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Legal, pensions and money

Cost of making a will.

(46 Posts)
annsixty Fri 05-Jul-19 11:00:28

Following the death of my husband I am in the process of drafting a new will.
I had the first appointment yesterday and after stating my intentions was quoted £200 + Vat.
On discussing this with my friend yesterday she said that was remarkably cheap.
She had paid £800 .
That seemed very expensive to me, what do others think.
Her bill didn’t include POA
I already have that in place.

Alima Fri 05-Jul-19 11:06:47

We have just re done ours. Mirror wills, £640 plus vat for the two. No LPA. We could probably have got them done for less if we had gone into the local biggish town, more competition.

Sar53 Fri 05-Jul-19 11:27:18

We redid our wills in January after getting married and it cost us £300.00 plus vat for the two.

Niobe Fri 05-Jul-19 11:51:16

Ann, we paid about that three years ago when we moved to London from Scotland and needed wills compliant with English law so I think it's a fair price.

Charleygirl5 Fri 05-Jul-19 12:01:31

Mine I think was more, over £1000 because I had added Power of Attorney. This was done recently in London.

I would have thought a straight forward will for one would have been around £350-£400 in London.

SueDonim Fri 05-Jul-19 12:16:36

We've redone our wills and added EPOA this year. It cost about £600 in Scotland.

ninathenana Fri 05-Jul-19 14:39:04

We did our original will without a solicitor and have the forms which we bought on line to redo it.
If your will is uncomplicated there's nothing wrong with DIY in my opinion.

Pantglas1 Fri 05-Jul-19 14:56:56

There’s a week every year when the bigger charities sponsor free wills but I can’t remember when it is - someone on here will know I’m sure. We did mirror wills 8 years ago with a small bequest for British Heart Foundation.

M0nica Fri 05-Jul-19 15:46:54

I think the cost is as long as a piece of string depending on what you want to do, how much advice you need, whether any trusts are being set up, the extent of the service the solicitor is offering.

Nannyxthree Fri 05-Jul-19 16:21:43

We've just been for first appointment on new wills too. I thought I had complicated requests but was told it fell into the 'simple' category so the price for each is the same as yours Annsixty. ( South West prices) We forgot to ask about POA but will do so next time.

aggie Fri 05-Jul-19 16:30:22

OH must have changed his will as often as his shirt ! We had a huge bill to pay when settling the estate , no wonder the solicitor was so chummy with him .
luckily DD1 heard her Dad talking about it and she managed to get us sorted before things got too bad , she is executor and was able to advise Dad in a kind way

Maggiemaybe Fri 05-Jul-19 16:34:23

I'm quite surprised at the prices quoted on here. We had new wills drawn up last year - simple, mirror wills - as we wanted to change a few details. We just went to the solicitor that held the wills for us and they charged £144 (including VAT) for the two. They were a bargain, by the looks of it!

Marydoll Fri 05-Jul-19 17:05:37

I think we paid about £600 about four months ago months ago for mirror wills in Scotland. That included POA.

I must have tempted fate, because just after that, I ended up in the coronary care unit!

paddyann Sat 06-Jul-19 09:58:29

Just over £1000 five years ago for ours using a specialist wills company .Ours is a bit more complicated with business interests etc so we felt it was a decent price .

JackK Sat 06-Jul-19 09:59:05

I did mine with a local solictor through this scheme; it was very reasonable!
www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/donate/leave-a-legacy-gift-in-your-will/free-will-service?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjYHpBRC4ARIsAI-3GkE0GLamiP-UExm5LLU_LTqEoLF2VKD-sYKJr8FJonzCmCC8yCvhBP4aAkA0EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

NotSpaghetti Sat 06-Jul-19 10:04:59

Mine was free through my union membership. It’s pretty straightforward though. Might have had to contribute if it hadn’t been I suppose.
Apparently lots of unions do this.

b1zzle Sat 06-Jul-19 10:05:35

Have a look online! I did and got mine done, very efficiently for £25! (The Planning Crowd)

Barmeyoldbat Sat 06-Jul-19 10:14:10

This morning received the draft of our new wills. We have paid £140 each and already have lpoa in place. You could write your will out yourself, my did this and it was accepted. POA your can also do our self online its very easy, you just fill in the form and pay a lot less money.

jusnoneed Sat 06-Jul-19 10:19:03

We did ours with a kit from WHSmiths, very easy as ours is a simple mirror will, leave to each other firstly and then son.

Some of those charges are terribly high, but that's solicitors rates for you.

Joyfulnanna Sat 06-Jul-19 10:19:54

It's a racket and solicitors charge what they like, you can do it through cancer research charity for a fraction of the price and leave some to the charity we all need to give to.

Stella14 Sat 06-Jul-19 10:26:39

A range of charities run the free scheme and you choose whether or not to leave them, or another charity something in the Will. I did this in October 4-years ago (mirror Wills as we were getting married), so if it’s the same month a year for all charities, seems October is the time.

win Sat 06-Jul-19 10:50:44

You can either leave something in your Will for these charities or donate a sum at the time, I just donated £ 100, and she said that was more than generous for my single Will after my husband died, in 2014.

BlueSapphire Sat 06-Jul-19 11:23:27

Wanted to make a new will after DH died, didn't want to use the solicitor who dealt with his estate, so asked a neighbour for recommendations. Used the one he'd been very satisfied with; cost £280, she was very thorough and efficient and I was very pleased; I already had Power of Attorney. East Midlands area.

Yorkshiregirl Sat 06-Jul-19 11:57:30

It depends on how simple the will is. Had mine done about 6 months ago, and cost £250 which included vat. No POA, but not a totally straightforward will.

quizqueen Sat 06-Jul-19 12:18:49

Look around for 'Free Will Writing week'. The solicitors expect a charity bequest but their small print states quite clearly that it's not compulsory. I stood my ground and said I didn't support any of the charities they suggested and that I wanted it for free, as advertised. The woman I saw had such a face on her but I refused to pay and got it for free- can't get cheaper than that. I chose the charities I support, I will not be dictated to.