Recommendation for writing a will?

techno79

Hi. I've been meaning to get a will drawn up but the whole process has been daunting so I've put it off for years but I'm pulling my finger out and trying to just get it done.

The daunting thing about it is that there seems to be so many companies out there who offer it that it seems like a minefield over how much it should cost, what service I should use, whether I can use one of those online services or if I need to speak to a solicitor in person.

Having had a search online, there are several online companies that claim to draw up a legal will by just filling in an online form.

1) Are these types of services okay for will?
2) Are there any recommendations for a decent service?
3) What is a fair price to pay for a service like this? Most of my searches seem to find services that range from £50 to £100.

Many thanks in advance

Robin9

Solicitors rub their hand with glee at these DIY and will writers efforts.

Go to a solicitor and talk with him/her .

When you go take details - addresses, full names, of all the people involved, the executors, beneficiaries. That all saves time and money.

TonyMMM

Local solicitor

techno79

I don't understand, I thought these online will packs were legal as they are checked and written by solicitors. I found quite a few websites but as an example, this one: http://www.lawpack.co.uk/wills/item1198.asp

Are these sites no good?

PasturesNew

My parents went to a proper/local solicitor .... 25 years later when we pulled it out, it had errors on it and made it "intestate", although, in our case, that didn't actually matter as the values were so low and the solicitor managed to get it "reinstated as it was intended, despite the mistake, because it didn't fundamentally change much of any significance and nobody was omitted by doing this".

Part of the thing with wills is: depends how complex your life is and how much value you've got rattling about ....

What the solicitor had managed to end up doing, with two mirror wills, is not doing Find/Replace properly - and dad ended up leaving everything he owned to himself and not to mum! He tried to take it all with him which, you can't do.

techno79

PasturesNew wrote: »

My parents went to a proper/local solicitor .... 25 years later when we pulled it out, it had errors on it and made it "intestate", although, in our case, that didn't actually matter as the values were so low and the solicitor managed to get it "reinstated as it was intended, despite the mistake, because it didn't fundamentally change much of any significance and nobody was omitted by doing this".

Part of the thing with wills is: depends how complex your life is and how much value you've got rattling about ....

What the solicitor had managed to end up doing, with two mirror wills, is not doing Find/Replace properly - and dad ended up leaving everything he owned to himself and not to mum! He tried to take it all with him which, you can't do.

Sorry but this just adds more confusion for me. Are you saying that local solicitor may not be as good as these online services? I don't think I have a particularly complicated will so I don't think I'll need a bespoke service. The basic service is probably using some software to do the find/replace stuff so should be fairly accurate, no?

Mojisola

PasturesNew wrote: »

My parents went to a proper/local solicitor .... 25 years later when we pulled it out, it had errors on it and made it "intestate", although, in our case, that didn't actually matter as the values were so low and the solicitor managed to get it "reinstated as it was intended, despite the mistake, because it didn't fundamentally change much of any significance and nobody was omitted by doing this".

Glad it was sorted out but wills really should be looked at and reviewed more frequently than that!

My parents made their wills at a solicitor and signed them in his office - only they were given each other's wills and Mum signed Dad's and vice versa! Fortunately I picked this up when we checked over the photocopies a few years later. Had either of them died before the mistake was found, we would have had problems.

When we came to make our wills, I read and re-read everything very carefully to ensure there were no mistakes.

Mojisola

techno79 wrote: »

Sorry but this just adds more confusion for me. Are you saying that local solicitor may not be as good as these online services? I don't think I have a particularly complicated will so I don't think I'll need a bespoke service. The basic service is probably using some software to do the find/replace stuff so should be fairly accurate, no?

Try to get some recommendations for good solicitors - there are useless practitioners in any profession but generally a solicitor will be better than a will writing service.

The problem with wills is the mistakes/problems often don't come to light until after the testator has died.

Keep_pedalling

techno79 wrote: »

I don't understand, I thought these online will packs were legal as they are checked and written by solicitors. I found quite a few websites but as an example, this one: http://www.lawpack.co.uk/wills/item1198.asp

Are these sites no good?

The thing about going to a solisitor is that you will have a face to face meeting where the solisitor will bring up all the what if scenarios that you have not thought about. Solicitors are also regulated, so in the unlikely event of them making an error, beneficiaries have a legal avenue to recover any losses made because of the error, something you won’t be able to do with a will writing company.

Savvy_Sue

It's not that none of these sites are any good, but that no-one will know whether they're any good (least of all you) until it's too late.

And at £50 to £100, you're definitely not going to get decent advice: someone talking you through all the 'what if' scenarios and answering any questions you have.

Also it is likely they will offer you additional services at inflated prices: storing your will (not necessary); drawing up a trust to safeguard your house should you need residential care (not necessary / not necessarily legal); offering you an updating service (not necessary that often if it's well-written in the first place).

Phone a few local solicitors and find out what they charge. See how you feel about them: do they phone back when they say they will? Can they answer basic questions over the phone? And so on.

PasturesNew

techno79 wrote: »

Sorry but this just adds more confusion for me. Are you saying that local solicitor may not be as good as these online services? I don't think I have a particularly complicated will so I don't think I'll need a bespoke service. The basic service is probably using some software to do the find/replace stuff so should be fairly accurate, no?

I'm just saying ... triple check what you end up with .... word by word by word by word... saying it slowly out loud to yourself... no matter who you use.