Writing a will and not have a clear person in mind to leave it all to

sheramber

if you don't make a will your sister, if she is alive when you die, will inherit your estate.

If you do not want that then it is important that you make a will.

You should also consider who would act in your interests if you were not able to. For example if you were unconscious in hospital who would ensure bills were paid etc.

For this you need a Power of Attorney. 

if it is straightforward it can be done online much cheaper than through a solicitor.

Gavin83

I have a slightly similar issue, although I'm still quite young. I'm married but have no children (nor plan to), nor any siblings. There is also a fair chance I'll end up being reasonably rich in my old age. Obviously everything would get left to my wife but assume we're no longer together or she dies before me. What then?

Currently I have no will so presumably as my closest relatives my parents would inherit. Were they no longer here then I assume the next in line under intestacy rules would be my cousins. As I have zero relationship with them I wouldn't wish them to inherit my money so I expect once my parents are elderly or passed I would certainly make a will.

Making a will isn't easy when you have no children nor nieces/nephews though. My wife has siblings but currently none of them have children, although they likely will at some point. If I have a close relationship with them I might leave them something. Same goes for children of close friends. I'd likely leave some to charity as well. If I have close to zero relationship with anyone younger than me then I may well end up leaving it all to charity.

I plan to spend as much as I can though while I can still enjoy it. I'd suggest you do the same. I do understand the struggle though.

BungalowBel

Our son and his partner will inherit property from both us and her parents.  They are both only children and will not have any children themselves.  They will have the same dilemma, although my son's partner has a cousin she is very close to.

If they asked my advice, I would tell them to sell everything, get themselves a nice but modest property somewhere where they want to live, even a rented place for older people would do, spend all the money on making their lives comfortable.  Leave whatever is left to the cousin.  Job done.

pollypenny

My childless aunt left £5000 each to we four nieces and the rest to charity we were very happy with that. 

Finance_Fool

I'm in a similar situation. Most of what I've got would go to my sister, assuming I predecease her, but I did want to leave some to charities that mean something to me. 

I chose a medical charity, because I lost a schoolfriend to a particular disease, a bullying charity, because I remember what absolute prats the kids at my school were, and that there wasn't a lot of support for the bullied, plus it must be ten times more difficult now what with social media and whatnot, and also a charity I worked at for a while that supported children affected by domestic violence. One of these three offered a free will-writing service if you included them, so I did it that way - apparently all legally binding if you have it witnessed properly. 

Are there any causes you feel a particular affinity to, or have any charities supported you or anyone you know in the past? Perhaps someone you know has been affected by a particular medical issue, or found themselves needing help? Maybe you love dogs or cats!? Having worked in the charity sector, I'd definitely recommend doing a bit of research into smaller, local charities as it's often these that have a really realistic idea of issues in communities and often get overlooked for funding if they can't afford to pay clever bid-writers, which is actually a really difficult skill. 

sevenhills

You should leave a set amount to be spent in your local village, town or city.
Perhaps a park bench or two, or a flowerbed display, a tree or forest.

FarmGirl78

I have no dependents and I have NO PROBLEM in deciding who to have as beneficiaries. Her are some examples from my own/relatives/friends wills....

Local Primary school with the request it be spent on science education or school trips.
Church someone worhsips at.
Hospital, especially if it was a previous workplace you enjoyed working ( but I'm sentimental about stuff like that!)
Names individuals from the hairdresser's who always fitted person in at short notice.
Names individual who always drew up rota's for Scouts/Foodbank/Local litter pick as a volunteer role.
Local foodbank.
National charity for medical condition person suffered from.
Colleague who always gave person a lift to rhe football.
Small local charity funding needs of an old school friend's severely disabled child.
The bloke who runs the pub quiz
Local Scout/Brownie pack.
Group of friends so they can go out for a slap up meal to celebrate your life 'properly' rather than just at your funeral immediately after your death.
Local care home for trip to seaside for residents.

There's SO many things you can do. I have no intention whatsoever of leaving everything to my Nephew/Niece. They'll have enough money off their own parents. I'm going to leave it to unsuspecting individuals who will be blown away to get even a little chunk of unexpected money to spend on things they want but don't necessarily NEED. Imagine the smiles and joy you could bring. 

OnionCityBlues

Gavin83 said:

Obviously everything would get left to my wife but assume we're no longer together or she dies before me. What then?

You are clearly thinking about wills so sort a really basic one. You can get one online for about £30. Do nothing and yes, everything will get left to your wife.

But wills need to be kept up to date: if she dies or you split up you need to update it.

squirrelchops2

We have no children but I do have 4 nieces and nephews. However although I have 2 half brothers my mother's house is in trust to me when she dies therefore what I have decided is rather than wait until I die, when my mother dies to give my nieces and nephews a sum then. They will get better use then as I hope to live to a decent age (and spend a lot!).

Ive made a will as if I die before my mother and in it I make a sum to nieces and nephews, charity, a friend then partner remainder. If we die together before my mother then larger sums to charities and remainder split between nieces and nephews.

rnj

Similar situation, I've started gifting while I'm alive to family members (only have a small family) and I find it very rewarding as I'd rather gift now than wait until death. Highly recommend.