removing solicitors as executers while parents still alive

gramy1

hi....my parents have had their will stored with solicitors for 25 years....my father named solicitors as executors of will.......we want to remove them as executors and make me the executor as i am the only child and it is a simple will so we do not need to pay high solicitor fees..........i have spoken to our solicitors and they will issue a new will for both parents £5OO + VAT,,,,,but i can have an online legal service do this for £45 each.......if we bypassed our solicitors and just went straight to another company and wrote 2 new wills with myself as executor....would this completely cancel out the old wills and the old solicitors would be no longer involved.......will this be safe and legal..........the  only thing i can think of is we may have to pay the old solicitors for storing the will for 25 years which they probably did for free knowing they would make money being the executors.......i realize as the executor of the will i would still need to use a solicitor but at much lower cost....thanks

Sea_Shell

If all you want to do is change the executors, then surely this would be a case for a new DIY will, as long as everything else is carefully copied word for word and signed and witnessed correctly.


Or could a codicil suffice?

TBagpuss

Your parents can make new wills with whomever they want. A new will revokes any previous will. 

It's good practice to obtain and destroy the old will, as it avoids the risk of someone applying for probate on the wrong / out of date will.

It's extremely unlikely that they will be charged storage. Solicitors don't normally charge for holding wills and were even less likely to do so 25 years go (they may make an admin charge to retrieve and hand over the wills, as they will need to check your parents ID etc. to make sure that they are giving them to the right person)  

I'd be cautious about using an online service, particularly one that's so cheap. They may not be regulated, or qualified, or they may use the will as a way in to try to pressurize your parents to buy other services.

It would be sensible for your parents to consider whether they should be setting up powers of attorney, as well as updating their wills, and their best bet may be to see a local solicitor to do both, and recognise that spending a little bit now to get things done correctly may be the best use of their money in the long term.

poppystar

That seems quite a high quote if the Will is not complicated. I’d phone round a few other solicitors to see the price they would charge. Best to stick with using a solicitor rather than an online service for the writing of the Will.

All Wills should have an initial clause revoking any previous Will so a new Will is effectively a clean start. 

No no need to even tell the current solicitors and even if you did they are unlikely to charge for past storage. Since you will be executor as long as you know where the most up to date Will will be then you can go from there when the time comes.

You might not necessarily even need to use a solicitor at that point. Much will depend on how complicated the estate is but there’s a lot of help on here and many of us have done it without the need for solicitors service. You can make that decision at the time taking into account how you are feeling then. 

Marcon

gramy1 said:

hi....my parents have had their will stored with solicitors for 25 years....my father named solicitors as executors of will.......we want to remove them as executors and make me the executor as i am the only child and it is a simple will so we do not need to pay high solicitor fees..........i have spoken to our solicitors and they will issue a new will for both parents £5OO + VAT,,,,,but i can have an online legal service do this for £45 each.......if we bypassed our solicitors and just went straight to another company and wrote 2 new wills with myself as executor....would this completely cancel out the old wills and the old solicitors would be no longer involved.......will this be safe and legal..........the  only thing i can think of is we may have to pay the old solicitors for storing the will for 25 years which they probably did for free knowing they would make money being the executors.......i realize as the executor of the will i would still need to use a solicitor but at much lower cost....thanks

If the wills are 25 years old, they are almost certainly in need of updating to reflect changes in the law, never mind any changes in executor. It sounds as if the current solicitors are quoting for that, and possibly the online ones are quoting for a simple change of executor? 

gramy1

hi...thanks for all the reply's....yes i have just applied for power of attorney for both finance and health....the online service i was looking at for wills is sovereign planning  that seems to have excellent trust pilot reviews........apparently they are cheap because they can do it over phone now without a solicitor visit......has anyone here used them..??..thanks

gramy1

sovereign planning website  states "Our advisors are fully trained, and all our clients’ wills are drafted by a firm of solicitors who are regulated by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority."......is that ok.?? 

poppystar

You might want to check if they then charge for storing the Will. A friend went for a cheaper option in having the Will drawn up but the company then charge for storage - which mounts up over the years! - whereas solicitors will store for free. It would also make it easier for you when you need the original to be able to just go to a local solicitor to collect. You could store the Will at home of course. 

gramy1

i think they just write the will then send it to you

Keep_pedalling

Sea_Shell said:

If all you want to do is change the executors, then surely this would be a case for a new DIY will, as long as everything else is carefully copied word for word and signed and witnessed correctly.


Or could a codicil suffice?

A lot has changed in 25 years, I would strongly recommend a new will unless you want to transfer redundant, and potentially expensive clauses to a new will.

gramy1

this will be a very simple will...i am only child...all will be left to me...i will also have power of attorney for finance and health....so i guess i will only need to  see a solicitor to sort out the death taxes etc.....