on line will writing service

littlerock

Not sure if this is the right board. OH wants to make a will just something basic as he has very few tangible assets, not great savings, does not own property or shares etc. He was thinking about using one of these on line will writing services . at least as a starting point.Has anyone here used one and can recommend?

Yorkshireman99

littlerock wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right board. OH wants to make a will just something basic as he has very few tangible assets, not great savings, does not own property or shares etc. He was thinking about using one of these on line will writing services . at least as a starting point.Has anyone here used one and can recommend?

Avoid them all!

littlerock

Are you speaking from personal experience?

Yorkshireman99

littlerock wrote: »

Are you speaking from personal experience?

Short answer no. Long answer is that the overwhelming view on this forum is that Will Writers and DIY wills are a very bad idea. Anybody making a will should have professional advice.

Malthusian

It is always dangerous to go against the general rule of "everyone should have a Will" but if "very few tangible assets, not great savings, does not own property or shares etc" amounts to less than £250,000 on death, everything will pass to you anyway under intestacy - assuming OH means husband. Anything held as joint owners would also pass to you automatically without going through his estate.

If he needs a Will then he should pay the £100 or so to get the job done properly.

He may only need a simple Will but both DIYing and will writers are capable of making a simple estate into a complicated one.

littlerock

Has anyone used the Co-Op will writing service? . Most of the solicitors locally do not put prices on their websites but instead emphasise how complicated it is to draw up a will and how highly qualified their staff are, which does not bode well for a simple cheap will which is all OH wants. On the phone they say he would need to go in for an initial discussion.

The cheapest quote I can get locally is £150 per hour from a local solicitors which emphasises how cheap they are. How long should it take? It is not the cost per se but the idea that he will get bullied into something unnecessary that unsettles OH. I know it is daft but he does not like dealing with the legal profession following a couple of bad experiences in the past (over his father's estate (for which there was a will) and hiring a solicitor to defend him over a fabricated motoring incident.)

Yorkshireman99

littlerock wrote: »

Has anyone used the Co-Op will writing service? . Most of the solicitors locally do not put prices on their websites but instead emphasise how complicated it is to draw up a will and how highly qualified their staff are, which does not bode well for a simple cheap will which is all OH wants. On the phone they say he would need to go in for an initial discussion.

The cheapest quote I can get locally is £150 per hour from a local solicitors which emphasises how cheap they are. How long should it take? It is not the cost per se but the idea that he will get bullied into something unnecessary that unsettles OH. I know it is daft but he does not like dealing with the legal profession following a couple of bad experiences in the past (over his father's estate (for which there was a will) and hiring a solicitor to defend him over a fabricated motoring incident.)

Phone a few solicitors and ask how much the charge for a straightforward will. Expect to pay £150-200. The may ask if you want POAs but you can do these directly online here.

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/overview

Malthusian

littlerock wrote: »

Most of the solicitors locally do not put prices on their websites but instead emphasise how complicated it is to draw up a will and how highly qualified their staff are, which does not bode well for a simple cheap will which is all OH wants. On the phone they say he would need to go in for an initial discussion.

I am intrigued as to what the simple Will consists of. My definition of a simple Will is something like "all assets to my wife, or if she predeceases me to my children" which if you have no assets to speak of is what you get from intestacy (no, I don't advocate dying intestate). You haven't said what he actually wants from his Will, and if you can't say what his wishes are without revealing personal family details, then it may not be that simple.

Reading these boards for a few weeks will demonstrate that what people think are "simple" wishes can in fact be pretty complicated. Which is why solicitors, like mechanics or any other trade, will want to find out what the job is before they tell you how much it's likely to cost. You have nothing to lose from a free initial consultation.

Very few people like dealing with the legal profession, which is why you should always ensure that Wills are done properly, unless you dislike your heirs and what them to spend lots of time and money dealing with the legal profession.

Kpros

I Don't know if it helps but we were in the same boat as you and after having very high quotes from local solicitors we found a company called later life Professor we paid around £250 for both of our wills in total and we have free updates if needed. We had a professional come out to our house to see us and take our information for the wills too which was completely free and it was about 2 weeks after both of our Wills were back. We couldn't be happier. We did look at DIY wills but we were advised against them based on some of the things we wanted in our Wills.