Updating Will

Errata

The cost of getting a solicitor to make a new will won't be that great, compared to the estate, and will ensure everything is worded properly. eg if someone leaves something to the grandchildren but doesn't name them and they're not grandchildren by blood or by adoption of a parent then in law no grandchildren exist.

CLAPTON

missile wrote: »

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.

clearly there is no purpose in debating your will if you don't share the contents with me.

it just seems bizarre as YOU use words like 'weasel words' and 'scribble a note' and then tell me that your solicitor is your executor although you feel able to change the will without his involvement.

however, if you are comfortable with this then that fine but it makes no sense to me.

Savvy_Sue

I believe it is normal to name any beneficiaries, although I think you can add words to include the not yet born IYSWIM. Naming them does remove doubt: if someone turns up claiming to be a grandchild who is older than the current will but not named in it then they don't have a claim. Whereas with a will saying "my grandchildren" it could be hard to not pay out.

The other thing to remember is that you can vary a will, if all the beneficiaries agree. So if the whole family agree that whatever was left to 'the grandchildren' should be shared between ALL the grandchildren, then that's what the executor can do.

I would always use a solicitor to draw up a will, but not to execute it.

We're in the throes of will-writing with my parents as well, and it's quite tedious. One tip: ask your stepmum if she would like someone in the family to proofread the first draft sent by the solicitor: we've had one set drawn up as mirror wills when that wasn't what my parents asked for; and the latest draft has made them each a co-executor of the other's will, which they don't want; and they've named my brother as an executor but given him the wrong name, and my dad's even meant to execute HIS OWN will!

Obviously it's up to my parents what they put in their wills, and they don't have to show them to us, but I think they feel that if we don't understand them, it will be hard to execute them. I feel that if we don't understand them, they may not say what my parents have asked for!

missile

CLAPTON wrote: »

clearly there is no purpose in debating your will if you don't share the contents with me.

it just seems bizarre as YOU use words like 'weasel words' and 'scribble a note' and then tell me that your solicitor is your executor although you feel able to change the will without his involvement.

however, if you are comfortable with this then that fine but it makes no sense to me.

Please be advised, it was the solicitor who suggested it. Presently I have no intention of making any changes and if I did - I would make a new will. However, I suggest this codicil is a useful feature in the situation where I might indicate my wish, to make a last minute change.

I mentioned it for the benefit of others. It is easy to foresee a variety of situations where one might not have the time or it would not be convenient to draft a new will.

missile

Lady_K wrote: »

Not sure if I should say or do anything really

You have a difficult choice and there would seem no easy way to broach the subject without risking offending her. However, if you say nothing you may regret it. I would suggest you try to explain the way you feel - it is not the money but rather after she has gone those grandchildren who have been excluded may resent her and it could cause a family fued.

harryhound

There is a new Which? book out this month.
If the estate being left is more than 300K, then it should be read together with the new 'Which? essential guide to Giving & Inheriting'.
These books have a retail price of 11 - 12 GBP each.
As expected of a MSE, I have borrowed them from the library;) - but you must get the up to date version as Gordon Brown made some silly changes to the rules 13 months ago.

Read slowly and carefully, with a cold wet towel round the head, most people including me, can get to understand the rules and wrinkles.

My mother, my sister and I used an earlier version of this book to rewrite mum's will a dozen years ago. Three years ago mum died aged 90 and we bought another version of the book and sorted out the probate.
We have had no serious problems, though we did pay a solicitor to hold our hands over dad's half of the house (he had died intestate 35 years earlier and the tax man seemed to have lost his records!). The solicitor cost 175GBP. When mum died, we had approached a different solicitor who wanted 2K up front before he would even look at it. He told us if we tried to do it ourselves, it would never work, but we have got there armed with the Which? book. (and it looks like we are going to get a little bonus put into the executor's account we hold at the Portman building society:beer:)

In your case, the family structure sounds a bit complex, so I would suggest making a clear family tree and giving a copy to anyone involved in rewriting the will, before any meeting to discuss the will's content.

