trying to save money on will

wilson1973

Last year my mother and myself had wills drawn up at the solicitors we were a bit stressed at the time and didnt even ask what the eventual fee would be if my mother passed away(im 37 and mums 71) presuming she goes first,ive later read that the fees can be astronomical and that some places give a fixed fee,all that we did get as a guide to their prices was a note saying £140 an hour,my mother and i have been talking about this saying that doesnt tell us very much as obviously we dont know how many man hours they could say the process has taken im thinking in theory its easy for them to do but they might provide a bill for instance saying it has taken 200 hours plus to work through and we would be non the wiser,the solicitor is handling the probate and is an executor,we are seriously thinking of cancelling all of the expensive parts that they would undertake i suppose really you only need them to witness and sign to make it legal,its a simple will with all assets being passed to me i just hate the thought of being ripped of by a solicitor,could anyone advise me as to what we should do.
Many thanks

ameliarate

Could you not just go back to the solicitor and get a more detailed breakdown of costs, and more information about how the whole system works?
You could then go to another solicitor and get a quote from them to compare.

RAS

It sounds lke you appointed the solicitors firm as executors?

If you want to avoid their fees, go back to the firm concerned and tell them you want to appoint other peopel as executors. This can be done by way of a codicil.

it would make sense for you to be mum's executor. Then if you need any legal help, you can get this when you need it and charge it to the estate.

the other factor you need to consider particularly with respect to your own will is that whilst the people running the firm now make be very upright and fair, there is nothing to say that the people running it in 20-40 years time will be as honorable. We had personal experience of this. Thankfully, the solicitor was named rather than the company so we were able to sort it out. It still took 9 months to get the will (2 sheets of paper) from the firm and we had to appoint our own solicitor to acheive that. The firm told all sorts of lies to try and get us to use them.

SmlSave

A will is a one off fee (unless they charge for storage)

You don't have to have the solicitors as executors, you can choose whoever you want.

The firm I work for charges £195 per hour and estate bills are easily £3000+ as each letter/telephone call is charged for.

I would suggest that if you want to keep costs down you do the leg work yourself and only use the solicitors for the legal bits.

As each estate is different you should not trust any firm that gives you a flat quote and administration can take anything from 3 months to 3 years!

P.S. I'm only a legal secretary and the above is my opinion only

wilson1973

Thanks for your help,i have been worrying abouth this i have lived in my home since birth,i have a 7 year old son that lives with me for half of the week and i see the home as his future,if i can avoid paying loads to a solicitor it would be great as i dont want to lose my family home one day,as i would have to sell it to pay their fees.
I have a poorly paid job and havent ever had enough money to save for the future.
could anyone tell me the legal bits that i do need a solicitor for as a bare minimum.

simpywimpy

My parents made their will and I am excecutor and sole beneficiary too. We used a solicitor draw it up but will not be using one to execute it. They charged us £500 for joint wills which I thought was very expensive at the time but I have since collected them from their offices and we keep them safe at home.

My mother has since passed away and the forms from probate are easy to obtain. If you struggle filling them in, you can always get help from the Citizens advice Im sure.

If you feel confident enough and its a simple will leaving everything to you, then I wouldnt hesitate to have yourself as executor and deal with the whole thing yourself.

wilson1973

Thanks is there any benefit from asking to keep the will in your own home does this help financially? As in more solicitor fees later and what about probate is that something that you would do yourself i will have to look at the paperwork i cant remember if our solicitor is down to handle probate at the moment

RAS

Hi

Do not keep a will at home. For a mere £15 you can log it securely with the probate office

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1218.htm

And here is a decent guide to wills and probate http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/index.htm

I would suggest that your mother also needs to think about a Lasting Power of Attorney in case she becomes unable to look after her affairs. That avoids a lot of unnecessary cost down the line.

You do need to be aware that if she were to go into care, they would expect the funding to come from her house. Unless you are disabled, they would not take into account that you were living there. And please also be aware that if she were to gift the house to you now, it would almost certainly be considered deprivation of assets.

simpywimpy

If the solicitor is an executor they will handle the probate for you at a great cost but its just a case of filling in a form listing the assets etc. If you are confident enough to complete official forms, it's not something you would struggle with and they do send a leaflet with it that explains what to do.

My dad is still with us and I will have two houses, his bank accounts and a small amount of shares to deal with but I don't feel I need to pay someone else to help me. The probate office were very helpful with my mums will

wilson1973

Thankyou im hoping that the citizens advice would be able to help me with regards to probate etc in the future,as for care homes yes they eat money my mother and i are very close and i have said that she would never end up in a home my dad was ill for years and we looked after at him at home until he passed

hardpressed

You need to go back to the solicitor and make a codicil changing the executors to anybody you trust except a solicitor or a bank as they will both charge for administering the estate. You don't need to go to the same solicitor if you'd rather not just take along a copy of your wills, there will be a charge but nothing compared to what executors fee would be. Probate isn't that difficult to do.