Will writing

GaryBC

Richard1212 said:

As your Will contents are as simple as you imply (leaving whole estate of one to the other --- and if one of you has passed away, then all goes jointly to kids), there is absolutely no reason why you cannot write the Wills yourselves ( there are even DIY templates online that you can download). By the way, make sure there are separate Wills for both of you and ensure they are not regarded as "mutual Wills" by stating that fact clearly at the end of your Wills----that simple statement is important.  You must have 2 unbiased independent witnesses signing below your own signatures, and in your presence as you sign. That is a legally binding Will-----for FREE.

You must then keep the Wills where they are clearly available and it's a good idea to give copies to for safe-keeping to a few much trusted and responsible non-relatives who will know when a death has occurred ---a neighbour, a workmate, an old friend ( but change these people if the "originals" move away or lose contact with you). The two children should also have copies of the Wills---I am assuming they are 18 or over, otherwise they cannot be executors.

When only one of a couple is left alone, the original Will does not need to be changed ( because it is so simple that the remaining partner's whole estate is divided equally between the kids). And, in that event of only one of a couple remaining, ensure that the remaining Will is clearly marked as your Will and left in a place in your home where it cannot be missed ( as well as ensuring that copies are with the same sort of trusty folk  + executors as mentioned in the "2 Wills' scenario set out above ). 

The only other thing I can think of that may make this simple "Will-making" not work smoothly is if one or both of the children ( God Forbid) should have pre-deceased you. In that case, Will/s needs rewriting.

If the above does not appeal to you, then my advice is that a "Will-writing" service ( as long as fees are categorically agreed at the outset) is better in many ways than a solicitor and certainly, as you say, much cheaper----I know plenty of folk who have used Will-writing services and they ARE "regulated" by virtue of the fact they are members of a recognised trade body ( make sure they are such members). 

Some charities , such as cancer research UK, offer a free Will-writing service ( hoping you might include a donation to them----but just as helpful if you don't want to give the charity the odd £50 or whatever. Another very valid way of making a FREE Will/s).

Hope all or part of that is helpful and that your Wills ( which are so essential) do not have the cobwebs dusted off them for very many years. Good luck and happy New Year.

First respondent who has read and understood my original post and who actually makes sense! 
Thank you. 

relaxtwotribes

I can see at least three omissions in that long response, but as it is clear that you now have the reply that you were seeking all along, it just remains to wish you good luck.

GaryBC

relaxtwotribes said:

I can see at least three omissions in that long response, but as it is clear that you now have the reply that you were seeking all along, it just remains to wish you good luck.

What do you see? 

RAS

GaryBC said:

Richard1212 said:

As your Will contents are as simple as you imply (leaving whole estate of one to the other --- and if one of you has passed away, then all goes jointly to kids), there is absolutely no reason why you cannot write the Wills yourselves ( there are even DIY templates online that you can download). By the way, make sure there are separate Wills for both of you and ensure they are not regarded as "mutual Wills" by stating that fact clearly at the end of your Wills----that simple statement is important.  You must have 2 unbiased independent witnesses signing below your own signatures, and in your presence as you sign. That is a legally binding Will-----for FREE.

You must then keep the Wills where they are clearly available and it's a good idea to give copies to for safe-keeping to a few much trusted and responsible non-relatives who will know when a death has occurred ---a neighbour, a workmate, an old friend ( but change these people if the "originals" move away or lose contact with you). The two children should also have copies of the Wills---I am assuming they are 18 or over, otherwise they cannot be executors.

When only one of a couple is left alone, the original Will does not need to be changed ( because it is so simple that the remaining partner's whole estate is divided equally between the kids). And, in that event of only one of a couple remaining, ensure that the remaining Will is clearly marked as your Will and left in a place in your home where it cannot be missed ( as well as ensuring that copies are with the same sort of trusty folk  + executors as mentioned in the "2 Wills' scenario set out above ). 

The only other thing I can think of that may make this simple "Will-making" not work smoothly is if one or both of the children ( God Forbid) should have pre-deceased you. In that case, Will/s needs rewriting.

If the above does not appeal to you, then my advice is that a "Will-writing" service ( as long as fees are categorically agreed at the outset) is better in many ways than a solicitor and certainly, as you say, much cheaper----I know plenty of folk who have used Will-writing services and they ARE "regulated" by virtue of the fact they are members of a recognised trade body ( make sure they are such members). 

Some charities , such as cancer research UK, offer a free Will-writing service ( hoping you might include a donation to them----but just as helpful if you don't want to give the charity the odd £50 or whatever. Another very valid way of making a FREE Will/s).

Hope all or part of that is helpful and that your Wills ( which are so essential) do not have the cobwebs dusted off them for very many years. Good luck and happy New Year.

First respondent who has read and understood my original post and who actually makes sense! 
Thank you. 

So it was opinion shopping all along?

Linton

You presumably are leaving >>£10K of assets to people you care about.  Surely saving a few £100 is irrelevent if you wish  to maximise the chances that the money is distributed as you really want (rather than what you say you want) with no room for your beneficiaries to fall out over.

For example: "All my estate is slit equally between my children A, B, and C".
What happens if you have further children but dont update your will because you have lost mental capacity?
What happens if A dies before you? Do A's children get nothing or do they share A's inheritance? What  do you want to happen?
An example we have seen here is what happens if C lives in the family home? Does the will mean that C has to leave so that the house can be sold, or can C stay living there for as long as she wishes with A and B getting nothing for years? It may end up with A and B going to the courts at great expense (far more than the cost of the will) to have C thrown out.  What do you want to happen to C?

