Please make wills for everyone's sake

Very good advice, Molly. We had our first wills drawn up as soon as we were married and have updated them as circumstances changed over the years. As you say, appointing guardians for minor children can save a lot of heartache.

Molly, I have done my Will, and named all 3 of my children as executors...daughter and 2 sons. Middle son and daughter don’t get on that well....do you foresee any problems?

My dear mum always used to say ‘where there’s a will .. there’s a relative!’ Squabbles over money & inheritance has caused great rifts in one or two families we know. Awful. I think grief can make people unhinged.

It’s not grief that makes people unhinged, it’s money brings out the worst in some people.

Making a will is paramount if you are married, if your husband dies intestate you get half his estate, this may mean you loose the house. A straightforward mirror will avoids all that, the surviving partner can then decide how to divide the estate. Dont make individual bequests in a mirror will, I remember reading that you have to leave the “entire” estate to the survivor to qualify for the extra IHT threshold, can anyone else confirm or deny that.

Make sure you have money of your own or a joint account because on death bank accounts are frozen, you will have no cash for food, there have been some horrible stories of bereaved wives having to sell furniture to buy food or pay rent.