Has anyone used or is familiar with MyLastWill?

Emmia

Racxie said:

Emmia said:

Racxie said:

Keep_pedalling said:

For someone in your shoes a simple DIY would probable suffice. Your main issue is going to be appointing executors.

Definitely the impression I get for now, though a will writing service would at least help ensure any wording would be clear enough. Assigning an executor might at least be a bit of an easier conversation to have.

Either way I first really need to figure out who'd get what first before even thinking of writing anything, but hopefully that'll become easier in the future. 

Have you looked at the alternative which is no will, so if you died you'd be under the intestacy rules? I think if it's really simple that would work. You only need a will if what you want would be different from that.

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

I'm not sure how old you are, but I'm on my second will in my mid 40's. I did my first at 31. Both were solicitor drafted - my most recent on which was written in 2021 cost me ~£250. It's pretty straightforward, everything to my husband, if he's not around then it's divided between my nieces and nephews with a couple of smallish bequests to charity and friends.

I think Wills are very important and would never use an unregulated will writer, not even for a simple one (which mine is) or to "check wording".

Getting it wrong can lead to unintended consequences and expense for those you leave - they can't fundamentally ask you what you meant, or to clarify.

That website sure makes it easy to understand - thanks!

But £250 - ouch! Especially as it sounds like your situation is also very simple, and if anything going by that link it almost seems as if you didn't need a will to clarify the intestacy rules (with the exception of charity & friends). The MSE guide does point out that that some will-writing services do get solicitors to check over them which honestly to me sounds fine, especially if they're regulated.

But again, if things get complicated then 100% it might be worth shelling out to have a solicitor draft it for you; just got to hope you don't need to get it changed that often (e.g. what if you fall out with those friends or those charities go bust? etc.).

How much do you have to leave? Property,  savings, pensions, etc. out of the value of that, how much as a percentage is £250 - £300?

How willing are you for your hard earned savings to be spent after your death potentially unpicking (legally) a poorly drafted will where the person who wrote it (and you) are gone? 

Free wills month is an option, but it's not one I took up as I don't want to feel beholden to leave a proportion of my estate to the charity that ultimately pays for the service.

Emmia

Racxie said:

Emmia said:

Racxie said:

Keep_pedalling said:

For someone in your shoes a simple DIY would probable suffice. Your main issue is going to be appointing executors.

Definitely the impression I get for now, though a will writing service would at least help ensure any wording would be clear enough. Assigning an executor might at least be a bit of an easier conversation to have.

Either way I first really need to figure out who'd get what first before even thinking of writing anything, but hopefully that'll become easier in the future. 

Have you looked at the alternative which is no will, so if you died you'd be under the intestacy rules? I think if it's really simple that would work. You only need a will if what you want would be different from that.

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

I'm not sure how old you are, but I'm on my second will in my mid 40's. I did my first at 31. Both were solicitor drafted - my most recent on which was written in 2021 cost me ~£250. It's pretty straightforward, everything to my husband, if he's not around then it's divided between my nieces and nephews with a couple of smallish bequests to charity and friends.

I think Wills are very important and would never use an unregulated will writer, not even for a simple one (which mine is) or to "check wording".

Getting it wrong can lead to unintended consequences and expense for those you leave - they can't fundamentally ask you what you meant, or to clarify.

That website sure makes it easy to understand - thanks!

But £250 - ouch! Especially as it sounds like your situation is also very simple, and if anything going by that link it almost seems as if you didn't need a will to clarify the intestacy rules (with the exception of charity & friends). The MSE guide does point out that that some will-writing services do get solicitors to check over them which honestly to me sounds fine, especially if they're regulated.

But again, if things get complicated then 100% it might be worth shelling out to have a solicitor draft it for you; just got to hope you don't need to get it changed that often (e.g. what if you fall out with those friends or those charities go bust? etc.).

I don't want my mum or my siblings/ sister in law with kids to inherit - they all have enough money. I think that the people who would really benefit from a future "cash injection" are my nieces and nephews. Intestacy rules don't work for my purposes... Hence the will.

Savvy_Sue

Racxie said:

The MSE guide does point out that that some will-writing services do get solicitors to check over them which honestly to me sounds fine, especially if they're regulated.

But again, if things get complicated then 100% it might be worth shelling out to have a solicitor draft it for you; just got to hope you don't need to get it changed that often (e.g. what if you fall out with those friends or those charities go bust? etc.).

Solicitors are regulated, they have to be - each individual has to pay each year to remain on the Register. And if a firm of solicitors goes down the tubes, then its cases will be handed on to another company, also regulated. It can be a bit of a tangle if that happens more than once over a period of years, but the SRA SHOULD be able to track back where your file went. 

Actually the way to avoid problems with 'lost' wills is to either hold on to the original yourself (and make sure your executor would know where to find it), or send it off to the Probate Registry for safe keeping. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/store-a-will-with-the-probate-service/how-to-store-a-will-with-the-probate-service - again, make sure your executor / loved ones know you've done that!

Will-writers, not so much. Many of them are members of 'professional' bodies, but there's more than one of those, and the membership criteria definitely don't include the detailed qualifications of a solicitor, and the training may be sketchy. I'm not saying they couldn't produce a sensible, simple, valid will, but often what the customer thinks is 'simple' turns out to be less so. 

Racxie said:

But again, if things get complicated then 100% it might be worth shelling out to have a solicitor draft it for you; just got to hope you don't need to get it changed that often (e.g. what if you fall out with those friends or those charities go bust? etc.).

A well-drafted, carefully thought-out will shouldn't need updating often. Falling out with your friends is a possibility, but do you do that often? And with charities, a well-drafted will would ensure that the money goes to a similar cause / a charity which merges with / takes over another charity / the right charity if the one you know changes its name. 

Let's run through a few life events:

• If you marry or enter a civil partnership, then any will becomes invalid. Time to make a new one, UNLESS you want everything to go to your spouse. 
  
  
• If you have children after you've married or entered a civil partnership, advisable to make a new one, because depending on the size of your estate, not everything may go to your spouse / partner, depending on the size of your estate, and that can cause problems. You might also want to appoint guardians. 
  
  
• And definitely if you are a single parent, write a will if you care about who cares for your children, and whatever you're able to leave them. 
  
  
• If that marriage / partnership breaks down, DEFINITELY time to make a new will, because divorce makes the previous will invalid. 
  
  
• If you start co-habiting / have a long-term relationship, DEFINITELY time to make a new will, because there is no such thing as a common-law spouse, and your partner will have no right to inherit anything of yours (or even to arrange your funeral). 

DH and I are not great at getting round to these things. We managed our first will when the boys were young, nominated guardians and ... moved 100 miles away from those guardians, our executors, and one of the beneficiaries of our 'doomsday' clause - oh, and the other 'doomsday' beneficiary was in a much stronger financial position than previously.

To be fair, our intention was that the guardians would decide what was best for the boys, rather than necessarily take them on themselves. Then one of our executors died, and we weren't much in touch with their spouse, or the other executor. And we bought a house which we co-owned with a friend, who we felt would be quite well-placed to take the boys on if the worst happened. However, I think they were all 18+ before we managed another will! 

And the thing is that although we SHOULD have done it sooner, it wouldn't have been the end of the world if we'd needed to use the previous one, because of the 'what if' questions the solicitor asked, and the thought we'd put into it. 

 

Savvy_Sue

Actually, I'm going to add another life event. If you start your own limited company, you absolutely should give some thought to what happens on your death, untimely or otherwise.