Free and Cheap Wills discussion area
Comments
-
sevenonine wrote: »I'm single, no dependants, few friends willing to take on the work involved in executing my will.
Who are your beneficiaries?
If you name a couple of them as executors, they can chose whether to do the work themselves or to employ a solicitor.0 -
Who are your beneficiaries? If you name a couple of them as executors, they can chose whether to do the work themselves or to employ a solicitor.
Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, one of the executors is the young man I mentioned, for the same reasons. I would rather have someone from an agency/institution (not a bank or legal firm) who will appoint their own person and quote a fee (not a percentage). Also is it necessary for the executor to know, in advance, the total value of my estate? That will give them carte blanche to quote the fee.0 -
sevenonine wrote: »The young man, who lives nearby, does ring me from time to time to check on my health (I'm 82) but I don't necessarily trust him not to make off with some of my household goods.sevenonine wrote: »Unfortunately, one of the executors is the young man I mentioned, for the same reasons.
You have to be able to trust your executors!
I'm surprised at the comments of the AgeUK rep. I know of two fairly recent estates that were dealt with by solicitors and neither came anywhere near to £5000 - both included a property, bank accounts, insurances and managing the DWP.
Have you considered leaving set amounts/percentages to your beneficiaries and making a charity the residual beneficiary and also the executor? The charity would be careful that the executor's expenses were kept to a minimum because every pound spent on the work would mean a pound less for the charity.0 -
I have spent some time looking through this thread but wondered if anyone could comment on my situation. I am single with no dependants or obvious beneficiaries, although I have extended family and friends who are included in my Will. My main beneficiary is my cousin, who is also the Executor of my LPAs. I have been wanting to update my Will and researched several avenues including an apparent year round free service run by a solicitor, with whom I had a full appointment and invitation to ask any more questions and have never had a bill yet. My financial advisor has been suspicious of this because it seems too good to be true. He did mention in passing that I could use a solicitor as an executor (with no pressure) which seemed like a good idea to release my cousin and friend from the work when the day comes. Now I am reading that this may not be a good idea and have the following reply from a local solicitor I have used for other things such as LPAs and lease renewal recently:
"We purely charge based on the time spent , there is no extra charge for taking on the responsibility of executor nor do we charge a percentage of the estate ( unlike the banks and non- solicitor will writing firms).
Following Law Society (SRA) recommendations several years ago most firms of solicitors switched to a pure time basis- if they do charge a fixed fee or percentage then this has to be reflected in a lower hourly rate."
Does this seem credible? Their charge for updating the Will would be £400 plus VAT, which seems higher than some mentioned here.0 -
We, the wife and myself, are attempting to have mirror wills written, quite straightforward and below the IHT threshold,, and are hoping to have them produced professionally by a local solicitor.
We have, however, come up against a quite unexpected obstacle, in that the solicitor we approached is insisting on photocopying our passports and driving licences, citing this as a requirement of money laundering regulations, and as being directed by the Law Society. Whilst we are quite happy to produce these for verification of identity, we are concerned about the personal security implications of them being photocopied. I guess this is probably down to having previously had our credit card cloned, and watching programmes on the box reflecting the current high level of identity fraud! Looks like our only option will be a DIY effort?
Any advice would be very welcome.0 -
It's a solicitor , they are used to dealing with sensitive documentsEx forum ambassador
Long term forum member0 -
The solicitor is obliged to ensure they know the identity of their clients. It is quite normal and your concerns are groundless.We, the wife and myself, are attempting to have mirror wills written, quite straightforward and below the IHT threshold,, and are hoping to have them produced professionally by a local solicitor.
We have, however, come up against a quite unexpected obstacle, in that the solicitor we approached is insisting on photocopying our passports and driving licences, citing this as a requirement of money laundering regulations, and as being directed by the Law Society. Whilst we are quite happy to produce these for verification of identity, we are concerned about the personal security implications of them being photocopied. I guess this is probably down to having previously had our credit card cloned, and watching programmes on the box reflecting the current high level of identity fraud! Looks like our only option will be a DIY effort?
Any advice would be very welcome.0 -
Thanks for your response, but I did state that we sre quite happy for the solicitor to view our passports, in order to verify identity, just not to photocopy them. Not all solicitors are honest, nor their staff.0
-
I repeat yoiur fears are groundless. A photocopy of either of the documents will be of no real use to anyone unscrupulous. You are likely to cause far more problem from trying ot do DIY a will than by letting the solicitor do the copies.Thanks for your response, but I did state that we sre quite happy for the solicitor to view our passports, in order to verify identity, just not to photocopy them. Not all solicitors are honest, nor their staff.0 -
Yorkshireman99 wrote: »I repeat yoiur fears are groundless. A photocopy of either of the documents will be of no real use to anyone unscrupulous. You are likely to cause far more problem from trying ot do DIY a will than by letting the solicitor do the copies.
You are trusting someone to draw up one of the most important documents you will ever produce, yet don’t trust them with a copy of your passport! It not enough for them to check that you are who you say, they need documented proof that they have done so.
Making a DIY will is many magnitudes more risky than letting a solicitor take a copy of your will, and it would be a foolish move to let paranoia dictate You do such a thing.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.7K Spending & Discounts
- 235.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 608K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173.1K Life & Family
- 247.9K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards