Very last minute wills.

I m sorry I don’t have any legal advice but my thoughts are it could be a minefield for you to get involved in especially if it involves any changes to family heirlooms etc You could get blamed for influencing her etc ( I m not suggesting you are at all)
I think it definitely needs someone with no connections to her or her family to witness these changes

I have suggested that she doesn’t need a solicitor and if she dictates it to me I could print it and then she could get it signed in the hospital.

I think that's about the worse advice you could give someone!

Of course she needs a solicitor.

contact macmillan or marie curie for advice.
some have outposts in hospitals.
all the best.

Riverwalk

^I have suggested that she doesn’t need a solicitor and if she dictates it to me I could print it and then she could get it signed in the hospital.^

I think that's about the worse advice you could give someone!

Of course she needs a solicitor.

Riverwalk
That’s why I am on here to try and get advice.

My dads will was written on a piece of lined paper with a red margin line.
Signed by two neighbours. Perfectly legal with no solicitor involved. So is mine. However, they were perfectly straightforward . This one may be different.
I have no clue what she wants to put in the document and have no idea what she has already done.
What I do know is that she has been unwell for a long time and feel she could have thought of this before but now is not the time for lectures.
I did wonder if the hospital could help, she can’t be the first patient to need such a service. She has said she will enquire today.

Riverwalk

^I have suggested that she doesn’t need a solicitor and if she dictates it to me I could print it and then she could get it signed in the hospital.^

I think that's about the worse advice you could give someone!

Of course she needs a solicitor.

Exactly !

Given that she doesn’t want to use family/local solicitors, I think it likely that the changes will be contentious and will be challenged.
Definitely not something for an amateur will having spent three years trying to sort out a last minute change to a relatives will made in hospital.

Nightmare, nightmare,nightmare!

Marie Curie might be a good suggestion. Try Macmillan as suggested though I’ve always found them worse than useless.

Try phoning PALS department at the hospital. They are often able to help with many situations.

There should be someone at the hospital who can advise. In my day social workers were always based at hospitals to assist with advice and support fir patients.

Thank you Hiltop

This is a minefield if major changes are made the will is likely to be challenged, unless the family agree to the changes, so I’m not surprised nobody want to get involved, you shouldnt either.
If she writes down the changes she wants to make, the executors could take it into account but it would not be binding

Unless complicated, writing your own Will is perfectly legal as long as the witnesses sign correctly and are not beneficiaries. A properly written Will invalidates any previous one.

First of all , I'm sad that your friend is on an oncology ward and has little time left .

Sorry , but she needs a solicitor particularly if her will is complicated .

You will be blamed for any "unfair changes ."

The will might be challenged and the sad event of her demise might become an unpleasant legal tangle - I've seen it happen .

I agree - the changes sound contentious and she may not be thinking clearly due to her illness and medication. A solicitor is essential. This is not something you can do yourself. Don’t get involved beyond arranging for a solicitor to visit her. I don’t think doctors and nurses would be allowed to witness signature of documents and it would be most unfair to ask them as they would end up getting drawn into the arguments and possibly litigation that may well arise from this.

I was hoping you would come on GSD
I have just sent her information about PALS and a contact no. for Macmillan.
I’m sure the hospital must have been faced with this sort of problem before and probably have a firm that they know of.

It’s so difficult when this sort of help is asked for totally out of the blue. I want to be as helpful as possible without compromising anyone or anything.

There's also the charities - Age UK etc, who might be able to help, but I would have thought there would be someone in the hospital who could advise. Citizen's Advice Bureau is another thought.
Good luck, and my sympathy for you and your friend.

The hospital should have Social Workers and they will be able to test Capacity under the Care Act. My Uncle had a solicitor visit the hospital to do his Will. My other Uncle didn't (he was a solicitor himself) and we have spent the last umpteen years trying to sort out his complicated estate as his mind was obviously addled by the cancer.

She could sign a codicil to her will. You could print up but need/should to get two other people to witness her signing same. Otherwise if minor matters, she could compose a 'letter of wishes' which only needs to be signed and dated by herself. It is not legally binding but subject to the discretion of the executor(s). My mother had one for directing how contents/possessions to be distributed and also had three bequests included (two charities and a carer). She also surprised us all with request as to what to do with her ashes.

Don’t even think about a home-made codicil to the will.

No she doesn't need a solicitor. I have a legal background. You name it as a Codicil as its a small amount of info added on the end of her will.

Alternatively a new will can be typed up by you and signed by her and 2 other witnesses who aren't benefactors of the will. It must be dated too.

You must ensure there are no mistakes in the will and it clearly states that it revokes all other wills and testimonies.

If its a Codicil then it's an add on so doesn't need signatures

Some links here will help you

This one is to making a new will including the template form. It is perfectly legal if it's done correctly

www.lawdepot.co.uk/contracts/last-will-and-testament-uk/

This last one is to the gov.uk website on this

www.gov.uk/make-will#:~:text=You%20can%20write%20your%20will,or%20make%20a%20new%20will.

My brother has been recently diagnosed with memory loss. He made his own mind up about what he wants and has told me the name of his solicitor if anything happens in the future, I thought this was very responsible of him as it’s hard to do.so sorry about your friend.

I thought codicil had to be witnessed by two people and not mentioned in will?

You may have a ‘legal background’ *Keffie, whatever that means, but your advice is dangerous. I’m a retired solicitor. Do you not know that solicitors make far more money from sorting out the mistakes in people’s home-made wills - mistakes that a lay person doesn’t recognise - than from drafting them? Using a template is absolutely no guarantee of not making costly mistakes - but you need to be a lawyer to recognise them. And with obviously contentious changes to the existing will made by a terminally ill person with ‘help’ from a friend, there’s already the threat of litigation in the wings.

Keffie it all sounds so complicated, I would be terrified of making a mistake, I’ll look at your links tomorrow as I have DGS with me at the moment and I think I will be exhausted by tonight. We are off rockpooling when the tide goes out.
I have passed on the information to my friend, whose brain seems as sharp as ever, so she can explore the possibilities.
She has spoken to someone at the hospital now so I am hoping that it can be sorted out without me.

Note to everyone - you never know when your time may run out. Get it sorted now!
Thanks for everyone’s input

Surely the solicitors who drew up her original will would be able to do it and not pass on any information to the family (aren't they bound not to??). It's her own wishes that are important but if there is an existing will then it must be simpler to add to or alter that one and her solicitors will know what to do.