First questions about a making a will

eltisley98

Hi MSE, newbie here.

We are a coupe in their late 30s with two young children, 6 and 4, who are considering making a Will. This is to make sure that the little ones will be cared for and will have the financial means to be cared for if one (or, in the most unfortunate case, both) of us dies when they are still young. We considered using a Will Template first, but a quick search convinced us that this was not for us as it lack, and so we are considering a solicitor currently. But we have got a few questions.

1) it seems that if the provision is for young children, it is normal (or required) to set up Trusts. We can ask the executors to be the Trustees. The question is: is the Trust to be set up by the solicitor along with the Will, or by the executor when executing the will, or should it be set up completely independently, probably before the Will itself so that it can be referred to in the Will?

2a) we have Life Insurance policies, but never set up Discretionary Trusts. Is it recommended to include the insurance payouts in death event into the Trusts that come with the Will, or is it better to have a Discretionary Trust for each Life Insurance policy?

2b) likewise, our employment death in service benefits will make lump sum payouts in the event of death. The service itself allows to make a Wish about the distribution of the lump sum, but it is to be executed by the Trustee of the Pension service who can make discretionary decisions. We are unsure whether it is better to make things more formal in the Will, and whether this will cause conflicts since it is already in a Trust.

3) is there opinion regarding local solicitors versus the ones working with the Bank? 

4) if a Will is drawn by a solicitor, do we still need to find two independent witnesses to sign at the same time, or maybe the solicitor(s) are by default the witnesses?

5) can a Will written by a solicitor (it is understood that we don't have to use them as executors or use their Will Storage Services) still be stored in the HM Court and Tribunal Service? Is there an advantage to store the Will with a solicitor?

Any other advices and warnings are very welcome too.

Sorry for the many questions and thanks in advance! 

Robin9

Apart from the finance who would actually look after the children - have you family friends with children of the same age ?

Big differences between the today when the children are 6  and 4 ;  when they are 16 and 14 ?

eltisley98

Thanks for your quick reply Robin9!

We have a family member who is willing to be the Guardian in the event that both parents die. We are aware that the situation may change over time, and so we are prepared to update the Will every often.

SeniorSam

First of all, do not appoint solicitors or a bank to act as executors of your Wills. They normally take a long time and charge a great deal of expenses. They can be useful for large complex estates but not in this case.

Second, try and own your assets as equally as possible. The ownership of your home may be joint, in which case when one dies the other spouse inherits that part. However, if you own the home as 'Tennants in Common', then you each own ,usually, half each. Then on death, the half owned by the one who dies can be left to the children in Trust until they reach age 18 or  an age specified by the settlor (the one writing the Will).

If a Will leaves something in Trust, there is no need for any Trust deed or any other paperwork. The Will has automatically created that Trust. The executors, often the spouse, siblings or close friends that can be trusted completely to carry out your individual wishes, then they would make sure that anything gifted to children would be held in Trust until the specified age. If its money, then in a Trustee account, if its property, then the ownership is registered in the Land Registry.

Each home will be registered in the Land Registry. It will show if the property is owned by one or more and in what proportion, it will also show if there is a loan or mortgage that will be registered so that the property cannot be disposed of without clearing the debt.

If you intend to use solicitors to make your Wills, do obtain a few quotes as all are not the same. If you use Will Writers, do ensure that they are well known and offer guarantees, but again, do not use them as executors, keep it in the family if possible.

Do also carefully check all the details of the Will before signing as mistakes are awkward to rectify afterwards.

Making youeWills early is a good thing. They can be changed later if you wish, by making new |Wills or just adding something called a Codicil, which is usually a page of changes that is attached to the Will.

Ask any more questions if you wish and make sure you understand the answers before proceeding with anything.

Your occupational or private life insurances can have each other as beneficiaries and are already written in a Discretionary Trust administered by the company. Your children can be secondary beneficiaries.

Hope this helps you.
Sam

eltisley98

Thanks for your reply SeniorSam. I hope that it is okay if I ask a follow up question.

My online search about witnesses for Wills shows the following link (sorry I cannot post links yet here) "If a witness dies before you ... then it won’t invalidate your Will, but it can lead to complications. When applying for probate it is possible that the executor could be asked to provide proof that a witness has died and that their signature is valid. This can be tricky..."

