DIY wills

greyteam1959

Absolute madness not to get proper professional advice.
As I said in my first post.

jackyann

Hello willownuts!
Posting in sympathy as I know the feeling of wanting to keep things simple, and then it gets complicated!

Been there, done that, here is my "will history" if it helps!

First married, DIY "mirror will" all to each other, then siblings.

Young children: solicitor. All to each other (easy) but if we both go; house to the person we wished to nominate as guardian - on condition she cared for the children - remainder in trust to kids. Note that in the event of children being orphaned, social services & the court do need to OK your choice of guardian (I've never known it to be a problem, but is of course, just in case you have unwittingly nominated someone unsuitable). Most solicitors suggest in trust to kids, with guardian able to access funds, but as we had a large family, we wanted her to have a bit more freedom (didn't want our "trust fund kids" going on school trips if she couldn't afford for hers to go etc.)

Kids got to 18: back to DIY - all to each other, then estate to kids (trust that emotionally, they are there for each other + other relatives around)

Grandchilden: in an attempt to be fair to different family circumstances, back to a solicitor so a trust can be set up (can be done DIY, but we thought it too fraught!)

It does help to keep fees down if you work it all out, and go ready with information. Ring for quotes. We did consider one of those "on-line" solicitors - you tell them what you want, they draw it up, you OK it etc. But actually, face-to-face with an old fashioned local solicitor was very little more & felt more comfortable.