MSE Poll: Do you have a will? If not, why not?

MSE_Chris_O

Poll started 1 March 2022

If you want to dictate where your assets go when you die, you need a will – a legal document telling everyone what should happen to your money, possessions and property. Wills can be made cheaply, and sometimes for free (see our Cheap Wills guide). But do you have a will, and if not, why not?

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Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below.
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Thanks!

skull

I have a simple DIY will, and took advantage of a previous MSE Which? offer for LPAs.

However I haven't registered the LPAs, as I discovered, too late, that if the people you nominate for an LPA move address, then you have to start a new LPA, you can't just update the original one. This was what Which? told me when I asked about it, after I had paid and completed two LPA's (Health/Finances).

Just be aware, and consider how often your nominee's may move, especially younger ones. One of mine has moved 3 times in the last 2 years! It's a great idea to have an LPA, but consider your age and the age of your nominees, and how frequently you, or they, may move before it may be needed; unless you can afford to pay for replacements every time you or one of your nominees move. I wasted almost a couple of hundred pounds I could not afford to lose, before I found out. In my opinion, this should have been made clear before advising people to get an LPA.

Tigsteroonie

It was cheaper to marry Marleyboy than for the two of us to write wills (free will week excepted). No, we will get round to wills but we need complex trust arrangements for Butterbean so it won't be cheap. It's on the list but not a priority.

LameWolf

We have "mirror wills", and if/when both of us pop our clogs, everything's to go to charity. However, we need to do an update, because since making our wills, the Anglian Wolf Society and the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, both of which were listed for if we both shuffle off this mortal coil, have ceased to exist.

HanSpan

I got the (I think) £15 kit from WHS and redid my Dad's.  The solicitors version was about 15 pages, mine was half a page and worked fine when he died, particularly as I'd changed the executor from the solicitors to me (only child so no issues there). 
I've used the same as a template for me and my partner, adding a bit about our pets pinched from somewhere I now forget.

A really quick half page one is better than having absolutely nothing so just do it!  You can always write an improved one later.

LPAs are actually pretty easy to do online.  The forms printed out look daunting but the govt website is actually really well designed (shockingly!!).  If you do it yourself it's not too expensive now either as they reduced the charges.