Will v No Will

geeforce_2

Asking on behalf of a friend. What are the major differences between somebody dying with a will v dying without a will in respect of cost and time taken to apply for everything? Assuming the deceased is widowed, no house to sell  and has two adult sons who would split the estate equally. I can’t really see a great difference but if somebody has experience of either..?

geeforce_2

Has anybody any knowledge of a relative making their own basic  will using either a will form that you can buy from the post office or using an online template. As long as it is witnessed by two independent witnesses, was there any issues? I’m referring to a very basic will, not a complicated one. 

Emmia

geeforce_2 said:

Has anybody any knowledge of a relative making their own basic  will using either a will form that you can buy from the post office or using an online template. As long as it is witnessed by two independent witnesses, was there any issues? I’m referring to a very basic will, not a complicated one. 

I'd not fancy being the executor of this - so easy to make a minor error in the drafting that has huge consequences.

RAS

I'd suggest that they read the gov.uk pages on intestacy. There is a decision tree that explains who is eligible to inherit, for a start.

I'd suggest the friend also checks whether there are any pensions of life insurance payouts and makes sure they are written in trust to those they want to gain.

And get LPAs in place after talking to the children and may Age UK.

Keep_pedalling

I did one for my mother, but she only had a small amount of savings and no property. This was one I drafted myself. I would not recommend you do one if you are a home owner and / or have significant savings where probate would need to be obtained. 

Keep_pedalling

The main disadvantage in this situation is that with a will you control who administers your estate. by appointing the executors. 

GrumpyDil

Agreed with the above. I wrote my parent's wills and subsequently executed my father's although my mother changed hers.

The only reason I did that was because they were straightforward and I had a decent understanding around wills.

It's over 30 years since I last looked at wills in any detail and if I needed a will written now I would get a solicitor to write it. 

zagfles

I've help administer a couple of intestate estates and they were easy, in fact easier and cheaper than if there'd been a will. But they were quite straightforwards. One thing though, if there's no will make sure you understand the intestacy rules and are happy with them, and make sure to let the beneficaries know there's no will, so they don't waste time searching for one!

nom_de_plume

In the last couple of years, I have administered two estates and been a beneficiary of a third where there was no Will. All three were very simple to administer without a Will due to the size of the estates and the relationships of the various beneficiaries to the deceased. 
One was very similar to the situation described by the OP.

youth_leader

When my husband died I had to remake my will and I did go to our solicitor. 

I hadn't realised that if I died, and neither of my children survived, my estranged father would inherit everything.  I now have a charity as a 'long stop'.

Bostonerimus1

A will makes everything easy and avoids the potential confusion of dying intestate. An executor can start the process of probate immediately. When my mother died her solicitor was the executor and the 4.5% of the estate that they charged was well worth it as it spared the family lots of worry. I'm now going through the consequences of the intestate death of my sister-in-law and have managed to find some distant relatives who can deal with the estate, but it's a more involved process requiring will searches and genealogies before an administrator can be apointed and then they have to follow the rules of intestate inheritance.