General advice needed

millymollie

Hello there

My mum has decided she wants to do a will.
She is a widower, owns her own home (value @£95,000)
She has savings of approx £45,000.
No other real assets as such. No debts.

She wants everything to be divided up equally between me and my 2 sisters, along with a bequest for each of her grandchildren. She also wants me and my eldest sister to be executors.

Does this type of thing sound straightforward to do yourself or would my mum need to see a solicitor. Also she was going to ask her 2 brothers to be witnesses- they are not beneficiaries so would this be ok?

Many thanks in advance!

Mojisola

Please get her to have it done professionally. She's got savings so spending out on a will won't be a problem and it could save such a lot of problems in the future.

Her brothers could be witnesses but, if the will is done by a solicitor, staff at the office will usually act as witnesses.

Don't make anyone professional an executor. If you and your sister are executors and want to employ a solicitor to do part of the work, that's possible but you will keep control of the costs.

If she needs care in the future, she will be expected to pay for it so there may not be much left to inherit. Bearing that in mind, it's usual to make bequests in percentage terms otherwise you could find £x left to the grandchildren could be all there is in the estate.

daska

One question might be: does she want you to inherit joint ownership or for the property to be sold and the money split between you?

rpc

Get a professional to do it. It doesn't cost a lot and could save you all a lot of money and heartache when your mother passes away. Badly written wills cause nothing but problems.

As has been said, make specific bequests in % terms.

Unless one of you lives in the house, it would be best to ask her to stipulate that it be sold and the proceeds distributed. Otherwise you can end up with 1 or 2 beneficiaries wanting to sell, but unable to because of the third.

lazer

Cancer Research doing free Wills at the minute

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/legacies/adding-us-to-your-will/freewill-service/?gclid=CO-Ot86jg7QCFaTMtAodACAAlw

So get it done professionally for free

No obligation to leave anything to Cancer research but they would like a small legacy.

millymollie

Hi there
Many thanks for the advice.
My youngest sister is living at home with no signs of moving out so I suppose it may get complicated with regards to selling in the future.

If my mum does have a will done at a solicitors, will her estate then go to probate or would it just be distributed as per the will? Only asking as my uncle's estate went to probate and the solicitor.s bill was horrific.

Thanks again for the good advice!!

daska

Probate is the legal method of proving that a person is entitled to deal with the estate, it's not a necessity EXCEPT that when you're trying to release substantial funds the banks etc will insist on seeing the grant of probate.

As a separate issue, the solicitors costs depend on who is appointed executor. If the Will appoints a solicitor as executor then there will be costs associated with that appointment, regardless of whether probate is required. If the Will appoints you then you can do it yourself at minimal cost OR use a solicitor for whatever parts you feel unable to cope with. Hence mojisola's advice that she doesn't appoint any professionals.

May I suggest that you investigate the Which? books, they might give you a better understanding of the pitfalls.

getmore4less

This does not have to have solicitors involved as long as you are named executors.

.As there is property the executors will need the grant(probate).

UNLESS the property is held as joint tenants with someone else.

Is the younger sister in any way dependant.

Are you all over 18

NAR

Also remember there could be xx more grandchildren before she dies.

Mojisola

And to put down what she wants to happen if one of the beneficiaries dies before her.

millymollie

Hi there
Many thanks for the info given.
We are all over 18.
Tbh I thought it was just a simple case of saying A,B,C get so much each, I had no idea of all the possible pitfalls/problems.
I think Mum is going to see a solicitor to do it for her to save any problems in the future.

Thanks again, its much appreciated!!