Wills

Kitte

I'm not sure if this is the correct section of the forum to post this in, but this seemed the nearest!

My partner and I are unmarried, live together, have a joint mortgage and our property is in joint names. Our day to day finances our completely joined but most savings are sitting in accounts in sole names.

It occurs to me that we should have our wills in order should something happen to either of us.

As important as it is, I am loath to spend a lot of money on something that in theory, should be very straightforward.

Like most long-term together but unmarried couples, we would like our wills to say the following.

1) Should either of us die, the remaining partner should be the sole beneficiary of any assets or share of assets. (FWIW, if it makes any difference, the current value of this would be circa £200-300k)

2) If we were both to die, we'd like assets to be divided up on a specified percentage basis to family.

Considering many other couples must be in the same position, are there any good quality templates available that can be used, either for free or for a modest charge?

Ta :beer:

elsien

Are either of you in a union, as some of them offer a free will writing service as one of the perks?
I think for something like this I'd prefer to fork out the seventy odd quid and get it right rather than make a tiny mistake that ends up invalidating everything.
Does it not make a difference as to whether you are joint tenants, or tenants in common? No idea what the differenc is btw, just that that's the sort of thing it might be best to get advice about.
Shame you've just missed will aid week when you could have got it done for a donation.

Edit - have you had a read on the main bit of the site?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-cheap-wills

Kitte

Thanks for the reply and the link - I'll have a read through.

I'm happy to spend £70 or so if need be, but I'm surprised that given that there must be hundreds of thousands if not more couples in long-term committed but unmarried relationships, it would be very simple to produce a template will that can simply have the names inserted to suit.

Our situation/estate is really very simple at the moment although this may change in the future. Once it becomes more complex I'd definitely have a solicitor draw up the will.

Perhaps I'm being too tight or MSE! :money:

mountainofdebt

tbh there's moneysaving and then there's moneysaving.

when it comes to assets worth £300k why would anyone begrudge spending £70 on getting something as important as a will right than run the risk of a diy will (which is what you're after) being challenged.

My mum's cousin who was quite wealthy wrote, admittedly in a rush, an expression of wishes but became too ill to actually turn those expressions into a formal will. Just because of a phrase that he used, it meant that it had to go a barrister and incur goodness knows how much in legal fees for an opinion etc.

The other thing to remember is that whilst you and your OH may get on with each others families, the smell of money and death can do strange things to people and do you reallly want potential legal action whilst you're grieving ?

Johnhowell

I would suggest - following my experience - you both visit a family law solicitor and draft a co-habitation agreement (Tenants in Common - equal or unequal shares) as well as the wills.

Also, you should have Lasting Power of Attorney documents prepared.

These documents will cover all occastions - mentally capable, mentally incapable and after death.

Good luck,
John

Buckingham19

I think john has given the best answer. Lets look at what could happen

Firstly you own the house as joint tenants so if one dies the other immediately owns the property. If they have to go into care then everything they own over £23,000 goes to pay for the care.

You could offset this by changing to tenants in common where each owns a % and then leave each part to whoever you want to in a will with the right for the surviving partner to live in the others part of the house. Property Protection Trusts.

This needs to be backed by Lasting powers of Attorney as if either of you became mentally incapacitated the other has no rights to look after the others estate.

Now you have a choice a cheap will and stand a chance of losing the lot or talk to a professional.

Buckingham 19

little_busy_bee

get it done as soon as possible

before i married my husband we lived together for a number of years, and sorting out our wills was the best thing we ever did. it is such a good investment for piece of mind. Practically it means if any thing did happen to either one of you it would be faster and cheaper to sort out probate, closing bank accounts, etc. and you will avoid the hassle of dealing with your 'in laws'....

remeber that death can bring out the worst in people, even those people you normally get on with.

it makes a huge difference whether you are joint tenants, or tenants in common. in one you get the other persons share of the house (and mortgage liability) in the other the share passes to the deceased persons estate.

some local charites run a will aid scheme where the solicitors fee is donated to charity - we always do this as it makes me feel better about the fee.

the other thing i would suggest you check is if you have pensions have you completed up to date statements of who you would want to benefit in the event of a death. Pensions can pay out substantial amounts of money for the early death of a member and it usually goes to a next of kin, family such as parents, unless you have specifically said you want it to go to your partner.