Cost of a will

debjay

SevenOfNine wrote: »

In your circumstances I wouldn't touch a DiY Will with a 40 foot bargepole! Fair enough with something extremely simple, yours, though not necessarily too complex, certainly isn't exactly 'simple'.

My personal view is that I'd be looking up to the £500 mark. Whatever you pay, you should expect to get professional advice, suggestions for things you hadn't thought of etc.

A small example of a question a solicitor might ask could be in response to what you've said here - "We want to grant a life interest to the surviving spouse to remain in the property until his/her death". What if the survivor remarries? Would either of you want your children to wait for their inheritance while the survivor continues to live happily ever after in the property with their new partner?

It is about sitting down with a professional, setting out clearly what your aims are, what you want to achieve, & for them to point out pitfalls & make suggestions. The more prepared you are the better.

The solicitor I spoke to mentioned that sort of scenario above. That's why I'm tempted to go with that firm but they are the dearer quote. They did reduce it to £650/695 + VAT from £750/795 + VAT as we already have a Declaration of Trust. The cheaper price is if we pay at initial meeting rather than on signing the will. As explained I've had cheaper quotes but they also say costs may increase depending on our wishes. I agree that it does appear steep though. Has anyone had any success negotiating with solicitors over costs?

jackyann

As many of my posts say, I am quite a fan of DiY wills in simple circumstances, but absolutely not this one (as I'm sure OP was aware)

I would also, in this situation, go with the solicitor that you feel you trust. A bit like car hire quotes, what seems like a bargain gets added to until it isn't, and you then feel unhappy.

And the life interest in the property can be complicated - as well as the scenario described above (and some may be OK with that, it depends) this may also happen:
the survivor wishes to move, for health / disbility or social support reasons and they need the money from the sale of the house they are living in. It should not be difficult to draw up a will that allows this - the step-children's legacy simply shifts to the new property, but it does have to be specified.
I now know of 2 people stuck in unsuitable houses for their old age because the will was poorly drawn up, allowing only life interest in the specific property.

paddy's_mum

securityguy wrote: »

I would refuse to be executor of a DIY will unless I had a huge stake in the outcome. The two I've seen in my family have been utter disasters, costing far more in legal costs than a properly drafted will at the outset would possibly have cost, and tying the executors in knots for years

This has been the experience of my family too in very similar circumstances.

Believe it or not, my late grandfather's D-i-Y will ended up costing many thousands of pounds to sort out the resulting tangle/mess and was only finally resolved two years ago when the last 'unintended' and 'accidental' beneficiary died - 41 years later!

chesky

"Obviously I don't know much about wills..."

So why try to give advice?

jackyann

paddy's_mum wrote: »

This has been the experience of my family too in very similar circumstances.

Believe it or not, my late grandfather's D-i-Y will ended up costing many thousands of pounds to sort out the resulting tangle/mess and was only finally resolved two years ago when the last 'unintended' and 'accidental' beneficiary died - 41 years later!

This forum is about sharing experiences. I have experience of executing both DiY and solicitor-drawn-up wills. The DiY was simpler and completely straightforward. The solicitor's one had been allowed to sit long after it should have been updated, and was more difficult.
I think the main issue is the simplicity, and it was quite obvious from post 1 that this will would not be simple.

And paddy'smum - this must be close to a record (exclamation point not working)

Lazarus_Blackstar

chesky wrote: »

"Obviously I don't know much about wills..."

So why try to give advice?

And I have apologised for giving out such bad advice.
That's the trouble on this forum, some people jump down your throat at the slightest opinion.

SevenOfNine

I don't think it's so much of a discussion about DiY vs solicitor so neither 'side' needs to be defensive. OP was asking about the legal price points & pointed out herself that this wasn't straightforward.

DiY has its place & I don't think anyone is disputing that, but this scenario isn't it.

OP perhaps put cost slightly to one side, go with your gut instinct. Who is giving you plenty of free advice, telling you helpful things to consider without knowing if they'll get your business. Only thing I'm a bit sniffy about is parting with money before the finished product is produced.

paddy's_mum

Grandpa, who had a highly unusual surname and married for the second time late in life, left a home made will in which he wanted to leave some money to each of his "Unusual" grandchildren (as opposed to his second wife's grandchildren who were not of his blood.) He died in 1973.

Up went the balloon as genetically we were all his grandchildren but the ones bearing the same name said the term meant only John Unusual and Jane Unusual, clearly. Girls who had married (Anne, Elizabeth, Susan and Mary nee Unusual) they claimed were specifically excluded and didn't count.

He'd also left his widow fairly unprovided for and that had to be resolved under the dependent rules.

All in all, a complete mess and as he was a relatively wealthy man who could so easily have afforded top-notch legal advice, totally avoidable and farcical.

It was only brought to an end a couple of years ago when the second wife and all the disputing Unusual parents had passed away leaving the coast clear for the entire estate and trusts to be wound up with the agreement of everyone involved.

The only ones who really gained anything were, as always, the lawyers.

debjay

jackyann wrote: »

As many of my posts say, I am quite a fan of DiY wills in simple circumstances, but absolutely not this one (as I'm sure OP was aware)

I would also, in this situation, go with the solicitor that you feel you trust. A bit like car hire quotes, what seems like a bargain gets added to until it isn't, and you then feel unhappy.

And the life interest in the property can be complicated - as well as the scenario described above (and some may be OK with that, it depends) this may also happen:
the survivor wishes to move, for health / disbility or social support reasons and they need the money from the sale of the house they are living in. It should not be difficult to draw up a will that allows this - the step-children's legacy simply shifts to the new property, but it does have to be specified.
I now know of 2 people stuck in unsuitable houses for their old age because the will was poorly drawn up, allowing only life interest in the specific property.

Thanks jackyann that's exactly what we want. The children only to inherit their proportions of the estate when we're both dead. Bit like if we only had our children. They wouldn't inherit until we had both died. I think I'd rather pay a determined price even if higher than agree to instruct a firm with a lower fee who would then add to the fee once we had discussed the full details if that makes sense.

paddy's_mum

Whichever solicitor you eventually choose to draw up your wills, may I take this opportunity to say well done for actually sitting down and sorting out the situation.

Far too many people seem to think that making a will would somehow be tempting providence and bring on an early death!

If only they could see the pain, misery, stress and uncertainty that can result from failure to make a will or even worse, leaving an ambiguous D-i-Y one that can do nothing except muddy the waters for loved ones who are probably already struggling with bereavement and loss.

Looked at in the light of one's 'loved ones' it's not a very kind thing to do, is it?