Will advice, single person with no family

whitejohn

Mojisola wrote: »

A professional who is doing the work as part of his/her job can charge; an individual can't.

A lay executor can employ a solicitor to do some or all of the work while remaining the executor so they can keep control of what's happening and what is being spent. The cost of the solicitor would be paid out of the estate.

Possibly back to my friend doing it and he can maybe negotiate a fixed price for a solicitor to handle the work. I would be leaving him a fixed amount and the charity the balance so he would not lose out in any way.

TBagpuss

How complex are your finances? this could make a difference to how easy it is for your friend to deal with the probate - for instance, if you have just a house and money in the bank, the probate will be much simpler than if you have lots of different investments, overseas assets etc.

DIY wills are not, generally, a good idea.

If you make your friend the executor, then he would be free to instruct a solicitor if he didn't feel confident dealing with the estate.

As you don't have a final order in relation to your divorce, it would be sensible to include either in you will, or in a side letter, a brief explanation of why you have left her nothing (not detailing how she has behaved just summarizing the fact that you are divorced and how you split the matrimonial assets.

You could also consider approaching your ex with a view to getting a clean break order now. AS your ex is financially better off than you she might be open to this as it would protect her against any claims you might make against her or her estate.

g6jns_2

whitejohn wrote: »

Possibly back to my friend doing it and he can maybe negotiate a fixed price for a solicitor to handle the work. I would be leaving him a fixed amount and the charity the balance so he would not lose out in any way.

From what you say your friend is probably not up to the job of being executor so it would be best not to burden him with it. There are solicitors that offer a fixed fee for probate.You might investigate this option. I have no personal knowledsge of the following but I have heard good reports of them.

https://www.berkeleyweston.co.uk

Worth looking at anyway.

whitejohn

TBagpuss wrote: »

How complex are your finances? this could make a difference to how easy it is for your friend to deal with the probate - for instance, if you have just a house and money in the bank, the probate will be much simpler than if you have lots of different investments, overseas assets etc.

DIY wills are not, generally, a good idea.

If you make your friend the executor, then he would be free to instruct a solicitor if he didn't feel confident dealing with the estate.

As you don't have a final order in relation to your divorce, it would be sensible to include either in you will, or in a side letter, a brief explanation of why you have left her nothing (not detailing how she has behaved just summarizing the fact that you are divorced and how you split the matrimonial assets.

You could also consider approaching your ex with a view to getting a clean break order now. AS your ex is financially better off than you she might be open to this as it would protect her against any claims you might make against her or her estate.

Finances are extremely simple,sold my house, money in the bank and touring in my caravan until I decide what to do next. Good point about the ex. I need to draw something up now whilst it's all fresh in my mind. Strangely she thinks I owe her a couple of thousand so we cannot come to any agreement but both had our own properties valued almost identical. She is 8 years younger and still working, I'm retired on state pension. Unlikely she would succeed in any claim or she would be doing it now.

whitejohn

g6jns wrote: »

From what you say your friend is probably not up to the job of being executor so it would be best not to burden him with it. There are solicitors that offer a fixed fee for probate.You might investigate this option. I have no personal knowledsge of the following but I have heard good reports of them.

https://www.berkeleyweston.co.uk

Worth looking at anyway.

I agree about trying not to burden my friend and will advise him to get a fixed fee solicitor I think.

BobQ

OP you do not seem to trust your friend or have much confidence in him. If he is older do you think he will die before you? If so may be worth dealing with the problem now.

Why not go to a solicitor and get him to draw up a will that appoints the firm of solicitors and your friend as joint executors. Most of costs for a professional executor are in sorting out the small things. So explain to the solicitor that you want your friend to do what he can and for them to deal with the rest.

Leave your friend a fixed sum of money for his trouble and all your personal property. Leave the rest to the charity. Your friend can then arrange your funeral and take what he wants from your property, invite charities to take items they want, ask a house firm to clear the house If your friend cannot manage this he can tell the solicitor.

The solicitor will then only need to sort the money and any property which will reduce the professional costs. Solicitors will then take an interest in what your friend does.

belle_de_jour

BobQ wrote: »

Why not go to a solicitor and get him to draw up a will that appoints the firm of solicitors and your friend as joint executors. Most of costs for a professional executor are in sorting out the small things. So explain to the solicitor that you want your friend to do what he can and for them to deal with the rest.

This is exactly what my late mum did - her solicitor and I were joint executors. I did all the initial writing/phoning/form filling/sending off copies of the death certificate to tell companies she had died and the solicitor did all the probate work.

I had my own will done professionally and have appointed two friends as joint executors. I'm sure either one of them is capable of handling probate but if they decided to involve a solicitor they are both savvy enough to keep an eye on costs.

JimmyTheWig

Mojisola wrote: »

A lay executor can recoup expenses but not take any payment for the work he/she does.

But if that lay executioner is getting a percentage of the estate it is still in their interests to do the work for free rather than for the estate to pay a professional.

Mojisola

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

But if that lay executioner is getting a percentage of the estate it is still in their interests to do the work for free rather than for the estate to pay a professional.

In their financial interest, yes, but there may be other reasons why an executor would choose to have a solicitor deal with the estate.

fairy_lights

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

But if that lay executioner is getting a percentage of the estate it is still in their interests to do the work for free rather than for the estate to pay a professional.

If a lay executioner is entitled to a percentage of your estate it's in their interests to bump you off!