wrote: »

I am married and we own a largish property and have savings. We have joint ownership of the property. I was told by several people we should change this to tenants in common but I have been reading this may be a bad move as the half owned by one partner will be taxable on their death? Whereas with joint ownership half will just pass to the surviving partner? We have two adult children - one who is estranged.

And this is why you need to take advice, geared to your situation, from someone who has a rough idea whether your total estate is likely to be liable to IHT anyway.

And with an estranged child, you need to consider whether you are completely disinheriting them, or whether you want to include them in some way, and whether any children they may have should be equally disinherited.

And you need to think carefully about your executors: normally using your adult children might be sensible, but where one is estranged it might make life very difficult for the other, if the disinherited one gets a bee in their bonnet about entitlement.

hethmar wrote: »

Also are diy wills valid?

Yes, if correctly drawn up, signed and witnessed. Easy to make a hash of it and in your particular case I would NOT recommend it.

hethmar wrote: »

Are the online will writer cheap companies reliable?

Variable. And you won't know until it's too late, but what most of them most definitely aren't is 'cheap', because they are likely to offer all kinds of bells and whistles for which they will charge a small fortune. And if you've found solicitors awful, why would you expect potentially legally unqualified will-writers to be better?

hethmar wrote: »

We have had some awful experiences with incompetent solicitors in the past so have little faith in the legal profession.

Ask around your friends and see if any of them have a recommendation to make. Phone a few and ask what they'd charge, and what it would include.

But while you're doing a will, also think about Power of Attorney, lest one of you should be incapacitated.

Keep_pedalling

Under no circumstances DIY. Solisitors messing up wills are rare, but if they do your beneficiaries can pursue compensation for their losses, they cant do that with dead people when messed up all on their own.

4leafclover_2

slightlychilled wrote: »

It's the Co-Op Legal services as recommended under the low-cost professional wills.

The co-op called me about a will, when I asked about legal qualifications of the person drafting the will, they could only say that the person was a trained will writer who had worked locally in will writing for a number of years now.

shelleywa

Hi all,

After reading through this thread to the point of my eyes hurting, I was hoping for some answers but instead just feel even more confused! Any advice is much appreciated.

My Dad is terminally ill and I am his live-in carer. He doesn't have a will. But his argument is that he doesn't have much, so he doesn't need one. Granted, his life is pretty simple - no spouse, no property, no car, no money (he lives in a housing association home and receives benefits. Has no savings) and I am his only child.

Is he right?? What will ACTUALLY happen if he dies with nothing? I envision myself having months of it being dragged out, which you so often hear about when someone doesn't have a will, and I think it would be emotionally exhausting to deal with that when you're also grieving. But is that just when there's multiple beneficiaries who can't agree and/or assets etc.?

I persuaded him to write a will but - having no money - he can't pay for one. I found the one on the Cancer research website, by the Co-Op Legal Services but after reading this thread wonder if it's worth the paper it's written on?

Any thoughts please? :huh:

Yorkshireman99

shelleywa wrote: »

Hi all,

After reading through this thread to the point of my eyes hurting, I was hoping for some answers but instead just feel even more confused! Any advice is much appreciated.

My Dad is terminally ill and I am his live-in carer. He doesn't have a will. But his argument is that he doesn't have much, so he doesn't need one. Granted, his life is pretty simple - no spouse, no property, no car, no money (he lives in a housing association home and receives benefits. Has no savings) and I am his only child.

Is he right?? What will ACTUALLY happen if he dies with nothing? I envision myself having months of it being dragged out, which you so often hear about when someone doesn't have a will, and I think it would be emotionally exhausting to deal with that when you're also grieving. But is that just when there's multiple beneficiaries who can't agree and/or assets etc.?

I persuaded him to write a will but - having no money - he can't pay for one. I found the one on the Cancer research website, by the Co-Op Legal Services but after reading this thread wonder if it's worth the paper it's written on?

Any thoughts please? :huh:

If he has no assets and you are the only relative then a will pointlessly

JimmyTheWig

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

If he has no assets and you are the only relative then a will pointlessly

Presumably, though, he won't have _no_ assets. Even if he has a few hundred quid in his bank account there is something to go to someone.
To me it sounds clear in this case that the intestate rules mean he doesn't need a will if everything is to go to shelleywa.

shelleywa

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Presumably, though, he won't have _no_ assets. Even if he has a few hundred quid in his bank account there is something to go to someone.
To me it sounds clear in this case that the intestate rules mean he doesn't need a will if everything is to go to shelleywa.

It really depends how long it takes to sort out someone's affairs if they have a will vs if they don't have a will. Any ideas?

Also, are the "free" Co-op wills through Cancer Research worth the paper they're written on for a simple will?

Yorkshireman99

shelleywa wrote: »

It really depends how long it takes to sort out someone's affairs if they have a will vs if they don't have a will. Any ideas?

Also, are the "free" Co-op wills through Cancer Research worth the paper they're written on for a simple will?

If they have negligible assets then a will does not make much difference. If there are various assets then it may make things easier. If they don’t have a will (intestate) then letters of administration are needed.