cost of wills

mutley74

Some may recall here that i was after some advice as a single parent on making a will.

Well i have 2 quotes on this a local medium law firm quoted £150+VAT.

A will writer who works for a firm of IFAs quotes £217 for 2 house visits.


any clues on how much i should be paying for a single will? I prefer to do it via a formal route as i need to express my wishes for guradians for my child in case i die.

daveyjp

Are you in a Trades Union? Some provide a free service.

Savvy_Sue

Go for a solicitor specialising in wills rather than a will writer, IMO. And as it's cheaper ...

mutley74

daveyjp wrote: »

Are you in a Trades Union? Some provide a free service.

no not member of any

mutley74

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Go for a solicitor specialising in wills rather than a will writer, IMO. And as it's cheaper ...

approximately how much should one pay?

Jo_anne_2

We had wills drawn up through this scheme http://www.willaid.org.uk/index_public.cfm where you make a donation to charity instead of paying the solicitors fee (recommended donation £75). I have just noticed the next campaign is not until Nov 2008, so sorry that's not much help to the OP but it may be of interest to other people?

mookiandco

If you are entitled to legal aid (ie low income/ on certain benefits), you can usually get a free will drawn up by a solicitor if you are appointing a guardian for a child.

mutley74

nope not on legal aid, but thanks for replies anyway. If it was not for the appointing a guardian for a child i would have a used a DIY will kit, that was very important for me as a single parent.

wishman

Depending on which area of the country you live in you would pay anything from £75 to £120 for a simple single will which it appears you are referring to that would be within the range of most Professional Willwriters at the IPW http://www/opw.org.uk/public/willenquiry.php Your Will is important and you should avoid tampering with DIY unless you are fully conversant with what you are doing.:santa2:

Savvy_Sue

wishman wrote: »

Depending on which area of the country you live in you would pay anything from £75 to £120 for a simple single will which it appears you are referring to that would be within the range of most Professional Willwriters at the IPW http://www/opw.org.uk/public/willenquiry.php Your Will is important and you should avoid tampering with DIY unless you are fully conversant with what you are doing.:santa2:

wishman, I am not sure that a single parent should be making a simple will. Would it not be prudent to expresses wishes about who looks after the children? The advantage of using a firm of solicitors in such a situation is that the partner who specialises in wills can take advice from the partner who specialises in family law to ensure that the wishes are reasonably likely to be met.

But IANAL, before anyone asks, and I'm sorry atpug but I have no idea what would be a reasonable cost! Can you phone around and get at least one more quote, and see if you get a 'feel' for which firm is more efficient? Do they return calls, for example ... Do make sure it's the probate partner doing the work, not the criminal one who's always in court!

One way to save money is to be well prepared: if you have a list of your assets - house, shares etc - that can save time. If you've given thought to guardians and know they'd be willing to act in that way, also useful.

Probably worth getting the Which? book on wills out of the library and mugging up a bit!

JennyW_2

We used a local company who advertised in the our local paper. They charged £49 for each will. We had ours done last year.