Do it yourself wills.... anyone done one?

Hi bikergran You are sensible to make a will. Loads of people put off doing it and then die intestate, often leaving horrible problems for their families. I made a will, with legal advice, some years ago and really need to make a new one as I want to include my grandchildren and my own circumstances have changed. Also, as I shall be emigrating, I need a will that works with the laws of my adoptive country.

I am quite doubtful about d-i-y wills as wishes can be twisted and distorted in ways that the layman would never think of. Not all solicitors are hugely expensive but, of course, they all charge.

As far as monies from a house sale and fees for a care home are concerned, you really would need a solicitor's advice, especially as this is an issue currently under discussion by the government.

Good luck.

We did our first one ourelves but when we moved recently and retired we decided they needed lookiing at. We redid them with some on line solicitor advice for about £100 and then registered them with the Proabte Office for £40. Apparently we had made some fundamental errors and we were only making a fairly straightforward will.

hmm yes thankyou absentgranagood luck and best wishes with the "emmigration" and susiecb yes I think really it should be done legaly(solicitors etc)..I will have a ponder..

I agree that a Will is best drawn up by a Solicitor but if say, you just wanted your partner to have everything and in the event they died before you, your children have everything shared equally between them. You could just write this on a piece of paper, appoint your partner as Executor or in the event they died before you, one or more of your children. Then date it, sign it in the presence of TWO witnesses who are not beneficiaries who should then add their addresses and occupations. Make sure to put in the full names of the beneficiaries and their addresses.

Absentgrana, I think you will find you will need to make a Will for any assets in this country and another for any assets in the country you are moving to as each country has a different set of rules.

yes Barrow that is about it in a nutshell...(although DH is 20 yrs older than me and not in good health)..so got me thinking..with me being out on the road so to speak.....but I will now give it some serious thought...

Thast what we though Barrow but we were wrong its still needs careful wording.

DH & I made a will through a will company.. fee similar to a solicitor but slightly more, but any changes etc we wish to make are done free of charge. They are all legal and sound... had it checked before we did it! any changes to law are also automatically sent to you.

We have just re- written our wills using a will company. We were very impressed with the service and we paid them to store our wills. This includes free lifetime changes to the wills; them contacting us if the law changes and affects our wills and also support for the executors.
There are lots of things to consider even if you don't think you have very much to pass on. The house is our major asset and we wanted to make sure we could pass on as much as possible so they were able to give us invaluable advice. The basic service was in fact quite cheap and such companies will come to your house and give you advice. They also told us that lots of wills are turned down for probate.
It's amazing how many people don't make a will. We made them as soon as our children were born and I made sure my two children had wills before they disappeared for their gap year travel. My husband's aunt changed her will at least twice a year - it was her favourite hobby.

Has anybody thought about reserve beneficiaries?.
My will is in favour of my children but I am considering passing some of my wealth directly to my grandchildren through my will as my daughters are reasonably well off to avoid inheritance tax.
The only slight problem I can see is we tend to go somewhere by ferry or aeroplane as a family at least once a year.
We have written our wills with reserve beneficiaries in case all of our part of the family passed away if the boat or aeroplane went down and we are reserve beneficiaries for wills in other parts of the family.

1) More estates have been wasted on lawyers fees because of DIY wills than for any other reason. Use a solicitor to draw up your will. In the long run it will be cheaper.

2) If social services think you have disposed of or spent your personal wealth (including your house) in order to avoid paying care home fees they can override your disposal and act as if you still had the money and expect you to pay your own fees or place a charge on the assets of the person you passed the money/house to.

3) When you make your will also make a Lasting Power of Attorney giving somebody you trust the power to act on your behalf if you are incapacitated by sudden illness or dementia. For someone to get such powers after you are incapacitated is time consuming expensive and everything they do will be monitored by the Court of Protection, a continued cost and considerable inconvenience.

If you make a will through a solicitor make sure you name either all or one executor from your family or close friends.

You only need a will-writen up by solicitors if your family situation is complicated - divorce, children from more than one marriage etc. If there are no complications as mentioned then a W.H.Smith type Will pack should be OK. My wife and I have one of these (15 year old) and will now need to write another.

One of the things that `bugs` me is when the witnesses you use, die themselves - is it better to then make a new will with living witnesses?

We made our will a few years ago now using a local solicitor who took part in "Will Aid". I think it happens every November. The idea is that solicitors will make a simple will and you give a donation to charity. It is a good system. Look out for it.

My mother did a DIY will, but it wasn't legal as she'd got a few things wrong. Best use a reputable solicitor.

A risky business , drawing up your own will , for the sake of a bit of money spent with a solicitor

speck123 It doesn't matter if the witnesses to your will die before you, but if the Executors die then you could just make a Codicil to appoint new Executors.

I agree with what most people are saying that it is usually better to use a Solicitor to draw up your will, but it is possible to do it yourself provided your wishes are clear. There is a famous case where a man just wrote "All to Mother" and it was accepted because his wishes were clear - however if you just say "shared between the children" then that can throw up several questions - would you want it to be equal shares, all the children or only some and these days with 2nd families would that include step children.

We did ours for nothing as the Union did it for us as one of the benefits of membership. If you belong to a trade union or professional association it's worth finding out if they offer this service..

PENMANA not heard of this way to avoid inheritance Tax. Are you sure?

PENMANA It is quite common to name replacement beneficiaries should the main beneficiaries die before you (not heard them called reserve beneficiaries). This would not reduce Inheritance Tax. If you have a large estate then I would strongly recommend you use a Solicitor - they would be able to advise you on setting up trusts for your grandchildren which could help reduce the Inheritance Tax liability

Cheers PENMANA we are just about to consult a solicitor about making our wills and also Lasting Powers of Atorney. I like l o armed with either facts or a least relevant questions.

Penmana, inheritance tax is based on the value of your estate not the wealth or otherwise of the legatee. Leaving money to your grandchildren is a personal decision. It will not reduce the amount of inheritance tax that may need to be paid on your estate.

I (we) have a will, but it needs redoing and I will make sure it is as clear as possible around my wishes for my children's inheritance because I've just recently been hearing of one too many cases where wife passes away, husband remarries in record time and children from first marriage are swept out of the way by new wife and/or with new family! Even in my own family (in-laws) when my FIL who had been married to my MIL for 35 years died, his children from his first marriage got nothing, it all went to his wife (my MIL) and when she dies, any inheritance will all go to her children. Doesn't seem fair to me. Maybe he thought his wife would make sure the children from his first marriage got something when the time came, but it didn't happen that way. Not helped at all by MIL slipping into Alzheimers as all this went on.

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We finally got round to making our wills the other day using a W H Smith pack. The wills are simple ones.

However, we have agreed that when one of us dies, whoever is left will make another will using the services of a solicitor.

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