Please: Some questions regarding making a will

Shylock_249

 There is just myself and my wife, we have no children. We are both in our ‘70s and have NOT made a will.

 I don’t know where to start:

 Between us we have over 1 million pounds (cash) in multiple accounts, mainly ISAs and 1 year fixed terms which mature at different times throughout the year.  We’ve NOT exceeded the FSCS limit, as such we have about 35 different cash accounts. We also have about £130k (and sinking) in Unit Trust ISAs through CoFunds platform.  We own our own house.  We have no debts other than a Credit Card which we pay off in full each month by Direct Debit.

 I understand that we should make a will.  I’ve learnt that November is Will Aid Month where a solicitor writes up the will and we make a donation to (Will Aid) charity.

 One of my main concerns is selecting an Executor.  Certainly if one of us was to die in the near future the other could act as executor.  If one was to die in 15 years time the situation might be different.

 If we were both to die at the same time we don’t know of anyone younger than ourselves with sufficient knowledge/capability to act as Executor.

 My Uncle died a few years ago.  He had nominated a solicitor as Executor.  In my opinion the charges were out of proportion to the work they did.  He must have opted to pay monthly/by the hour. I was a one third beneficiary; it took 15 months to wrap up his will.  I was sent a statement showing the last 3 months, the solicitors had deducted £1.5k per month.  The last 3 months nothing happened on the account, just the deductions.  The letter I received from the solicitor must have been written by a 7 year old, it was full of grammatical and spelling errors.  I wouldn’t like to nominate a solicitor as Executor.

 If we make a will I will leave my assets to my wife and she will do the same for me.  I assume we would then have to state what we want to happen if we both die at the same time?  Let’s assume that we want to leave everything to my wife’s two sibling sisters.  We nominate them.

 One dies.  Does the will die with the first person or does the second person now have to make out a new will?  An example, I die, wife inherits my estate. She dies a week later having NOT made a new will would the estate then go to her siblings or the will have expired so to speak and she would have died intestate?  If she died intestate, her sibling brother would (I think) come into the equation and we don’t want him to benefit from our estate.

 I’d be prepared to use an Executor on a fixed fee basis (a percentage). Having read John Grisham books  I wouldn’t want them to work on an hourly basis, ie phone one of my banks to close the account and charge half an hour to the estate – nearby solicitor charges £370 per hour, thirty odd bank account later........

 If we opt to leave the house and contents to the two sibling sisters how would the Executor let them gain access etc?  It wouldn’t be feasible to leave the house empty for 15 months whilst the Executor wound up the estate and then gave the siblings the key to the door.

 How would I be best advised to keep either the Executor or beneficiaries advised of the bank accounts we hold?  I’ve opened two different accounts with two different banks within the last week after NS&I announced a drop in the rates.  Would an Executor have a magic wand  where he can search for all bank accounts, through HMRC perhaps?  I think NOT.

 My sister (she doesn’t want or need any of our estate) suggested that it would be a good idea to place a folder with a piece of paper inside listing all bank account numbers and possibly the house deeds.  A lady across the road from me has a key to our house.

How would my Private Eye subscription cease?

 Any advice would be gratefully received.

 Thank you..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dox

You've got over £1m in assets. Get advice from a solicitor, who will be able to answer all your questions. 

Mojisola

Shylock_249 said:

I understand that we should make a will.  I’ve learnt that November is Will Aid Month where a solicitor writes up the will and we make a donation to (Will Aid) charity.

 One of my main concerns is selecting an Executor.  Certainly if one of us was to die in the near future the other could act as executor.  If one was to die in 15 years time the situation might be different.

 My Uncle died a few years ago.  He had nominated a solicitor as Executor.  In my opinion the charges were out of proportion to the work they did. 

Do as Dox says and talk to a local solicitor.  With such a big estate, I wouldn't try to do it under the free scheme.

You can put each other as first executor with the solicitor's firm as a back-up in case the first can't do it, wants to step down or is dead.

If you don't name a solicitor, who will administer your estate - some distant relative?

TBagpuss

I agree that you need to use some of those funds to get proper, specialist advice.

A bad experience with one solicitor shouldn't mean that you can't trust any solicitor - not to mention, if you were not an executor you won't necessarily have known how much work was needed or how complex the task was, so you don't have enough information to judge whether the costs were reasonable.  John Grisham novels are not a reliable guide to how lawyers in the UK work. Most are meticulous about recording exactly how much time is actually spent, and charging accordingly. 

For yourselves, you can chose to appoint your main beneficiaries as your executors - they can then chose whether they want to  instruct a solicitor to do the work, at the time (just as whichever out of you and your wife is the survivor can when the first of you passes)  

You mention that you are considering leaving everything to your sisters-in-law - bearing in mind your wife's age, you will need to think about what you would want to happen if they were to die before you, and plan accordingly. You might even want to talk to them - they may take the view that they are fine and would not need or want anything from you, and would prefer you to pass any inheritance direct to younger family member s(or, if there are none, to charities of your choice) 

What would happen if you and your wife died close together would depend on the wording of the wills so it's another reason to get proper advice, to ensure that it is worded so that what happens it what you want to happen. Given the size of your estate there may well be significant Inheritance Tax implications which you may need to consider, for example. 

