A matter of life and death . Can you help?

another_casualty · 5 May 2018 at 1:38PM

Apologies if the post sounds rather dramatic

I'm trying to glue everything together for the remainder of my existence and beyond , hopefully giving myself and family a cushion to fall back on for the future.

I opened up a savings account at Skipton Building Society for a rainy day etc. While I was chatting to the financial adviser there, he mentioned funeral cover . A grave situation I know, but it got me thinking if it's actually worth doing ..or not.
He also mentioned pensions.

A brief summary of myself : single male mid "50s , mortgage free homeowner of a small flat , tiny pension , unemployed at the moment recovering from ill health but not claiming anything ( it's been mentioned in other posts) ,looking for part time employment now.

Okay , I think thats everything .
1) should I take out funeral cover?
2) I don't think I need life assurance ,as there's only me?
3) Writing a will..I haven't got the foggiest idea on how to write one.
Is there a general template to understand the legal jargon? Obviously I would go to a solicitor and do it properly . I assume that you can change things further down the line if need be. Is this expensive?

Hopefully you can prod me in the right direction .

Thanks

elsien · 5 May 2018 at 1:46PM

You don't need funeral cover. The costs will come out of your estate - the sale of the flat eventually if there's not enough cash to cover in the first instance.
Life insurance - nope, as no dependents.
If you want a cheapish will, wait for Will aid week in November when you can get one for a donation, although there is a suggested amount.

Owain_Moneysaver · 5 May 2018 at 1:59PM

You're single, but you say "and family"?

If you have or had an unmarried partner and/or children you need to be aware that intestate provisions (what happens if you don't make a will) may not be what you would want to happen, particularly if your children are under 18 and so cannot inherit in their own right (bequests would have to be left to them in trust).

You don't need funeral cover, but you might want to prepay a funeral if you want someone to inherit your flat without having to sell it and there might not be enough other assets to pay for a funeral. The "over 50s" plans where you pay every month for the rest of your life are unlikely to be good value.

another_casualty · 5 May 2018 at 6:03PM

Thanks folks .
Forgot to mention , family is brothers , sisters, nieces and nephews .
No kids or divorces from me . Regarding wills, is there a rough template or something ? Sounds like it could be complicated.

Yorkshireman99 · 5 May 2018 at 6:12PM

Don.t economise on it! Use a proper solicitor NOT a will writer. Cost should be no more than £1-200.

badmemory · 5 May 2018 at 7:00PM

Don't get funeral cover - buy a funeral (reputable long lasting such as the Co-op). That way you can get what YOU want, all paid for. No need to worry if there is going to be enough left if things get difficult. If things ever get really bad financially then benefits will cut in a little earlier because the funeral is already off your savings total.

Whilst I like the Skipton they are not the people to be taking financial advice from as they are not independent & there will be something in it for them, after all that is their business.

McKneff · 5 May 2018 at 7:25PM

We have just bought two pre paid funerals from the coop for less than £6k.

Becpming a member gave us a discount of 2 × £150, very M S E lol.
Very simple just a hearse, and all costs involvig transport and crem.
Cars, use you own. A limo is about £250 .
FLlowers, get what you want yourself.
Oh And a 1% donation to a local charity

Keep_pedalling · 5 May 2018 at 8:22PM

If you want to take financial advice make sure it is independent advice, not an adviser tied to a bank or building society.

YoungBlueEyes · 6 May 2018 at 1:37AM

With regards to the will - I did my will a few weeks ago, at a local solicitors. I was completely clueless about what to put in it (my father died recently so I based it on his).

It's basically "I have this (house, car, bank account, shares, astonishing collection of first editions, whatever) I want this person/these people to have it". Have a backup person/people in case anything dreadful happens. My cousin is in my will but she's older than me, so in the case of her predeceasing me her son gets it. Like that.

My solic sorted out the details. E.g. you don't leave a specific property to someone you leave "any properties I own". Also don't leave a person an amount of money, leave them a %. That way, if your 'estate' goes up in value they aren't all left sqabbling over the extra.

Mine took maybe 20 mins to do and cost £70. I went back in a few days later to check and sign it, the witnesses were staff in the solic's office. That way no-one can be accused of coersion or interferring or whatever because your witnesses can't inherit from your will. Keeps it all straightforward and above board

Edit: Yes you can change it as often as you like, but there's a cost every time you do it.

sheramber · 7 May 2018 at 1:42PM

You decide what you want to happen to your estate.

Do you want a specific person to have certain items?

Or do you just want your estate passed to specific people such as shared equally among brothers ans sisters?

Or some to them and some to nieces/nephews?

or all to the nieces and nephews? Are they young so would want any inheritance invested until they are older?

Once you sort that out a solicitor will then drat your will accordingly using the correct wording.

We just told our solicitor we wanted our estate to go to our child, When the second was born we asked him to change it to include the second child.
He did all the rest.

Yorkshireman99 · 7 May 2018 at 2:17PM

sheramber wrote: »

You decide what you want to happen to your estate.

Do you want a specific person to have certain items?

Or do you just want your estate passed to specific people such as shared equally among brothers ans sisters?

Or some to them and some to nieces/nephews?

or all to the nieces and nephews? Are they young so would want any inheritance invested until they are older?

Once you sort that out a solicitor will then drat your will accordingly using the correct wording.

We just told our solicitor we wanted our estate to go to our child, When the second was born we asked him to change it to include the second child.
He did all the rest.

I would add that including any future unborn children is wise and as I keep saying revise your will very five years maximum and preferably more frequently.

A matter of life and death . Can you help?

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