So I am assuming that if the Will is made by a solicitor, then the solicitor themselves would be a witness/witnesses (or perhaps this is my misunderstanding, and I need to find two independent witnesses whatsoever?). But if the solicitor or their company retires/dies/closes down, then does the issue mentioned in the above quotes also apply here? Or presumably because the Will is made by a legitimate solicitor regulated by SRA there shouldn't be any issue with the validity of the signatures? 

Thanks again.

poppystar

If you make a Will with a solicitor and sign it in their office they will usually get two of their employees to act as witnesses.

theoretica

It might be worth being clear in your will about the money not being frozen in trust until your children reach 18 - but available for their care, needs and upbringing - just as it would presumably be if one of you dies leaving money to the other.

elsien

eltisley98 said:

Thanks for your reply SeniorSam. I hope that it is okay if I ask a follow up question.

My online search about witnesses for Wills shows the following link (sorry I cannot post links yet here) "If a witness dies before you ... then it won’t invalidate your Will, but it can lead to complications. When applying for probate it is possible that the executor could be asked to provide proof that a witness has died and that their signature is valid. This can be tricky..."

So I am assuming that if the Will is made by a solicitor, then the solicitor themselves would be a witness/witnesses (or perhaps this is my misunderstanding, and I need to find two independent witnesses whatsoever?). But if the solicitor or their company retires/dies/closes down, then does the issue mentioned in the above quotes also apply here? Or presumably because the Will is made by a legitimate solicitor regulated by SRA there shouldn't be any issue with the validity of the signatures? 

Thanks again.

I had the option of using the solicitor plus one of their employees as witnesses, or taking the completed will and getting my own witnesses. 

I do think the chances of a will being queried and one of the witnesses having passed away is fairly slim. Google also says that on those circumstances the other witness can sign a statement confirming the process was followed accurately.
Theres a fair chance though that your wills will need to be revisited anyway over the years so unless you are choosing older witnesses I shouldn’t worry too much about it. Will writers are in the business of making wills - it’s in their interests to come up with reasons why you might need another one. 

Keep_pedalling

eltisley98 said:

Thanks for your reply SeniorSam. I hope that it is okay if I ask a follow up question.

My online search about witnesses for Wills shows the following link (sorry I cannot post links yet here) "If a witness dies before you ... then it won’t invalidate your Will, but it can lead to complications. When applying for probate it is possible that the executor could be asked to provide proof that a witness has died and that their signature is valid. This can be tricky..."

So I am assuming that if the Will is made by a solicitor, then the solicitor themselves would be a witness/witnesses (or perhaps this is my misunderstanding, and I need to find two independent witnesses whatsoever?). But if the solicitor or their company retires/dies/closes down, then does the issue mentioned in the above quotes also apply here? Or presumably because the Will is made by a legitimate solicitor regulated by SRA there shouldn't be any issue with the validity of the signatures? 

Thanks again.

Witnesses can be required to attend court if there is a legal challenge to the will on the grounds that the testator made the will under pressure or did not have the mental capacity to make one. This is only ever likely to happen with wills made very late in life where previous beneficiaries have been disinherited, so is not an issue in the vast majority of cases. 

SeniorSam

Keep-pedalling is correct as it is highly unlikely that the witnesses would need to be alive when the testator dies. I would guess that the majority of witnesses may have passed before a testator, so do not worry about that at all.

The solicitors can make a Will for you, which is usually correct and witnessed in their offices. You can make your own Will and ask solicitors to witness your signature, but whichever way you go, the main thought should be have you thought matters through to ensure your Wills are what you would wish for if you were to die sooner rather than later.

As regards to any Trust that may be set up for childrens inheritance, the wording of the Trust written into the Will would cover their upbringing, schooling etc, These are cases where Wills drawn by solicitors can usually be assured are worded correctly, 

Just make sure the Executors are family members if possible.

Hope that covers, but do ask more if you wish
Sam

p00hsticks

Just to give you an idea of the process followed when we made our wills with a solicitor not that long ago (as far as I can remember).....

We made an appointment with a solicitor, telling that it was to make a will.

They then e-mailed us some documentation with things to think about and a questionnaire about our circumstances (were we married, did we have children, did we own property etc) that we filled in and returned to them prior to the meeting.

We then had a meeting with the solicitor to disuss what we wanted while they took notes.

After the meeting the solicitor drew up draft copies of the wills and sent them to us to look over and confirm that everything was correct and as we wished - we notifiied them of one correction which they made and re-sent the amended copies back to us. When we were happy we made another appointment to go in and sign the wills (the solicitor and her receptionist witnessed them) and arranged for them to be stored,