Amending a will

luckybert

Hi, 

I have a will that needs amending and the company want to charge me £35 per amendment.
Can I transfer the will to someone else (is there a cost for this)?
Can I create a new will at a new company?

Just wondering what my options are in what I thought was 'free wills' month

Jude57

luckybert said:

Hi, 

I have a will that needs amending and the company want to charge me £35 per amendment.
Can I transfer the will to someone else (is there a cost for this)?
Can I create a new will at a new company?

Just wondering what my options are in what I thought was 'free wills' month

You can create a new will at any time. Every properly drafted will has a clause at the beginning stating that it revokes all previous wills. Unless you're planning dozens of amendments I'd say that £35 per amendment is cheap when you consider that each amendment has to be considered as potentially changing the effect of other parts of the will and there's considerable skill involved in doing that to ensure your wishes are properly recorded and not likely to be challenged by aggrieved potential beneficiaries when the time comes. If you want to make that many amendments it would probably be cheaper to have a new will drawn up. It's unlikely another firm will charge you less than £35 per amendment for a will they haven't drafted. A new firm won't have access to the notes taken when the will was drafted and to have those transferred to the new firm will have a cost, too. Most solicitors would be cautious of amending a will they'd had no part in drafting.

It IS 'free wills' month but as with all such promotions, there are conditions and limits. The offer tends only to apply to very straightforward wills; a multimillionaire with numerous investments and numerous children would need something more complex. I'm not aware that amendments or codicils (additions) are included in the promotion but I'm happy to be corrected.

A will is potentially the most important document any of us are likely to ever sign. It's the only way to ensure that our wishes are carried out after our death. It's a false economy, in my opinion, to skimp on something so important.

Savvy_Sue

Who drew up your first will, a 'proper' solicitor or a will-writer? 

If it wasn't a 'proper' solicitor, get a new one, with a 'proper' solicitor. They have to be registered with the SRA, and if their firm goes out of business then their records are transferred to another, and the SRA keeps records of this. You may well be able to do this as part of Free Wills Month. 

Spendless

What I was never aware of was that free will month is only available to those aged 55 or over.
https://freewillsmonth.org.uk/

I was going to suggest it to a relative who could do with making one but relative is too young.

We amended our will last year, we took someone out of the 'disaster clause' and asked for share to be divided between the remaining disaster clause beneficiaries. Our solicitor never charged but if he had Id have had to weigh up the cost of amendments versus the cost of making new wills. 

Savvy_Sue

There are other 'free' will-writing services available. I believe some charities will offer this, and my trade union certainly does. HOWEVER, these may be offered via will-writers rather than 'proper' solicitors, so it's worth checking.