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Will for my parents - help and advice

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  • MobileSaver
    MobileSaver Posts: 4,377 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 9 January 2024 at 11:59AM
    dommy27 said:
    what would happen if and when the inevitable happens without the proper legalities in place.
    If one or both die without making a will then it's actually very simple as the rules of intestacy are applied:
    We finally persuaded an elderly relative to make a will after they'd repeatedly mentioned that they wanted a particular person to inherit something while sharing everything else with their own children; we explained that without a will that would not happen and only their own children would inherit under the rules of intestacy.
    Perhaps go through with your parents what will happen without a will (using the above link) and to be honest if they're happy that the rules of intestacy are what they'd want anyway then "the proper legalities" aren't worth worrying about.
    The only caveat to the above is if you or your parents have concerns about who will administer the estate; if you all get on great and there's no question of any sibling being untrustworthy then again leaving everything to the intestacy rules will be fine. However if your parents have a strong preference over who manages their estate (i.e. who is responsible for distributing the inheritances fairly) once they're gone then the advantage of making a will is that they can nominate a particular person or persons as executors.


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