Talk to a solicitor, ideally one who is a member of STEP, and while you are at it, talk about organizing Powers of Attorney as well, to ensure that someone you trust will be able to make decisions for you, and manage your affairs, if you become unable to do so. 

Stubod

We used the free will service a couple of years ago. Very straightforward assuming you have a relatively simple will (eg mirror will).

If either of us dies the other is executor and inherits the lot, when we both go then we split it into simple percentages to various charities / relatives. Happy for the solicitor to administer the estate when this happens.

Savvy_Sue

If you were prepared to leave a decent bequest to a charity of your choosing, you could appoint them as executors. I wouldn't do it if I were also leaving anything significant to a private individual, because they will almost certainly appoint solicitors to deal with it which probably won't make it a quick process, but bequests to charity reduce the amount of IHT due. 

But I fully support the advice to use a solicitor. They'll know what wording to use, they'll go through the What If questions and so on. 

Fairly sure that your Private Eye subscription will be among the least of your executor's worries. A simple letter or phone call: "Mr Shylock has died and will no longer be needing your publication" should see a refund coming in some shape or form. 

Keep_pedalling

At your age you really need to stop accumulating and start spending some of that cash, you can’t take it with you. Start off by spending a few hundred on getting your wills sorted out. If you have any younger relatives you plan to leave some  your estate to make them your executors. Look at lasting powers of attorney as well. If that is not the case then make then make the solicitors back up attorneys. No point in appointing sibling as they could easily die before you or not have the mental capacity when the time comes. 

Yes with so many accounts you need to keep a record of them for your executors, along with a list of gifts if you have made any over the annual allowances in the last 7 years.

Shylock_249

Thanks everyone.  I received an email from a Solicitor offering me a face to face meeting or a telephone conversation.
To answer some replies above.  I could act as an executor so could my wife.  I don't think my sisters-in-law could.  My sister could but she is two years older than me and lives 250 miles away.  My wife's mother married a second time, the sisters-in-law are products of that marriage and are aged 55 and 56.  The youngest is divorced, she has no children.  They are both in good health and one would expect them to outlive me and my wife.

Unfortunately I'm really stressing myself out regarding the pragmatics of what would happen when the last one of us goes?  Taken away in an ambulance, transferred to Hospice and die off the next day (exactly what has happened to  my friend across the road although his wife is still alive and is acting as an executor). How would the executor, let's say it's a solicitor become aware of the death?  How would he be aware of my assets, my comings and goings (council tax, electric, phone, state and (3) occupational pensions etc etc).  I know I won't be around, but I'm still running through it in my mind?
If I made a Doomsday Letter (suggested to me by a friend of mine who lives 180 miles away - same age as me), listing all bank accounts, credit card numbers, standing orders, direct debits etc and placed it in a folder, along with deeds for the house etc then made the executor (solicitor) aware of where to look for it, would that be a sensible option?  I couldn't keep informing the solicitor of each change of credit card number/new bank account I've opened or ones I've cancelled.

My sister has tried to educate me regarding Probate, unfortunately some fell on stony ground.  If I were to die with a will, would my wife simply contact all the banks, etc and claim the money?  The lady across the road said that she went to the bank with a copy of the will and a death certificate and they renamed the account into her name only.  I don't think her husband had a separate account, so she didn't have to do what me or my wife would have to do if one of us died.  She told me she had difficulty informing the phone company to change the name on the account, they were demanding copies of certain documents. They didn't have individual ISAs etc.  So, if one of us tried to (rightfully) claim the money from a building society solely in the name of the deceased could the building society demand to see a Probate Certificate, or have I got that completely wrong?

I haven't got a clue what to do if when the last one went with  a house full of chattels, filing cabinet with bank details etc etc.  The more I think about it the more stressed I become.
Any advice please?

Marcon

Shylock_249 said:

I haven't got a clue what to do if when the last one went with  a house full of chattels, filing cabinet with bank details etc etc.  The more I think about it the more stressed I become.
Any advice please?

It's an everyday occurrence - and (the comment isn't meant to be flippant) you won't be the one who needs to worry about it.

Talk to a solicitor who will be able to give you answers to this and all your other questions. The questions and worries are new to you but common to a very large sector of the population, so it's unlikely you'll ask anything the solicitor hasn't heard many times before.

Shylock_249

Marcon said:

Shylock_249 said:

I haven't got a clue what to do if when the last one went with  a house full of chattels, filing cabinet with bank details etc etc.  The more I think about it the more stressed I become.
Any advice please?

It's an everyday occurrence - and (the comment isn't meant to be flippant) you won't be the one who needs to worry about it.

Love it! 

Keep_pedalling

So what do you want to happen to your estate when you have both gone.