Future Proofing my life: Deposit saving then MFW journey in under 13 years

redofromstart

The irony is @suffolk-lass that I shifted and left the savings with Mr Redo for HR tax reasons, and now I am on intestate and probate  with no access to his/our savings as a result.  The joys of hindsight. Wish I had just paid the tax. 

LWAP I agree with Watty, a gentle public reminder and then drop it.  We learned the hard way years ago to never lend money we couldn't afford to give.

Suffolk_lass

That sounds like a nightmare @redofromstart, We all do what we think is best at the time but foresight is much scarcer than hindsight. My sympathies for your loss too. The pain of grief is exacerbated by the administrative burden of the post death rigmarole, especially when intestate. I feel for you.

When my Grandmother died I was fortunate that her estate was so small that I did not need to get probate (in Scotland) but I was determined to sort it out myself as my Mum was stitched up by a solicitor who moved all the shares to himself when my Dad died (and retained the dividends for several years until I questioned it).

She has been badly served by another solicitor now who put the power of attorney for my sister and I in joint names instead of either or. Despite him knowing I live in England. Imagine how convenient that is when they need both of us in the bank together in person for my sister to be able to change anything. Oh, I'll just drive 435 miles so you can change the utility payee amount... furious does not come close. Dimwitted moron if I'm kind, dishonest disingenuous money-grabbing parasite is more like it

beanielou

Suffolk_lass said:

That sounds like a nightmare @redofromstart, We all do what we think is best at the time but foresight is much scarcer than hindsight. My sympathies for your loss too. The pain of grief is exacerbated by the administrative burden of the post death rigmarole, especially when intestate. I feel for you.

When my Grandmother died I was fortunate that her estate was so small that I did not need to get probate (in Scotland) but I was determined to sort it out myself as my Mum was stitched up by a solicitor who moved all the shares to himself when my Dad died (and retained the dividends for several years until I questioned it).

She has been badly served by another solicitor now who put the power of attorney for my sister and I in joint names instead of either or. Despite him knowing I live in England. Imagine how convenient that is when they need both of us in the bank together in person for my sister to be able to change anything. Oh, I'll just drive 435 miles so you can change the utility payee amount... furious does not come close. Dimwitted moron if I'm kind, dishonest disingenuous money-grabbing parasite is more like it

Speechless. That’s dire. 

LadyWithAPlan

Dear lord @Suffolk_lass thats awful on all sides.
 My great uncles solicitor/executor hung onto shares for years despite my mum and uncle saying to sell - he wouldnt and they had lost nearly 50% of the value by the time he did.  So my parents definitely making me executor...

I think will writing month is NOV? I will do mine as there is normally a free service if you leave some to charity.

@redofromstart I am so sorry for your loss and the probate. Hopefully it will get sorted asap

@Watty1 I am not sure I can be bothered to chase, we are having a signing it dinner so I can off hand mention it then subtly and/or give up 

PennysIntoPounds

Definitely don't leave will money to charity, as @ladyholly will tell you! Absolute nightmare for everyone. 

Could you have a concerned conversation with your friends? "Is everything okay financially with you guys, it's not like you to not pay back'
Might be an eye opener, might shame them into paying 

LadyWithAPlan

@PennysIntoPounds nice suggestion but I know the one has just got an internal  role with a 30% pay rise!!  

I didnt know will/charity leaving was such an issue - i will look it up,  Is it cos it delays/confuses the payout etc?

EMS /slow carb  4 weeks results 
So i had a full on v fun bday party of a friends last night (meant to be an afternoon thing and instead it carried on til gone midnight - i was drinking red wine and mescal .... and a lot of water. 
So my ems today was quite slow - i wasnt hungover but my muscles were not as strong as normal.

Plus the measurements get messed up when one still has alcohol in their system.
Either way I am still loving the slow carb  - been on it for 4 weeks (with a one day a week off) and all the beans  make me feel full and  so I am feeling slimmer.

Weight is now   2kg lower from  4 weeks ago and  3.2kg lower than my ems start
My body fat was 1.3kg lower but now (alcohol messes up water etc balance) stating only 0.6kg down in 4 weeks
I am planning to keep on  this slow carb 6/7 days pw for another month

Watty1

Will also look up leaving money to charity as was planning to re write mine now all settled and wanted to arrange a substantial sum to go to charity with  babyFell pony so he has a home for life. 

Cheery_Daff

Here's a link to @ladyholly's thread about this, as I went looking out of interest too

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6531803/iht-help/p1

Obviously I don't have any details other than what's in the thread so @ladyholly apologies if I'm misrepresenting, but from what I understand from reading it, the issue isn't that money has been left to charities in itself, the issue is rather about whether the inheritance tax has to be paid before the house is sold, and, if so, whether that came be paid out of the portion that has been left to charities (and therefore they have to wait for their share), or whether the beneficiary has to stump up (and then obviously get it back when the house is sold), or whether HMRC will wait/take installments.

I think charities do have a legal responsibility to maximise their income from things like legacies though, so one question I'm going to ask when we make our wills is about whether it's best to leave charities a lump sum (meaning the rest of the estate will be shared by beneficiaries), or leave beneficiaries a lump sum and charities the rest. 

I believe if charities have a share, they will push people selling the house to accept the highest offer (to maximise their share) - fair enough, but you don't always want to accept the highest offer on a house I suppose.  

This is all of interest to me as I don't have children and want to leave the bulk of whatever's left to charity, with some to my nephews. Just can't decide which way round to do it - partly because I can't see into the future to see how much will be left after care costs/wild post-retirement spending sprees - obviously don't want to leave a set amount to charities and then there be none remaining to share out! 

Debsnewbudget

I always think that leaving a percentage rather than set amounts  to people and charities is the way forward. 

That way they all get a share of what's left after you have finished spending it !!
My mums will had a cast of thousands mentioned and all my cousins got 2%,  various charities got a similar percentage and I was left the remainder. 

We did it this way as potentially if I  had given out set amounts to everyone I might have got less than cousin X and Y 
It might also work that you have to wait until everything was sold/cashed in before they all know how much they are getting. 

Cheery_Daff

Yes, that does sound like a good strategy @Debsnewbudget