Cost of amending a Will

cazlou71

My aunty and uncle have mirror Wills set up about 15 years ago.  There are no complications other than a trust that has been set up for their disabled son.  My uncle no longer has capacity (dementia) and my aunty wants to make 2 changes to her Will: 1) change the ratio of percentages left to her 3 children 2) if she dies before her husband, her part of the estate would be left to their children rather than him.

She has spoken to the solicitors who set up the original Wills and they have quoted her £950+VAT to make the amendments.  For a relatively simple changes to a Will this firm already hold, this seems a huge amount of money.  Does this seem excessive or about right?

Marcon

cazlou71 said:

My aunty and uncle have mirror Wills set up about 15 years ago.  There are no complications other than a trust that has been set up for their disabled son.  My uncle no longer has capacity (dementia) and my aunty wants to make 2 changes to her Will: 1) change the ratio of percentages left to her 3 children 2) if she dies before her husband, her part of the estate would be left to their children rather than him.

She has spoken to the solicitors who set up the original Wills and they have quoted her £950+VAT to make the amendments.  For a relatively simple changes to a Will this firm already hold, this seems a huge amount of money.  Does this seem excessive or about right?

If the will is 15 years old, then I imagine the price being quoted includes a review for any possible changes needed as a result of changes in general legislation, so it's not unreasonable - but I suggest she checks that is what the quote covers before proceeding.

cazlou71

She asked in the initial review meeting whether anything had changed in law in the intervening years and it was confirmed that there are no outside legal factors affecting the current will.  It feels like this should be a codicil or if a new Will then it’s literally no more than 5 sentences to change.

poseidon1

cazlou71 said:

My aunty and uncle have mirror Wills set up about 15 years ago.  There are no complications other than a trust that has been set up for their disabled son.  My uncle no longer has capacity (dementia) and my aunty wants to make 2 changes to her Will: 1) change the ratio of percentages left to her 3 children 2) if she dies before her husband, her part of the estate would be left to their children rather than him.

She has spoken to the solicitors who set up the original Wills and they have quoted her £950+VAT to make the amendments.  For a relatively simple changes to a Will this firm already hold, this seems a huge amount of money.  Does this seem excessive or about right?

One change of circumstances leaps out to me is the subsequent set up of the  disabled trust for son.

If Uncle and Aunty were/are trustees of this arrangement, presumably her will may need to identify  successors although under the current circumstances this is already an urgent matter that should not be left until her death.

Also with regard to the trust, I am guessing the change in percentages between the children might  include reallocating a greater percentage to the disabled child's trust?   However,  depending on the nature of the child's disability and expectation of life there maybe a need to provide for that child's share to be redirected  in the event he predeceases her. 

Could one or other of her 3 children now have a family of their own which might need tweaking of their entitlements in the event they predecease your Aunty? 15 years is a long time for the wider family dynamics to remain entirely 'unchanged'.  A conscientious solicitor would feel obliged to make appropriate enquiries before proceeding with the  drafting excercise.

The above, coupled with removing her husband as beneficiary if she predeceases him,  points to a brand new will rather than a few cursory lines to a simple codicil to her original will.

cazlou71

I understand the comments but my understanding is that all of these types of questions were covered in the initial review meeting and the subsequent quote is provided on the basis I described above.  The executor of the Wills and the trustee for the trust is a close family friend now and that will not change.  Family circumstances of their children has changed but it is only the percentages that she has decided to change not the number or names of beneficiaries.

cazlou71

When I look online, a brand new will doesn’t seem to cost £950 +VAT and as the majority of this is a copy/paste, even if a brand new Will is needed it just seems excessive, but perhaps it is the going rate and I’m just a bit out of touch with legal charges!

Savvy_Sue

One way to check whether this is a reasonable charge or not would be to contact a STEP solicitor and get a quote for a new will, to include a disabled person's trust.

I agree it's a lot of money for a 'basic' will, but this isn't a basic will. If this is a STEP solicitor, that would push the price up more (and that would be a strong recommendation where trusts are involved). https://www.step.org/about-step/public

I know you and I would see this as minor amendments / a copy and paste job from the original, but actually that's not how I want a solicitor to work. I'd want what I've got to be looked at again, properly, to understand its intent, and then I'd like the changes I want to be properly considered and implemented. That's especially important where a benefit-dependent beneficiary is involved. 

There are several reasons for this: first in case there was any error in the original - because mistakes happen, and they're not always noticed! Then to spot any workings of 'the law of unintended consequences' - we make what looks like a minor change, and whoops, Fred's disinherited. And to consider whether any changes in the law or in this case changes in benefits) mean that what we wrote to begin with is still the right thing. 

Actually the part about leaving her half of the property to her children rather than her husband: that's not necessarily straightforward. If they are currently Joint Tenants then she needs to change that to Tenants in Common, and get the change noted at the Land Registry, and we've had threads on here where that has not happened, leaving a horrible mess. Now, maybe they are already TiC, but it's definitely a question which the solicitors need to be sure about.