If you read up on the rules, you will be in a position to discuss what is possible with the other family members of your generation, should you have to go down the deed of family arrangement route, after the death.

Good luck,

Harry

peggydoodaa

She really should update her Will with someone professional. If she writes a new one herself she could cause even more problems that wouldn't come to light until after she's gone!

It doesn't have to be a solicitor, there are specialist Will Writers out there who deal with this thing day in, day out.

Remember, if your solicitor is your executor then that's where they will make their money. Estate administration charges can be quite high!

She really needs to speak with someone who knows what they're talking about.

Lady_K

Thankyou everyone for your advise I will speak to her about this carefully but I do know no one would ever resent her for anything, she doesnt understand it herself and shes not the kind of person to ever want to cause any upset to anyone.

I think the solicitors will be the executors for her. I want to have a will done myself so while doing that it would be a an oportunity to show her the way I do mine. She is all about saving money and has even organised and paid for her own funeral to save us having to worry and do that when shes gone, something I know she found very difficult but she did it for everyone else and told us afterwards

I don't understand about executors how much do the solicitors usually charge for this? Who could I have myself thats the difficult thing

harryhound

Most charge by the hour, obviously the rate per hour varies as you go round the country. (So does the price of a haircut, so find a solicitor in offices near a cheap hairdresser:D )

Seriously though the hourly rate is likely to be a 3 figure amount.

The job is likely to be 5% law and 55% careful clerk work and 40% physical hassle. The 40% will be down to the family anyway: everything from organising the funeral, thru selling the possessions to clearing and selling the house ?

I insisted on having my sister as co-executor & co-signatory on everything, even though the probate people tried to get one of us to drop out. It was extra bother but it did mean there could never be recriminations about the decisions. It can be a lot of work for the clerk and you have to turn round letters PDQ or it drags on for ever (but you don't have to write to yourself when you need your executor's signature on something!).

Looking back, there are things I would have done differently, I could go into great detail, but briefly:

1. We were too efficient in telling everyone mum had died. HSBC continued to accept cheques made out mum after her death:T Which was very convenient. BUT I could write a book about the shambles at the pensions department: Pension + Fuel allowance + Attendance allowance = fiasco; had to get the MP involved.. It is better to let them pay you too much and then give it back.

2. When we sold the house, we were late organising change of address for some of mum's investments and some cheques went missing and we had to ask for replacements.

3. As mum had had a stroke, she was paying an incorrect amount of tax, because she had not been claiming refunds for the last few years. Sorting that out was worth about 1,500 ( + interest:T ) but it was a bit tricky.
Does anyone in your family have enduring power of attorney ?
Who organised the attendance allowance ? - that is probably worse than filling in the paperwork for probate and Inheritance tax, I've had to do it 3 times.

Final thought: Age Concern & Help the aged can be a source of information & support

Final final thought: I did not know about MSE in 2004, but you could always come back here and ask your friends for advice on individual items:j

Final final final thought: I have a friend who sorted out his parent's death but arranged a meeting with a solicitor to check his paperwork:
The solicitor said "I don't think I would bother to try and value those assets............but otherwise you have got it spot on". That saved him more in tax than he was charged for for the meeting ! (But the first 300,000 is charged at zero percent and only then is the rest charged at 40%)
Like paying a mechanic 50 pounds to get you car started: 5 pounds for his time and 45 for knowing how to do it.

Harry

klondyke

....referring to them as a class (like "grandchildren living at the time of my death")

LOL - be careful. We had a will drawn up during the freebie will week a couple of years ago. No grandchildren at the time, but thought we'd add in £250 each for any that might arrive, since that's a small, but IHT free amount, showing the 'thought was there'! Good thing we proofread it, as in the blase way of the rich, we found the traineee solicitor had blithely let us leave £250,000 to a non-existent grandchild! Trouble is, I'm not sure that it would have been picked up if I hadn't noticed.

Got a grandchild now, anyway!