Wills and Power Of Attorney

jnielow

Dear Everyone,


Have not posted for a while and hope this is posted in the correct section!, also hope everyone is ok.


My wife and I have basic Wills which were drawn up in 2005. I was speaking to a friend recently who mentioned this subject and put me onto a professional Will/Power of Attorney specialist. I have been thinking recently of updating our Wills and drawing up some Lasting Power of Attorney.


I wanted to run past you guys the costs I have been quoted for this service:


1/ £400 to re-write 2 mirror wills.


2/ £1200 to draw up 4 LPA's for myself and wife.


3/ £328 for the registration to the Office of Public Guardian.


So the total being £1928, I asked her for a breakdown of what I would be getting for this. It includes a couple of home visits,drawing up the Wills and Power of Attorneys properly and legally. I have read and know that all this can be drawn up by the individual probably far cheaper. But I have also read that there are pitfulls people fall into ie mistakes made on the LPA's making them invalid and being rejected by the Office of Public Gaurdian.


I am guessing that what she is charging is probably cheaper than a solicitor, and is more or less competitive with say Co-op services. She also offers a monthly payment plan for the costs and to think of the cost as an insurance policy. I seem to be thinking about this most of the time at present, and should be thinking about things in the here and now.


What I am asking is has anyone been involved in this?, done it themselves? or employed a specialist?. I am keen to get these important documents drawn up but the expense is a factor. Also wondered what peoples thoughts are also.


Regards


Jason

Browntoa

Basic price for each LPA is £82 ...forms easy to fill out , they check the LPA and tell you of any mistakes and what needs changing or correcting.

What do you think ? Is £1200 a Rip off .... I think so

elsien

It possibly depends in part how much detail you want to put in the LPA. The more you do, potentially the more likely you are to make a mistake or say something that has unintended consequences.

Just done parents online and because it was basically "these are my preferences but I trust my family to decide" it was very straightforward.

ETA there's a power of attorney thread on here somewhere which you might find helpful to read. Has lots of people's questions and experiences.

Browntoa

Forums guide to LPA

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/power-of-attorney/

Primrose

Can't comment on the price for the wills because I don,t know how complex your affairs are and whether you need specific advice but if this includes a home visit probably not u reasonable.

However the price quote for P of As is a rip off. We did the Financial and Health & Welfare ones ourselves recently online for 4 x £82. If you are capable of specifically writing down your wishes you could easily do this yourself, and you can certify copies for free by copying the wording and instructions provided by the Office of Public Guardian when they return the documents to you once they've been registered there.

Keep_pedalling

Unregulated will writers should be avoided. By all means sort the LPAs yourself, but employ a solicitor to do the wills.

Savvy_Sue

jnielow wrote: »

She also offers a monthly payment plan for the costs and to think of the cost as an insurance policy.

And I wonder what other 'services' she will feel you should take advantage off once you've paid for these - storage of your wills? Not necessary, use the Probate Office's service. Regular review and updating? if the job's done right then review shouldn't need to be that frequent.

I would phone a couple of local solicitors and ask for quotes. You might not get the home visit - but do you need that? You should get a better service.

Yorkshireman99

jnielow wrote: »

Dear Everyone,


Have not posted for a while and hope this is posted in the correct section!, also hope everyone is ok.


My wife and I have basic Wills which were drawn up in 2005. I was speaking to a friend recently who mentioned this subject and put me onto a professional Will/Power of Attorney specialist. I have been thinking recently of updating our Wills and drawing up some Lasting Power of Attorney.


I wanted to run past you guys the costs I have been quoted for this service:


1/ £400 to re-write 2 mirror wills.


2/ £1200 to draw up 4 LPA's for myself and wife.


3/ £328 for the registration to the Office of Public Guardian.


So the total being £1928, I asked her for a breakdown of what I would be getting for this. It includes a couple of home visits,drawing up the Wills and Power of Attorneys properly and legally. I have read and know that all this can be drawn up by the individual probably far cheaper. But I have also read that there are pitfulls people fall into ie mistakes made on the LPA's making them invalid and being rejected by the Office of Public Gaurdian.


I am guessing that what she is charging is probably cheaper than a solicitor, and is more or less competitive with say Co-op services. She also offers a monthly payment plan for the costs and to think of the cost as an insurance policy. I seem to be thinking about this most of the time at present, and should be thinking about things in the here and now.


What I am asking is has anyone been involved in this?, done it themselves? or employed a specialist?. I am keen to get these important documents drawn up but the expense is a factor. Also wondered what peoples thoughts are also.


Regards


Jason

A complete and utter rip of. Never, ever, use a will writer. Always do the posts on line and allow the attorneys to act severally. Don’t make a bank or solicitor attorney.

newatc

Paid £250 for solicitor mirror wills last year.

If you have the time, it is perfectly feasible to do your own LPAs (as we have done).

Don't know if I would go as far as to call your quote a rip-off but definitely not a good deal.

pollypenny

Yea gods, we've just updated our wills with our local solicitor. They cost just over £200.

TBagpuss

Unless your affairs are extremely complex, those prices sound ridiculously high, and without even the confidence of knowing that you are using someone who is properly regulated if anything were to go wrong.

I'd recommend that you speak to a proper solicitor. I very much doubt that their prices will be higher, they may very well be lower.