Free and Cheap Wills discussion area

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  • I just called community legal aid about free wills and I was told it only applies if you are a single parent with a child under 18? If you are not single parent you can only do it through an appointment with a solicitor and they will try to find a first free appointment for you and then discuss if you qualify for legal aid but she said usually a will is not covered by legal aid unless single parent again?
    Your site said help for disabled and over 70 but CLA say this is not the case?
  • Dear All,

    I would just like to point out that the last time there was a free will advert on here, once the Will writer got inside the door he advised that it was only one will per household. This was not mentioned anywhere on the site. We would get one will free and the other would cost £140. Still cheaper than buying both but I did think that it was very misleading and a bit of a con.
  • This free will thing is definitely a con as the will writer has mow told be he cannot go ahead with the free will both must be done or none at all!

    If its too good to be true it usually is!
  • watcherjohn
    watcherjohn Posts: 1 Newbie
    edited 17 November 2010 at 10:44AM
    I am in process of getting a protective property trust will from ten miniute will.co. Does anyone know if this is a reputable and reliablefirm?
  • willaid_press_officer
    willaid_press_officer Posts: 25 Organisation Representative
    You may not be too late to take advantage of Will Aid 2010. Although we are fast approaching the end of November and so the official end of Will Aid's Make a Will Month, many solicitors still do have appointments free and others are prepared to extend their offer into December. So visit http://www.willaid.org/find today to locate a solicitor near you or phone 0300 0300 013 as soon as you can.
    Best Wishes
    Sue
    Will Aid press officer
  • heygringo
    heygringo Posts: 119 Forumite
    Hi all. Perhaps Sue, the Will Aid press officer can help with this. I have asked this question of more than one solicitor, but never getting a definitive answer. The question is. Why are wills not required by law, to be registered with a central registry, as Births, Marriage's & Deaths are? That way, when a death is recorded, a simple cross check with such a register would reveal wether a will was in force, thereby eliminating the trauma that family's can go through by searching for a will of the deceased. Or is the reason that no "official" register exists, because the estate can pass to the Treasury if no relatives are found or even realise that a person has passed away?

    A will can be registered privately, but even that information is not generally known.
  • Snapelover
    Snapelover Posts: 435
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    I have told my parents about free will month but they are a bit concerned about having to pay for it. I have told them that the hope is that they will leave something in their will to one of the ten charities but they are under no obligation to leave anything. They are the kind of people who would feel obliged to give something - do they really have to?

    Does anyone know anyone who has taken advantage of a free will and not left anything to charity and not felt guilty about it?
  • khaki304
    khaki304 Posts: 7 Forumite
    I have made a will which leaves everything to my husband if I die and if we both die to our only child and if all 3 of us die then to my mother.
    Similarly my husband's will says that if he dies, everything will be left to me and if we both die to our child and if all 3 of us die then to his mother.

    My question is, what would happen in the situation when all 3 of us die? What determines what is mine to go to my mother and what is my husband's to go to his mother?

    Most of our savings are in my husband's name since he is the non-tax payer so does the name on the account have any bearing?
    Or could it be that, since we are married, everything will be split 50:50 (irrespective of the name on the accounts) and half will be given to my mother and half to my mother-in-law?

    Thanks in anticipation of any replies.
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 45,936
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    I think you'll find that if all 3 of you go together, so that it can't be determined who died first, then it's age which counts.

    So, if he is the oldest, his will comes into effect and it all comes to you, but you have just died so it all goes to your child, but THEY are dead so there is no valid will. Or, if the child is an adult, then their will comes into effect, if they've made one.

    I could be wrong, you really ought to have had this explained by whoever drew up your wills. Unless it's one you did yourself, in which case you really ought to take legal advice.

    And again, I could be wrong, but I think that the money belongs to whoever has their name on the account. If it's a joint account, then it passes to the survivor. If it's in a sole name, it's frozen and becomes part of the estate.

    This kind of will could also cause problems if you don't die together, but do die within a short space of time, so that the will cannot be or has not been amended. So, for example and cheery thought, your DH and child die before you do, it all comes to you, but you are overcome with grief and die of a broken heart without changing the will, and your MIL gets nothing. That could be fine by you, but it may not be what your DH wants.

    I would stress that I am not an expert in this area. I just know it can be very complicated and good advice is worth paying for.
    Signature removed for peace of mind
  • The BBC1 "Heir Hunters" (9:15) has explored two legal topics in this series.

    In the last one they came upon a fraudulent will, the theives has stolen the cash but at least they did not manage to bag the house too

    Yesterday they explored the start of legal adoption in 1927 and were stymied by the rigidity of the blood relationship requirement.

    Today's program featured a rant about a will created by some sort of "accountant" turning out to be invalid. As a result the family of his deceased wife and then family in law of the recently deceased husband, got zilch and the £300,000+ estate went to some distant cousins who were not aware that he actually existed.:eek:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zwb8d
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