trying to save money on will

wilson1973

Can i be an executor as well as a beneficiary as my neighbours are all elderly and so they may not be around, im an only child and my father is passed, another thing that bothers me, if i pass away before my mother and then when she passes away my mothers affairs are going to be left in a trust for my son which will be looked after by the solicitor and god knows what kind of administration fee they will take for that.We made our arrangements in a hurry a few years ago when my mother was ill and we were both under a lot of stress,looking back they didnt really mention fees.

Mojisola

wilson1973 wrote: »

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

It's good to have this as your intention but I would never promise my parents that they would always be looked after at home. We don't know what the future brings and care at home might not be possible. It's much harder to arrange a move into care if you have always promised to look after someone at home.

As regards being executor and beneficiary, yes, that's quite normal. What you can't do is be a witness and a beneficiary.

SmlSave

Hi Wilson

Yes you're fine being an executor and beneficiary.

Any decent solicitor won't charge for storing the original Wills but check just to be sure!

If you're happy filling out the forms yourself (generally an Oath for Executors and IHT205 form and a R27 later) then you would just need them to be sworn in front of a solicitor circa £7-£10 and you may need certified copies which are about £3 a page.

Can I ask if your mother is on your house deeds? If she's not then the estate can't make you sell your house to cover costs etc. THe HMRC website is full of information that is helpful.

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.

Please be aware that there are two types of LPA's now; a Health and Personal Welfare one and a Property and Financial one. The Office of the Public Guardian is a good place to look at about these.

They are expensive to get a solicitor to do (circa £400 each) and there's Court Fees (circa £150) and you also need an independant solicitor to complete something else - I'm hazy on the details as I haven't dealt much with these. I know that the Court of Protection rejects 1 out of 5 applications and it takes months to process them.

Saying that, the LPA's are so difficult because the Court are trying to protect the people needing them but in my opinion they've now made them too difficult!

wilson1973

Thank you all for your help yes we have done the lpa at the time of doing wills and yes my mothers name is on the deeds

maman

We had wills drawn up last year in Will Aid Month. This is when for a suggested donation (£75 last year) to charity, certain solicitors will draw up your will for you. Unfortunately, the next one's not until November 2010 but it's worth thinking about.

Also, many solicitors will hold your will and house deeds for free (compared with banks who charge) as they are hoping that executors will use their company for advice/house sale whatever but there's no obligation.

RAS

wilson1973 wrote: »

another thing that bothers me, if i pass away before my mother and then when she passes away my mothers affairs are going to be left in a trust for my son which will be looked after by the solicitor and god knows what kind of administration fee they will take for that.

This is a recipe for to write a blank cheque as the solicitor will charge fees for every single item them do - quite literally paying every bill and every consent to go on a scholl visit, at £140 per hour.

That needs to be changed. It could in theory be changed after her death, but if you son was a minor and the trustee was the solicitor, it is hard to see who could challenge it.

It is unlikely to happen but if you were to die before your mum and then she died, who would look after your son on a day to day basis? That person should be a trustee with another person you trust as back-up, not .

Mickiengland

maman wrote: »

We had wills drawn up last year in Will Aid Month. This is when for a suggested donation (£75 last year) to charity, certain solicitors will draw up your will for you. Unfortunately, the next one's not until November 2010 but it's worth thinking about.

Proceed with care..... We did our wills through Will Aid and paid the suggested donation of £110 for Mirror Wills - proof of which we had to produce before the Solicitor would even talk to us.

But then at the end, despite having fairly simple/standard requirements the Solicitor demanded an additional payment or they wouldn't write the Wills up. We ended up settling on £90, although were asked for more. So £200 paid for something that moneysavingexpert.com had trumpeted as "...low or no cost"!

My advice would be to only use Will Aid if the Solicitor comes recommended and then only after you've fully discussed fees to ensure that you go into it with eyes open.

wilson1973

Yes thats a difficult one My sons mother has him half of the week and i could have had her as a trustee i suppose but she manages her money poorly, my son wont be allowed to touch the money until he is 30 so,the reasoning being i dont want him having a large amount of money too young,with the temptations that are out there