Can I make my own Will 4 April 2019 at 10:38PM edited 24 April 2019 at 11:14AM in Marriage, Relationships & Families 16 replies 6.3K views

Cacran

Wonder how hard it is to make your own Will.

I have seen that you can get templates, but how do they stand up, legally?

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Mojisola

It's very easy - to get it wrong.

Savvy_Sue

If you get a home made will signed and witnessed correctly, it will stand up fine. If you mess that bit up, your executors may find that the will is worthless, or sometimes worse than useless. And it's actually quite easy to mess that bit up.

It also may not say what you think it says, or may not cover all the eventualities.

For that reason, on the Death, Funerals & Probate board we generally recommend (strongly) that you use a solicitor. Not a 'will-writer' who offers to come to your home and offers all sorts of extra services (at a cost), but who may not be legally qualified.

Have a think about what you want to achieve in your will, think about the 'what if' situations (one of your beneficiaries dies before you, who should inherit their share?), think about suitable people to act as Executors (not the solicitors unless there are really good reasons for that), phone around a few local firms and ask what they'd charge.

If your will is "I leave everything to X, or if they die before me to Y", that's generally a simple will, for which a quote should be easily obtainable. The solicitor will say that they'll charge more for a more complex will.

The thing is, by the time your will matters, you won't be around to see what kind of mayhem it causes is it's invalid, or doesn't say what you intended.

LandyAndy

And don't forget this

https://www.willaid.org.uk/

Robin9

Cacran wrote: »

Wonder how hard it is to make your own Will.

I have seen that you can get templates, but how do they stand up, legally?

How "simple" do you think your estate is ? do you own property, husband/wife/partner , children (what ages), do you owe more than you have , how old are you. What are the what ifs I die first, beneficiary dies first .......................

Solicitors make a little from wills they do, lots from DIY and will writers.

Keep_pedalling

If you have a small estate with no property and don’t have children by someone other than your current spouse / partner then you are probably OK, otherwise do it properly via a solisitor.

lincroft1710

Can I make my own Will

Yes, but don't!

badmemory

I thought my will would be really simple - just everything goes to my son. Never occured to me to think about the what ifs. Thank goodness the solicitor did. But don't use them as executor.

maman

LandyAndy wrote: »

And don't forget this

https://www.willaid.org.uk/

We used Will Aid and paid a little extra for changing our home ownership to tenants in common and the 'what ifs'.

However my mother did DIY as hers was simply leaving everything to her 3 children shared equally and naming 2 of us as executors. I had no problems with it.

So I'd say you could risk your own if it's very simple and straightforward but much safer to use a solicitor but agree don't use them as executors.

caz.fraser

Any reason why a solicitor is not recommended as an executor?

LilElvis

caz.fraser wrote: »

Any reason why a solicitor is not recommended as an executor?

Their charges. They are professionals, and charge accordingly, even for the most simple administrative tasks.