Codicil or full will?

kingfisherblue

My mum wrote a new Will about five years ago and made my sister and I executors. We are the main beneficiaries and there are a few small bequests to other people. One bequest was to a former employee of my mum's, whom she considered a friend.

This 'friend' has now not been in touch with my mum (including ignoring her letters and answer machine messages) for about three or four years. She didn't tell Mum when she got engaged - we found out when we bumped into her and a chap, and my mum asked her to introduce him. We found out that she had a child when the 'friend' rang my mum a few weeks after the birth. She didn't even give my mum her new address.

Mum has now decided to remove this woman from her Will. The bequest is £1000. Mum has made an appointment at the solicitor's and I will accompany her, at her request. She doesn't want my sister there, possibly because it would mean her taking time off work. In addition, she said that I am the one who 'looks after her', by which she means I take her shopping, sort out energy suppliers, take her to hospital and doctor appointments, etc. She is of sound mind and despite a few minor health problems, she is quite fit for her age and needs no help with personal care or housework (apart from changing lightbulbs!).

So, when changing a Will to remove a beneficiary, is a codicil acceptable or does a new Will need to be made? I think a codicil would be fine, but I don't know for certain. The entire estate, including her house, is way below the tax level. It will probably be in the region of £150k.

I don't know if the estate amount or the bequest amount make a difference.

Yorkshireman99

Al though a codicil is legally quite OK the practice now is to do a new will as it can easily be done as the old one will be on a word processing file. Remember a codicil can always go missing so this is the best way. The charge is likely to be similar.

kingfisherblue

Thank you Yorkshireman. Mum has been told the price of a new Will, but not how much a codicil would cost. I'll let my mum know what you have said.

tanith

My sister wanted to add a codicil to her will and they charged her £500 so do check the costs before going ahead. My sister could of made a new will for a fraction of that cost.

Yorkshireman99

kingfisherblue wrote: »

Thank you Yorkshireman. Mum has been told the price of a new Will, but not how much a codicil would cost. I'll let my mum know what you have said.

The cost a of a new will should not cost more than £250 depending on where in the country you live. Phone around a few solicitors and ask. Don't use a will writer.

kingfisherblue

I think her last Will (the one she wants to remove the bequest from) was under £200. I'll do some ringing around for her - she doesn't like talking to strangers on the phone, so I usually deal with anything like this. We won't use a Will writer - I've learned that from MSE (and had never heard of them previously!).

Thank you again for your help.

ThePants999

I know there are dangers involved in writing your own will. But surely taking a will that a solicitor wrote and removing a single bequest from it is a pretty safe thing to do, and doesn't involve paying a three figure sum!

Yorkshireman99

ThePants999 wrote: »

I know there are dangers involved in writing your own will. But surely taking a will that a solicitor wrote and removing a single bequest from it is a pretty safe thing to do, and doesn't involve paying a three figure sum!

The problem is that making a simple mistake such as ommiting a comma or adding a full stop can completely change the will's meaning. How would the OP feel if they took the short cut and the will was then invalid? Don't think it can't happen! It just is not worth it.

Savvy_Sue

And it's not just the words, it's the process of signing: get that wrong and the whole will can be invalidated too, or certain bequests.

Lorian

My solicitor recently made a small, similar codicil and the cost was £80 including attending to discuss, posting a draft, attending to sign a week later, providing the two witnesses and two cups of coffee.

A provincial solicitor.

FreeBear

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

The problem is that making a simple mistake such as ommiting a comma or adding a full stop can completely change the will's meaning.

My solicitor refused to use punctuation when drafting my will as, in her words, a comma in the wrong place could cause confusion.