Cost of a will

Yes solicitors charge a fortune for LPAs and you can do it yourself if you meticulously follow instructions. The guidance is clear . It’s a bit of a faff but worth it to save so much money. We did it ourselves as the solicitors quoted about £1500. Wills were about £400 for 2.

Suzie is right Doodle, the only payment to register an LPA is £82.

I have just been looking online and came across a piece which said if anyone took out the old enduring power of attorney between 1 st April 2013- 31 march 2016 ( best check dates just in case ) they should request a refund of up to £54 because they were overcharged.

Oh wow.
I never realised how expensive it can be!

No really it doesn’t Doodle - it’s £82-per LPA per person. You download the firms, fill them in, print them off, get them signed and send them in. That’s all you pay - I never post information like this unless I’m absolutely sure - I’m scrupulous about facts.

I think it cost into the hundreds to get them registered, which would have to be paid if you did them yourself, but yes - they are basically forms that need to be filled in. There didn't appear to be any legal knowledge required.

I think solicitors doing LPAs sounds a real rip off. The £82 per person per type of LPA is literally all it costs if you do it yourself. You do have to be methodical and organised though so it’s not for everyone. From what I’ve seen online £1000 per person for the two types seems a going rate. nina I’d ask the solicitor what the Will would cost on its own. Also are you planning both types of LPA?

Ours came to a lot more than we expected. I think the wills were about £250 each - I had thought that one between us would have sufficed, as they are mirror wills, but we had to have two.

To be fair, though, the solicitor who did them was very good, and asked us all sorts of things that we would never have thought to consider if we'd done them ourselves, and she had a set fee rather than an hourly rate, so we never felt rushed into making decisions.

The LPAs were the best part of £2000 for two of us, as we each got both health and finance ones, so that meant that all four of them had to be registered, and that was where a lot of the expense came in.

To be honest, with hindsight I would do the LPAs ourselves, as all the questions are there, and you just have to answer them - there is nothing that could be missed out, as there is in a will.

Our wills are written by us and cost nothing. They are very straight forward though.
My dad used this method too. I did his probate with no problems.

We paid £89 for two wills a month ago, two garden visits by clerk.

Mine a year ago cost about £250.

4 years ago we paid £800 for our wills which included a trust for the dgc. A property trust would be more probably. LPAs are £82 per person per type. We did our own online. Our solicitor advised it ! She said they charged too much! I think it could easily be another £600 for the 4 lpas with a solicitor , £3000 sounds steep but if it’s a good firm with a long established local reputation I’d certainly pay a good amount. Mistakes can be costly both financially and emotionally.

Sounds rather a lot to me. Good idea if other gransnet members are able to say their recent costs.

That does sound expensive! We did completely new wills just before last Christmas with our usual solicitor and I thought £480 a bit steep!

Sounds extremely expensive. We did our first wills, 3 years ago. £100 each with our solicitor.

That Sounds expensive Nina. Check the Will month, generally it’s October, when many charities and solicitors offer free or cheap wills with a donation.
You need more than a simple will so it won’t be free but they can deal with more complicated wills too.
LPA is £82 online.