another live for ever or die trying question

Malthusian

My point was directed more at the mother than the OP, and I wasn't advocating that anyone should do a DIY will. Merely pointing out that money is not an excuse for not making one.

chesky

An A4 hand written will is better than nothing (provided its witnessed) as in the OP mother's case. But not for the OP himself.

chesky

Sorry, posts crossed with Malthusian.

Crabapple

I'm not quite sure what a 'wealth counsellor' is, but I suggest you avoid them!

See a solicitor about your will and an independent financial advisor about your assets. Your bank will only sell you their own products and there are likely to be far better options out there, including some that can legitimately use IHT allowances.

Yorkshireman99

Malthusian wrote: »

My point was directed more at the mother than the OP, and I wasn't advocating that anyone should do a DIY will. Merely pointing out that money is not an excuse for not making one.

Noted! Apologies. You are of course correct. It is sad that someone with such wealth won't spend a few hundred pounds making life easier for their family.

Yorkshireman99

Uneducated_Archie wrote: »

Thanx everyone:

I live in England.



We haven't made wills, mainly because of the perceived difficulties in completing one. We don't know of anyone (within the family who would be competent enough to act as executor. (my father died intestate three years ago and my sister (lives 250 miles away from me) got lumbered with the paperwork, I couldn't ask her to do it. Our financial circumstances are forever changing - we close an account in this BS and open one in another etc and we couldn't be expected to make out a new will each and every time we did so.

I wouldn't like to think of some solicitor/bank employee charging £250 an hour to write to each and every bank/unit trust holder etc.

I speak to my sister on the phone she understands about these things but to be honest they are too difficult for me to understand. I feel sorry for her, after my father died (intestate), she took my aged mother (93 year old) into her house and sorted out father's estate/funeral/selling the house/house clearance etc. My mother's brother died recently (he did make a will - all of it goes to my mother). My mother has about 370K of her own money + what she'll get from her brother. She point blankly refuses to make a will, even though she saw the stress and strain my sister went through with father.

We know we should make a will. I spoke to the bank manager last week, he stated that he will get me an interview with a wealth counselor in the new year. In the mean time I'd like to have some background knowledge.

The link from Yorkshireman 99 was very helpful.

Thanx to everyone

Don't use a bank as executor as this would be the most expensive of the lot along with the worst advice.

seven-day-weekend

You don't have to have a relative to be your executor. We have two friends for our wills, and we have just agreed to act as executors for an elderly friend of ours.

Make a will, it is so much easier.

TBagpuss

As others have said, go to see a solicitor.

You have various options - in your will you can name each other as your executors (so if you die first, your wife deals with your estate, if she dies first, you deal with hers) andthen apoint a different executor or executors to deal with the estte when the second of you dies, or if you died at the same time.

You can appoint a friend or a family member, and they would then have the option to use a solicitor if they found dealing with matters difficult. Or, if you prefer, you can appoint your solicitor as executor. Solicitors do charge but it may still be a good option if you feel that asking a family member to do it is not apporpriate in your personal circumstances.

In relation to your original questions.

- things in joint names, such as a joint bank account, or a property held as Joint Tenants, automatically goes to the other joint owner and doesn't form part of your estate in the will.
- of the other assets, your spouse would (if you have no will) get the first £450K plus half the rest (this changes if you have children)

So on the details you gave, if you died, the £313 in joint names would automatically belong to your wife. Your estate would therefore be worth £225K and as that is less than £450K she would be entitled to all of it.

You don't need to remake your will when you change your investments etc. Normally, other than specific items / family heirlooms you don't list specific assets in a will (e.g. you might say that you leave (say) your signet ring to your favourite nephew, but you wouldn't say that you leave your barclays bank account to him, you'd normally say you leave him £xx, or x% of your total estate)

It's a good idea to keep clear financial records so that your executor knows what your assets are, but this is not part of your will, it might be a list kep with the will (so you would only need to update the list periodically, not the will) or it could just be a note to say that you keep all your financial records in a file in a specific location.

Savvy_Sue

Right up until you said your sister was 70, I was thinking 'appoint her, and let her appoint solicitors to do the job if she wishes, or those bits of the job she doesn't want to deal with'.

But while you could appoint each other and her as joint executors, it may end up not being a sensible arrangement for very long.

No nephews and nieces? Younger cousins?

Where do you each want the money to go on the second death? If it's a charity, then you can appoint them as executors.

Uneducated_Archie

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Where do you each want the money to go on the second death? If it's a charity, then you can appoint them as executors.

No I don't think I'd give my money to charity. I take a dislike to Lenny Henry trying to part me with my money "Come on Give Us Your Money".

In my last job in the civil service I was earning something like £18,220.oo a year. The point I'd put to Lenny was, "if I were to give everything I earn above £18,200.oo a year, would you do the same?"

The answer would be NO, so why should I?

The CEO from the charity Crisis was on TV very recently wanting more funding. Well if they paid him the equivalent of of a Company Sergeant Major in the army, saved the rest they would certainly be able to provide lots and lots of hot cups of tea and marmite sandwiches for the homeless.

I would consider leaving my money to the Royal Chelsea Hospital, if the wife goes before me, that's where I'm heading. Nice warm red suit, tickets to Wimbledon, Twickenham, Wembley, West End Shows the lot! I went there as part of an army visit in 1967, we had lunch then went to the bar. The Officer Commanding asked us to cotton on to a pensioner and buy him a few drinks. Me and my mate found a pensioner who had fought alongside my grandfather in WWI. We bought him beers, Irish Whisky (we didn't have whiskies) after about 3 hours me and my mate were almost legless. When we had to get back on the coach after the visit the Pensioner said, "I'm off now", I said "What off to bed", he said "No, I've got to mow the lawns" and walked away sober as a judge. Yes that's the place for me!