Looking for advice on Wills etc

Cobbler_tone

The more I read about Trusts, the more I can see why a lot of people seem pretty 'anti' and no coincidence they featured as a headline recently on BBC news.
I am not close to the handling of my MIL's passing (i.e. I don't know the type of Trust) but I know they probably had a trust that wasn't the wisest move.
They were 'sold' (I resist from saying mis-sold) the idea by a person from the Co-op at a WI meeting for several thousands of pounds, along with many other people there. She passed away on NYD this year (so 9 months ago) and things are no where near settled. This is after spending a further £5k for the Co-op to deal with matters on their behalf, for half a house worth £180k and probably £100k in cash. The two siblings are in the process of trying to set up a joint bank account as joint executors and TBF not been across the Co-op as much as I would have been.They don't even know if they can take this money out or if it has to remain in the account. The service has poor REALLY poor, with the backdrop of the cyber issues.
Their dad is doing really well and a bit bemused why things are not simpler for his daughters. They haven't been hard on him as I think they know their parents were trying to do something for their children.

Meanwhile, my brother lost his wife recently. They lived apart in their own houses without wills, i.e. they didn't divorce and remained the best of friends. Within 8 weeks he had the funds from her accounts, her private pension is sorted, he received a bereavement support payment and he will soon be listing her house.

In neither case is the money important (hence why they seem chilled about it and my brother donated a large sum to an animal shelter) but shows how different situations can be.