An oft quoted error is "I leave my house at 1 Acacia Avenue to X with my other assets distributed equally between Y and Z".  But  1 Acacia Avenue has been sold before you die to pay Care costs.  In this case  X gets nothing and the whole estate including the proceeds from 1 Acacia Avenue goes to Y and Z.  Was that what you wanted?

Mojisola

And what happens if one of you dies and the other remarries?  The wills you are intending to make will be invalidated by the new marriage. 

One way round this is to own the family home as tenants in common and for each parent to leave their share in trust to their children while allowing the surviving spouse to sell and use the assets of the whole property to buy elsewhere.  

If one of your children dies before you and has minor children who will inherit their parent's share, who do you want be in control of their money until they reach 18?

A good solicitor will go through all the 'what ifs' with you and suggest ways of managing them, based on their knowledge and experience.

Malthusian

GaryBC said:

Why are we looking at the independents rather than a solicitor? 

Note to self, remember that creative use of the word "independent" if I ever decide to become a charlatan.
"You don't need a doctor, you need an independent medical practitioner!"

Richard1212 said:

If the above does not appeal to you, then my advice is that a "Will-writing" service ( as long as fees are categorically agreed at the outset) is better in many ways than a solicitor and certainly, as you say, much cheaper----I know plenty of folk who have used Will-writing services and they ARE "regulated" by virtue of the fact they are members of a recognised trade body ( make sure they are such members). 

That is objectively incorrect. Membership of a trade body or "self-regulation" is not regulation. "Regulation" means that you have to pass specific qualifications to gain regulated status, and if you do things wrong the regulators bans you from practising your trade and/or forces you to pay redress to the wronged customers or fines you. Not that you get together with other charlatans once a month to drink punters' money away and invent made-up qualifications for each other.

TBagpuss

You asked what being regulated means.
It means that if anything goes wrong, you (or your executors / beneficiaries) have recourse - you an make a claim against he solicitors insurance, as they are required to have significant levels of insurance, you can complain to the reguator which has the power to comel them to address the issue, or in the event that the firm no loner exists, acts as a fianl insurer. If a firm of solicitors ceases tradingthere are requirements and oversight of what happenes to their filesa nd paperwork, so t s farless likely that anything will be lost (and yes, your will can be retianed by you or registered direct if you want, but there are situations where sight of the file, the record of the conversationsyou had with your adviser etc will be relvant, and soliccitors will typically keep these, if not for ever, generally for a significant period of time. 

As mentioned in a number of previous comments, seeing a real solicitor also meas that you are getting someone wh is qualified. Since will writters are not regulated, you don't generally have any way of knowing what, if any, legal expertise or qualification the person drawing up the document has.

Generally speaking, its a false economy *not* to do things properly.

As above, one thing a solicitor will do is to talk with you about options and the 'what if' scenarios, to make sure that the will still reflects your wishes not only in the obvious situation where you and your spouse eventially die leaving living children, but also in the less common but possible situations - if a child dies before you (does it make a differnece if they leave childnre of their own?) if the surviving spouse remarries etc. 

Of course, there are lots of situations where things are striaghforward and aen a poorly drafted will, or one which doesn't cover all eventualities, is OK becasue no complications arise, , but the issue is tht you don't know whether your situation will be one of thoe, or will beone of the more diffcult or complicated situations where things are not striaghtforwrd, by the time you die and the will takes effect,  and of course that's when any flaws  come to light, and it is too late to correct them

Pennylane

GaryBC said:

Hmmmm

Quite a few responses but, so far, no real answer. 
"Because they're regulated"... But what does that actually mean in practice? 
Storage and retrieval problems? HMCTS will look after it for life for £20. 
Untangling intent? What's there to untangle?
If my wife and kids go before me I'm not sure I'll need to care much! 
Hidden costs? Like what? 

We have an appointment booked for a free half hour appointment with a solicitor in advance of writing our Wills.  I was tempted to DIY and, of course, still have that option.

I know what you mean about “what is the difference?” Because we had this years ago when we were buying and selling houses.  I got quotes from 3 solicitors and was shocked at how expensive it was. I then heard about Licensed Conveyancers who were about a third of the price so went with one and we had excellent service.  We have used a LC every time we have bought a sold a property since then and have been more than happy and saved a lot of money.

While I was making up my mind I asked one of the solicitors why their prices were so much higher and what the difference was and he said “you get our personal service”.   That made no sense at all because we got that from the LC too!! 

I know loads of people who have done their Wills via solicitors and have had lots of problems afterwards so even that route is not 100%. 

YoungBlueEyes

As has been said - one of the big differences is a proper solicitor will talk through what it is you actually want to achieve. 

Me and himself had our wills drawn up a few weeks ago. I already had a mental draft of what they should say, (I’m an avid reader on here and thought I’d done a good job) and solicitor pointed out a few things that weren’t needed, and a couple of things that needed including. Just straightened the whole thing up a bit really. Appointment was about 20 mins iirc and cost £200. Would your online person do that? Oh and storage is free. 

I should say - I’ve never used a ‘will-writer’ or read your link, so can’t actually compare the two. This is my personal experience.