Mirror wills

ahfat41

We created mirror wills 7 yrs ago. Late husband will created an IPDI for me giving me life interest and leaving his 50% share in a trust for the children and my will is the same. Now he has passed away four months ago. I am thinking of having a new will. How will my new will affect the mirror wills and the IPDI. Will it be to my advantage now to just leave my 50% directly to the chikdren or leave the will as it is. Also I want to visit my local solicitor and get the wills binded so no question ask when applying for probate. We used online solicitor and printed form at home for husband and probate is asking for witnesses to confirm, no pages haven removed or added since execution, I want to get mine done by a local solicitor to avoid this issue. Thanks

Keep_pedalling

Any new will you make will not impact your husband’s will. The IPDI trust forms part of your estates for IHT purposes but not your heritable estate so can’t be included in your will. 

Unless your children have not been named as executors in your will or you want to add or change any beneficiaries, you probable don’t actually need a new one.

Savvy_Sue

Agree with Keep_pedalling, but also, does your will currently have provisions for any of your children pre-deceasing you, with or without having children of their own? 

ahfat41

Yes it does, the will trust covers everything. Just a bit concerned my will is on single pages as well and probate office will ask for more info.Thanks

madbadrob

MIrror wills require a lot of trust between partners and why if I am asked will always advise gainst them.  If there are no changes is there any point in spending more money on a new will if it is only going to confirm the original will?  Other than that sue and pedalling have probably given you the best responses

Keep_pedalling

madbadrob said:

MIrror wills require a lot of trust between partners and why if I am asked will always advise gainst them.  If there are no changes is there any point in spending more money on a new will if it is only going to confirm the original will?  Other than that sue and pedalling have probably given you the best responses

Are you confusing mirror wills with mutual wills? Mirror wills are not particularly risky especially when IPDITs are included. 

ahfat41

No am not confusing mirror wills with mutual. The reason I might consider making a new will is that probate office is asking for more infor regarding my husband will as it is in single pages and binds only with a plastic binder and mine is the same.

RAS

Solicitors staple the pages together.

Has the current binding left major marks on the existing will, where the slider is and perhaps faded and unfaded paper? If not, then just staple it together, using a strong stapler. Doe not ever remove the staples thereafter, as the Probate Registry will query it.

Otherwise, if you can still access the electronic file, reprint the will, staple it together and sign the new copy, with the appropriate witnesses. Make sure you use the new date. 

This really identifies a problem using an on-line solicitor that hasn't provided decent instructions to its clients on how manage the legal requirements for witnessing etc. No-one should be signing a will that is not a secure document. If it's a short document back to back printing, as often done on old wills would be safer.

madbadrob

Keep_pedalling said:

madbadrob said:

MIrror wills require a lot of trust between partners and why if I am asked will always advise gainst them.  If there are no changes is there any point in spending more money on a new will if it is only going to confirm the original will?  Other than that sue and pedalling have probably given you the best responses

Are you confusing mirror wills with mutual wills? Mirror wills are not particularly risky especially when IPDITs are included. 

No mirror wills in general.  Once one dies the second can change all legacies.  A mirror will as i understand are 2 wills both the same with the names of the testator being the only difference.  A mutual will is the same however the two parties acknowledge these wills are binding and can only be changed by both being in agreement.  Basically meaning after death the second will cannot be ammended or changed or discarded for a new one.  Mutual wills are by far the safest.  We are not considering the ipdits because we are talking about after the death has occurred

Linton

madbadrob said:

Keep_pedalling said:

madbadrob said:

MIrror wills require a lot of trust between partners and why if I am asked will always advise gainst them.  If there are no changes is there any point in spending more money on a new will if it is only going to confirm the original will?  Other than that sue and pedalling have probably given you the best responses

Are you confusing mirror wills with mutual wills? Mirror wills are not particularly risky especially when IPDITs are included. 

No mirror wills in general.  Once one dies the second can change all legacies.  A mirror will as i understand are 2 wills both the same with the names of the testator being the only difference.  A mutual will is the same however the two parties acknowledge these wills are binding and can only be changed by both being in agreement.  Basically meaning after death the second will cannot be ammended or changed or discarded for a new one.  Mutual wills are by far the safest.  We are not considering the ipdits because we are talking about after the death has occurred

The inflexibility of mutual wills could cause major problems for the survivor if circumstances make the terms inappropriate.  Can they be legally enforced anyway? What happens if the survivor remarries when any pre-existing will is invalidated?

Better for the spouses to trust each other and use simple mirror wills where each spouse leaves everything to the other and to an agreed set of beneficiaries on the second death.

If spouses wish to protect particular beneficiaries they should make separate wills only leaving part of their estate to the other. The family home can be held separately as tenants in common with each spouse granting the other the right to live in it during their lifetime with an IPDIT. 

Don’t try to DiY such wills. Use a solicitor.