Updating Will

Lady_K

My stepmum has made a will about 30 years ago and in it was stated that the contents of the house and savings should be shared between the grandchildren at the time but since then there have been more grandchildren born so she was concerned to change it to include the others.

Shes worried though about the cost of changing it, shes 77 and in reciept of attendance allowance if that makes any difference

I said I'd ask here for her

CLAPTON

there doesn't need to be any cost of writing a will.
as long as her estate is reasonably simple and her wishes are simple she can write it herself.
she needs to have her signature witnesses by tow people who are not benifeceries.

Lady_K

Thanx but as she has already done it all those years ago and its held at the solicitors for safekeeping I don't think shed want to write up another that way. Although its a good idea she wouldnt go for that as she likes to do things a certain way Do you think they would charge for a slight change to it?

Mind you I havent got one and I'm quite concerned to get one written up. Should I get one of those from the post office and get two or more people to witness it is that ok? What happens if they pop off before I do though in that case?

LittleVoice

If the current Will names the grandchildren rather than referring to them as a class (like "grandchildren living at the time of my death") and no change other than adding names of the more recent ones is required then it should just require a re-type with the new names included.

I assume she has a copy of the Will though the original is with the solicitor - so this would be a straightforward word processing job and the document can then be properly signed and witnessed.

The other way would be to add a Codicil which shouldn't cost too much to have done by a solicitor if that is what she would prefer.

CLAPTON

littlevoice's advice is very good ... if you going to miss out a generation i.e. like give to grandchildren then its generally best to keep the will generic.
If she wouldn't be comfortable writing her own then i see no alternative to going back to a solicitor. However if thats all she wants to change then it shouldn't cost very much.

if you want to write your own will then i would suggest you get a book from the library to show you the general approach and the important legal bits.
but do think ahead .. even if you have no grandchildren now you can still write a will including potential grandchildren if you wish.

Lady_K

Thanx I'll pass the information on to her. I don't know why they were named at the time though. I would have thought a solicitor would have advised against it really seeing as they had children not even married yet and it was highly likely other grandchildren were going to come along.

As it stands there are 4 families with children. The first family has 3 children only 1 is named, Second family has 3 children and again only 1 is named, Third family has 1 child that is not named at all and the fourth family has 2 children and only 1 is named.

I will ask her to check she has a copy of the will anyway because by the way she was talking she hasn't and I thought that odd

missile

In my will all beneficiaries are named. There are some weasel words which say the executor must take into account any subsequent request, so that at any time e.g. on my death bed I could scribble a note naming a.n.other if I choose to.

CLAPTON

missile wrote: »

In my will all beneficiaries are named. There are some weasel words which say the executor must take into account any subsequent request, so that at any time e.g. on my death bed I could scribble a note naming a.n.other if I choose to.

seems to me that this is a bit of a recipe for a lot of difficulty if you really do just scribble a request.
was the will drawn up by a solicitor and was what constitutes a request clearly defined and does it need to be witnessed etc.

CLAPTON

Lady_K wrote: »

Thanx I'll pass the information on to her. I don't know why they were named at the time though. I would have thought a solicitor would have advised against it really seeing as they had children not even married yet and it was highly likely other grandchildren were going to come along.

As it stands there are 4 families with children. The first family has 3 children only 1 is named, Second family has 3 children and again only 1 is named, Third family has 1 child that is not named at all and the fourth family has 2 children and only 1 is named.

I will ask her to check she has a copy of the will anyway because by the way she was talking she hasn't and I thought that odd

just to add she doesn't have to go back to the original solicitor if she doesn't want to because all wills start off saying something like ' i hereby revoke all former wills '

Lady_K

It is a little more complicated than first appeared. I don't know what to make of it really. I don't like knowing about it in a way but she just started talking about it the other day, it's not nice talking about money and wills when they are sitting there it just doesnt feel right and even more so when from what shes said it seems it probably should be changed but I feel is it right to say anything and I woudnt want to upset or distress her in any way.

Anyway I asked her if she had a copy and she said yes she does.

There are 5 children, this was her second marriage so 1 of the children is her actual blood son the other 4 are stepchildren me included from her second marriage to my father who died some years ago now.

She mentioned earlier today that if anything happens to her son if he dies before her what would have been his part of the inheritance from the sale of the house once sold would go to his daughter, he only has one daughter still.

However... I havent really got a clear understanding of this yet but it seems that if anything happened to any of the other 4 stepchildren if any of them died the money they would have inherited from the sale of the house will not go to thier children, I don't understand why this has been done this way, I do think it seems a little unfair.

As I said she seems a little confused about it and another possibilty might be that if any of the children die that thier part of the inheritance would go to thier children which are named in the will at that time... All I felt I could advise her was to let her son read the will and if he thought it should be changed in any he would help her. I am willing to help her but I don't want her thinking I'm trying to influence her or anything and I thought she may feel more comfortable with her son. We do get on well though but she is my stepmum

It bothers me a little though because without trying to confuse people more the stepsons daughter is also my daughter, we were married when we were younger (no blood relative) Since then we divorced and I have another daughter so it just feels a bit unfair that one is named in the will and the other one isnt and if my oldest daughters dad dies she gets his part of the inheritance and if I die none of my 2 daughters get anything.

Also no matter who is alive or who is not once my stepmum passes on my oldest daughter because shes named in the will as a grandchild will share any monies savings etc and the contents of the house but my youngest daughter wont get anything, it just seems a little unfair

Not sure if I should say or do anything really

missile

CLAPTON wrote: »

seems to me that this is a bit of a recipe for a lot of difficulty if you really do just scribble a request.
was the will drawn up by a solicitor and was what constitutes a request clearly defined and does it need to be witnessed etc.

I don't see how? If I decide to change my will, and many people do, I don't necessarily have to go to my solicitor (it may be difficult or inconvenient). I guess many people like OP often neglect to review their will and this can lead to even more difficulty where a relative feels they have been forgotten and contests the will.

Mine is a properly documented will and witnessed. My solicitor is the executor.