New will?

Pennie63

I hope this is the right place to ask!

I already have a will in place but I have two questions.

1. I want to change the executors named in my will. How old does an executor have to be, minimum age?

2. I cannot find my will, so will make a new one. How is this best done cost wise please?

Thank you!

Yorkshireman99

Pennie63 wrote: »

I hope this is the right place to ask!

I already have a will in place but I have two questions.

1. I want to change the executors named in my will. How old does an executor have to be, minimum age?

2. I cannot find my will, so will make a new one. How is this best done cost wise please?

Thank you!

Executor has to b 18. Don't DIY or use a will company. Phone around local solicitors or ask for recomendations.

buildersdaughter

Yorkshireman and I disagree on very few things, but I think that DiY is fine for very straightforward will. I have made 4 wills in my life:
Married, no kids. DiY, all to my husband, failing that, to my only sibling.
Married, kids. Solicitor, with arrangements made for kids' guardianship & trust.
Married, adult kids, no grandchildren. DiY, all to husband, failing that, equally among children.
Married, grandchildren. Solicitor, who will set up trust for current & future grandchildren, also arrangements for our kids' partners, couldn't possibly be DiY.

Yorkshireman99

buildersdaughter wrote: »

Yorkshireman and I disagree on very few things, but I think that DiY is fine for very straightforward will. I have made 4 wills in my life:
Married, no kids. DiY, all to my husband, failing that, to my only sibling.
Married, kids. Solicitor, with arrangements made for kids' guardianship & trust.
Married, adult kids, no grandchildren. DiY, all to husband, failing that, equally among children.
Married, grandchildren. Solicitor, who will set up trust for current & future grandchildren, also arrangements for our kids' partners, couldn't possibly be DiY.

All I can say is that if you had ever seen the heartache and confusion caused by a DIY will that was found to be invalid you would never use one. A classic case is where someone makes a simple will leaving everything to their unmarried partner. The is invalid so the partner does not get a penny under the intestacy rules. The partner is made homeless and, penniless. All for the sake of paying a solicitor £150 to do the job properly. Don.t do it!!!

kangoora

Pennie63 wrote: »

2. I cannot find my will, so will make a new one. How is this best done cost wise please?

Thank you!

A couple of times a year there is a 'free' will service done by participating solicitors.

It's not strictly free as you are expected to donate to charity but you could save some money over the cost of a 'regular' will by setting your donation to what is affordable.

Hopefully someone will be able to expand further on these as I can't remember when and who does them.

Sea_Shell

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

All I can say is that if you had ever seen the heartache and confusion caused by a DIY will that was found to be invalid you would never use one. A classic case is where someone makes a simple will leaving everything to their unmarried partner. The is invalid so the partner does not get a penny under the intestacy rules. The partner is made homeless and, penniless. All for the sake of paying a solicitor £150 to do the job properly. Don.t do it!!!

Conversely, for balance, we have also seen the heartache caused by a professionally drawn up valid will, that was not fit for purpose at the time of death....as hadn't been reviewed for many years and ended up doing exactly what the testator DIDN'T want.

Yorkshireman99

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Conversely, for balance, we have also seen the heartache caused by a professionally drawn up valid will, that was not fit for purpose at the time of death....as hadn't been reviewed for many years and ended up doing exactly what the testator DIDN'T want.

With respect that is a totally different issue. As a general rule all wills should be regularly reviewed at least every five years.

Sea_Shell

I'm just saying, there can be issues with wills regardless of who draws them up. It's not a "do once and forget" task.

A known and recommended Solicitor did our first wills, in the full knowledge that we were engaged, and had bought a house together (the whole reason for getting the wills done)...but it turned out that he didn't include the "in contemplation of marriage clause" (which we had absolutely no knowledge of at the time, so didn't know it was needed), so went for years thinking we had valid wills drawn up by a qualified Solicitor!!!

You can't ask for something you don't know exists....that's their job. Not ALL of them do it very well.

Yorkshireman99

Sea_Shell wrote: »

I'm just saying, there can be issues with wills regardless of who draws them up. It's not a "do once and forget" task.

A known and recommended Solicitor did our first wills, in the full knowledge that we were engaged, and had bought a house together (the whole reason for getting the wills done)...but it turned out that he didn't include the "in contemplation of marriage clause" (which we had absolutely no knowledge of at the time, so didn't know it was needed), so went for years thinking we had valid wills drawn up by a qualified Solicitor!!!

You can't ask for something you don't know exists....that's their job. Not ALL of them do it very well.

I understand your point but would be wrong to characterise all solicitors as being incompetenton the basis of one bad one.

Silvertabby

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Conversely, for balance, we have also seen the heartache caused by a professionally drawn up valid will, that was not fit for purpose at the time of death....as hadn't been reviewed for many years and ended up doing exactly what the testator DIDN'T want.

To be fair, the fact that the will hadn't been reviewed for many years wasn't the fault of the professional who drew up the original one. Our solicitor certainly told us that we should review ours at regular intervals, especially if our circumstances/wishes changed.

I'm not in the legal profession (retired LGPS administrator) but I do have experience of dealing with the fall-out from DIY wills. In one case, the WH Smith diy job seemed perfectly legit in that it had been properly signed and witnessed etc. Unfortunately, the retired LGPS pensioner used the will to 'leave' his unmarried partner his LGPS benefits - but this wasn't possible under the rules in effect at the time the chap retired (ie, pension to legally married spouse only). This case dragged on for some time as the partner wouldn't accept that this part of the will had 'failed'.

Browntoa

DIY will , as pointed out probably invalid if not correct

Will writing company , looks fine until you see the extortionate fees for execution of it

Solicitor will , yes you could get a bad apple but 99% ok and you can choose to have options to self manage execution of will or allow solicitor to do it . Solicitor is required to give you list of feeds. Simple updates can be done by codicil rather than full rewrite.