Will making advice please

DUTR

I think you need to ask the would be carers if they are willing to do the task too?
As the executors of the will also.

Savvy_Sue

We appointed as guardians people we relied on to make the right decisions for our children if the situation arose. We didn't necessarily expect them to take the boys on, but to work out what was best for them - what would have been best for them aged 3, 5 and 7 would not have been the same once they were teenagers!

They knew we didn't want either family to take them on ...

jackyann

Sue is giving good advice.
We made a decision that we would leave our house (life insurance would have paid the mortgage off) to the people we appointed guardians. This was because with our 4 + their own, they would need a bigger house! Theoretically our chikldren could have owned part of it, but this would necessitate selling off later, and didn't seem to encourage a good family relationship. Similarly, we didn't want a situation where our children's trustees could release money for, say, a school trip, but the guardians couldn't afford to send their own kids.
So we thought that having our house would enable enough space & money for the new, blended family to flourish.
It was easy enough to make it conditional on their taking the children and becoming defunct when the youngest was 18. Having trusted them with the most precious things of all, we had to trust them to be fair if, for example, we died when youngest was 17.
The solicitor was not totally happy, but we explained our philiosphy was that if we weren't around; we wanted our kids to reach adulthood having had a good family life, and no money left; than money and a less good family life. She insisted we checked with other family members (none of whom would have been in a position to take the kids) then drew up the will
Fortunately it never arose, and we now have very simple "mirror" wills.

Mojisola

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

We appointed as guardians people we relied on to make the right decisions for our children if the situation arose. We didn't necessarily expect them to take the boys on, but to work out what was best for them - what would have been best for them aged 3, 5 and 7 would not have been the same once they were teenagers!

They knew we didn't want either family to take them on ...

We did the same because who would have been the best people to look after them would have depended on what ages the children were when we popped off. Luckily, we survived :rotfl: so the guardians didn't have to make any decisions.

SailorSam

I think it's May that's the next time you can get a solicitor to draw up a Will for you by making a donation to charity, perhaps Age Concern or your local Hospice.

For Example.
http://www.christie.nhs.uk/the-christie-charity/donate/legacy-giving/make-a-will-week.aspx

Savvy_Sue

You are all reminding me that we really MUST dig out the forms we've been sent to make us start thinking about our revised wills. I keep thinking it doesn't really matter unless we all go together, which is unlikely now the boys have mostly left home, but then I remember that one of our executors is dead, and possibly his wife as well, so getting a death certificate would be 'interesting' as I have no idea when he died, although I can probably find out. And the other executor lives 100 miles away and we've not seen them since we moved over 10 years ago. Their name is distinctive, so wouldn't be hard to find, but even so ...

jackyann

Yes please Sue, do sort it out!
My dad made his will in 1976 and died in 2010. One of his executors was the clerk at the solicitors' office (sibling + I the others).
The solicitors, having been absorbed into a bigger firm on 2 occasions, denied all knowledge of this man, and said he must have been a family friend - he was known to my dad outside of work, but not really a "friend". He would have been over a 100, so I guessed he was probably dead, and I found out that searching for a death certificate is not easy if you don't have an approximate date of death.
I finally used the electoral roll and phone book; asked as gently as I could, "do you know X?". It was his widow who answered, so I said that I would send a letter, explaining everything, including a sae, solicitors' contact details (so she knew I was OK!) and an offer to pay for a taxi to their office to make a certified copy of the death certificate. I didn't need to be that concerned: she happily sorted out a copy, moaned about the new firm & spoke fondly of my dad (!) I sent her some flowers.
But I'd rather not have had the hassle!

madbadrob

jackyann wrote: »

Yes please Sue, do sort it out!
My dad made his will in 1976 and died in 2010. One of his executors was the clerk at the solicitors' office (sibling + I the others).
The solicitors, having been absorbed into a bigger firm on 2 occasions, denied all knowledge of this man, and said he must have been a family friend - he was known to my dad outside of work, but not really a "friend". He would have been over a 100, so I guessed he was probably dead, and I found out that searching for a death certificate is not easy if you don't have an approximate date of death.
I finally used the electoral roll and phone book; asked as gently as I could, "do you know X?". It was his widow who answered, so I said that I would send a letter, explaining everything, including a sae, solicitors' contact details (so she knew I was OK!) and an offer to pay for a taxi to their office to make a certified copy of the death certificate. I didn't need to be that concerned: she happily sorted out a copy, moaned about the new firm & spoke fondly of my dad (!) I sent her some flowers.
But I'd rather not have had the hassle!

What a lovely lady she sounds and it would seem from the next to final sentence that your father was friends with the wife and the solicitor out of the business. In this day and age help like this is so unusual

Rob