Do we need wills?

Brie

I know the answer will be yes for a lot of people but I'm wondering how necessary it is for us.

Couple, no children.  So if there were wills they would be mirror and the same that intestacy would dictate I believe.

If OH outlives me when he dies his estate would go to cousins.  Well he might want a will because he might prefer the estate to go a charity I suppose.  Or skip the cousins and go to their kids.  

If I outlive him I won't mind getting a will and leaving bits and pieces to friends and nieces and nephews as I don't think any of my brothers need much.

OH is essentially allergic to any financial planning and I can't even get him to discuss it.  Even if I wanted to just get one for myself and let him know would be a major hoohaw.  

And no we don't have PoAs and yes I know we need those even more than wills.  Again it's a major hoohaw.  

So is there a point of a couple such as ourselves to get wills?

km1500

One reason is, as you say, if you want something different to happen than the intestacy rules

sammyjammy

If my estate were to go to my cousins then i would most certainly be writing a will for the majority of it to go to charity!  

user1977

You don't say what sort of "couple" you are, but can we presume married (or civil partnered)? If neither then Wills are rather more important...

bobster2

Brie said:

If OH outlives me when he dies his estate would go to cousins.  Well he might want a will because he might prefer the estate to go a charity I suppose.  Or skip the cousins and go to their kids.  

If I outlive him I won't mind getting a will and leaving bits and pieces to friends and nieces and nephews as I don't think any of my brothers need much.

Sorry to bring up worst case scenarios - after the first death the surviving spouse may not have time to think about writing a will, before their time is up too. For example, some sort of accident (e.g. car) that affects you both.

Keep_pedalling

It seems that you both want different people to inherit, do rather than take a chance on who dies first (assuming your are married or CPs) then you need a will regardless of whether your partner keeps acting as an idiot or not. If you own your home as joint tenants you will also need to sever the tenancy to convert to tenants in common, this can be done by just a single owner you don’t need your partners permission to do it.

Your can then leave your share to whoever you like giving your partner a life interest which protects him and your beneficiaries.

Stubod

I would get a will done, be far simpler for whoever is managing your estate. I see the RSPCA are offereing them free at the mo, and can be completed with a phone call, (assuming it's fairly straightforward). NB They say you are  not obliged to leave anything to them, but I assume it would be a good idea to leave them sonething??

Savvy_Sue

Stubod said:

I would get a will done, be far simpler for whoever is managing your estate. I see the RSPCA are offereing them free at the mo, and can be completed with a phone call, (assuming it's fairly straightforward). NB They say you are  not obliged to leave anything to them, but I assume it would be a good idea to leave them sonething??

Lots of charities are doing this ATM, so if you don't feel generous towards the RSPCA there are options! Could even be worth phoning your favourite local charity to see if they have any 'offers'. 

TripleH

Do you have pets?

Our will specifies money to be given for the care of our pets first should we go.

If your partner is a caring pet 'owner' the sell might be 'do you want your cat / dog etc to live the rest of their life in a shelter or would you like them to be looked after another way?

This is more for childless couples who might allocate affection to their pets instead.

Brie

Thank you everyone for your comments.

yes married.  sorry I didn't mention that.  some good thoughts - for one thing I doubt he wants a penny to go to cousins and would prefer it going to <name the worst possible political organisation you can think of>.

I shall at some point try to start this conversation.  Along with POAs.  OH's health is not grand and even though I'm the one that runs the household I'd rather not run into issues.  I have mentioned changing the joint accounts he has with his mom (who died a couple of years back - let's not focus on that please) to joint with me simply so I can legally be moving money about as is sometimes needed.  (let's not focus on that either please) (or his mom's other account that hasn't been closed but has a zero balance.....)

Brie

TripleH said:

Do you have pets?

Our will specifies money to be given for the care of our pets first should we go.

If your partner is a caring pet 'owner' the sell might be 'do you want your cat / dog etc to live the rest of their life in a shelter or would you like them to be looked after another way?

This is more for childless couples who might allocate affection to their pets instead.

No pets.  For now.  OH wanted a few "carefree" years but that's more to do with being a carer for his parents than us having our cats....  We have garden cats who we enjoy and don't have to pay vet bills for, at least until one of them shows up with kittens (yes, please!!!)