Advice before writing a will

km1500

ok so you don't want to leave it to your parents then I'm assuming you would want to leave it (at least in part) to children of your siblings i.e nieces and nephews

what are your thoughts on this - what are the pros and cons and in particular do you want to treat them all equally

Linton

SiliconChip said:

There is a potential issue for your executors if you leave a percentage to charities, who may well insist on achieving the maximum possible value on the sale of any assets (particularly property) in order to maximise the sum that they receive. It might be better to leave specific sums to charities and to ensure your Will is updated if your financial position changes greatly over time to either reduce or increase these sums.

Is there any evidence this is a real issue other than for executors who are behaving badly?  Certainly I had no problems ahen I was an executor dealing with moderate charity donations. IIRC they may have wanted to see the estate accounts but they were entitled to that anyway.

As I said above leaving a specific large legacy also has risks in that it could disinherit the residual beneficiaries.

Mojisola

CaptainWales said:

I currently don't have a will and really want to put one in place. I am finding it hard though to decide who I want my money, assets to go to

Make a list of who you want to inherit and what percentage of your estate goes to each person/charity.

Put it away for a week; get it out and go over it and see if there are any changes you would make on reflection.

Sometimes a flow chart helps to focus the mind -

everything divided between niblings and charities (give percentages);

if any of the niblings die before me, their share goes to ........;

if any of the charities are no longer functioning, their share goes to .... or their share goes back into the pot;

and so on.

A good solicitor will ask you a range of 'what if' questions and will probably raise things you haven't thought about.

Daniel54

CaptainWales said:

Thanks all for the advice. 

In terms of nominating an executor, without wanting to sound big headed, I am probably the one in the family most interested and clued up about financial matters. From a practical perspective I am definitely going to try and pass some of that wisdom to others in family (if I can get them to listen!) otherwise it's difficult to choose who to nominate.

A lot of the work involved in being an executor is time consuming but does not require a huge amount of financial expertise.Prosaically,the work involve contacting the organisations that need to be notified (Tell us once deals with Government entities such as DWP and HMRC).The subsequent  information then needs to be gathered and ,if needed,submitted for probate and then distributed

If you choose executors who are honest and diligent,there may well arise points where they need paid for assistance from a suitably qualified solicitor .Many of us have done exactly this 

I would suggest that in advance  you ask anyone you choose if they are prepared to be an executor .

Do you have a POA in place,as this is in many ways can be no less important than having a will ?

Mojisola

Daniel54 said:

A lot of the work involved in being an executor is time consuming but does not require a huge amount of financial expertise.

I would suggest that in advance  you ask anyone you choose if they are prepared to be an executor .

It is time consuming and lay executors can't charge for their time so we have left the executors an extra sum to cover the costs of taking time off work, paying for extra childcare, etc.

Daniel54

Mojisola said:

Daniel54 said:

A lot of the work involved in being an executor is time consuming but does not require a huge amount of financial expertise.

I would suggest that in advance  you ask anyone you choose if they are prepared to be an executor .

It is time consuming and lay executors can't charge for their time so we have left the executors an extra sum to cover the costs of taking time off work, paying for extra childcare, etc.

Indeed.I am an ongoing  co-executor on quite a complex estate and am grateful to have been left a cash sum ( now paid)specifically as an executor,apart from my inheritance as a beneficiary,which requires resolution of the estate in hopefully the not too far distant future.

Savvy_Sue

One thing to consider is whether the no. of niblings today is likely to be the final no. In my generation of the family, it's vanishingly unlikely that more will appear, but they are now producing offspring.

A solicitor can help you word things to ensure late arrivals don't miss out, if that's necessary.

boingy

Linton said:

SiliconChip said:

There is a potential issue for your executors if you leave a percentage to charities, who may well insist on achieving the maximum possible value on the sale of any assets (particularly property) in order to maximise the sum that they receive. It might be better to leave specific sums to charities and to ensure your Will is updated if your financial position changes greatly over time to either reduce or increase these sums.

Is there any evidence this is a real issue other than for executors who are behaving badly? 

No there isn't. It's just one of the things that keeps getting repeated on this forum without any evidence at all. 

boingy

We're in a similar position to the OP - no kids. We've opted to give a chunk to charity then split the remainder equally amongst our siblings. Of course, some or all of them may go before us in which case their share is split between their kids, or goes back into the pot if there are none. That way you automatically cover the scenario where more nieces/nephews arrive or where siblings remarry or whatever.

We've no interest at all in catering for the daft scenarios where they all die at once etc. If everyone is dead who cares where the money goes. You can worry too much about this stuff (BTW, solicitors love to plant these sort of worries in your head!)

The other thing I'd say is to keep the will as simple as possible. It's tempting to make small gifts of specific items you cherish but, actually, that can turn into a nightmare for your executor who has to try to locate and distribute each item. I've got a friend who has specified a gift of a few pounds to an old schoolfriend as an apology for damaging his bike in the 1980's. That's amusing unless you are the executor trying to track down an 80 year old who probably won't remember the bike incident.