The_Phantom 11:45 Wed Jul 11
Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Any legal eagles out there can help with some advice please.
Am 50+ and never made a will and am wondering if I need to.
My situation is very straightforward - I'm married with 2 grown up kids (18 &21).
Just want to know, if me & wife died, would our house et all go automatically to our kids, which is what we would want.
Have tried Googling but cant seem to find any definitive answer to what I think should be a simple question.
cheers for any advice
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Replies - Newest Posts First ( Show In Chronological Order)
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1:56 Fri Jul 13
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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A good reason for making a Will, not yet mentioned, is that it provides a means to determine precisely who will not get a share of your estate.
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Ayris
1:33 Fri Jul 13
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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A couple of things to note from my own personal experience recently: The executor of the will is the key person after a bereavement, the LPA powers cease to exist once the person is deceased.
Even with a will in place, the executor will have to go through a probate certification process to release monies if in savings or funds to distribute as per the wills beneficiaries. Then there is the tax submission to HMRC which will determine if inheritance tax will be charged (only if assets are over £325k ). Either way, a tax return is still required based on the status of assets at the time of death. You can do a lot of it online and DIY, however, for peace of mind, a good solicitor at reasonable fees is definitely worth it. I hope you don't need to go near that process for a long time yet.
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jack flash
11:31 Fri Jul 13
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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You should always make a will
My father died of a heart attack at work within the City of London & probate was a total nightmare for my mum to deal with
Make sure that you put down a relative/s or friend/s as the executor/s. If you don't, your solicitor or bank will put themselves down as executors (which might be convenient) & charge a small fortune for the privilege!
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yogib
12:54 Fri Jul 13
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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I used to do Wills via a third party company when I was a legalised financial pirate or in other words a financial advisor.....one thingy to consider is other than money you'll have personal effects i.e. jewellery, watches, records, cod pieces....so you should really use a Solicitor and define who gets what.....Do you want a specific item to go to someone? Or even ensure someone doesn't get their mitts on something? IMHO pay extra and use a solicitor, but have a good think about who gets your goods and chattels and how they are divided
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Crassus
11:54 Thu Jul 12
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Phantom
I am no solicitor but suggest that you consult one, and whilst you are at it, ask around and then engage with a qualified financial advisor
If you had a gas leak or the roof blew off would you Google then try to fix it?
This is you are your good ladies life work for all it is worth, consult with a pro and get the job done right, ou will not regret it
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kch
11:13 Thu Jul 12
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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I'm going through this at the moment for my mum, and also for me and my wife.
We are using Which? magazine's online service:
https://wills.which.co.uk/whichwills
(they do individual and mirror wills)
And it has already been said, but keep in mind that when/if you croak intestate, your wife only gets £250K, plus half the remainder - the rest is split between the kids. So if you have an expensive house, but no savings/shares/stocks/bonds, your wife may have to sell it to give the kids their share.
From https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will
The husband, wife or civil partner keeps all the assets (including property), up to £250,000, and all the personal possessions, whatever their value.
The remainder of the estate will be shared as follows:
the husband, wife or civil partner gets an absolute interest in half of the remainder
the other half is then divided equally between the surviving children
If a son or daughter (or other child where the deceased had a parental role) has already died, their children will inherit in their place.
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David L
8:08 Thu Jul 12
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Your situation Phantom is the same as mine a few years ago. We decided to make my brother in law the executor of our wills while the boys were about your two's ages, but you can change it to to your kids whenever you want. No need to go to a solictitor to do this either as they'll charge you the earth. Just do a codicil to the wills yourselves - plenty of examples online and keep it with the original wills
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DaveT
6:15 Thu Jul 12
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Don't know if all charities do this but cancer research will give you a list of local solicitors that do it for free. Of course they are hoping you will leave them some but you don't have to.
Whatever you do get one done. Father in law didn't and wife did everything for her and her brother. Wasn't hard but just took a while.
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Russ of the BML
4:08 Thu Jul 12
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Mate, you should get this done. We recently did one for my Grandad and used a website called tenminutewill.com. So easy and cost about £35. You set up an account and they let you have so many copies for that money. They offer extra's like holding your will on a server, paying for additional copies, solicitor service etc. But that cost includes cross checking by a solicitor to make sure its all legally above board.
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Spandex Sidney
4:05 Thu Jul 12
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Yes, bottom line is then YOUR wishes get carried out.
And don't go to WH Smiths for a DIY job, go to a solicitor and pay no more than a ton or so for a simple but legally watertight will.
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Mr John
3:04 Thu Jul 12
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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definitely get a will done, and just as important is to get a power of attorney done as well, so your family can administer your affairs if you lose mental capacity.
It will make their lives so much easier in what will already be difficult circumstances for them.
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Far Cough
7:03 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Prince?
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joe royal
7:00 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Where there's a will – there's a relative!
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The_Phantom
2:35 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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cheers for all the advice thus far
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Worst Case Ontario
1:15 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Phantom -
Addendum here.
If your estate is worth over 250,000, and you die intestate before your wife, your children will cut a portion of your estate over the 250,000.
(Sorry, in my haste I neglected to add that, probably presuming your estate isn't worth over 250,000)
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Worst Case Ontario
1:11 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Phantom -
The answer to your question is YES.
If you were to die intestate (without a will) all your property will go to your wife.
If you were to die intestate after your wife died (presumably intestate so and you inherited all of her property), your property would be split between your children.
But as everyone here has said - Draft a will! With the aid of a solicitor.
I can also add - do not use a kit to draft your own will. Though to your mind things may appear simple, life, as case law shows, has a great way of throwing up strange and confounding situations which tremendously complicate estates law.
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Swiss.
1:07 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Definately get one done it's a no brainer.
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BubblesCyprus
1:03 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Get yourself a Will arranged ASAP Your dependent's will go to war over whatever you leave them.Working in Financial Services was involved in to many cases of ''squabbling'' relatives all making a claim on Clients Investment Portfolio's even worse if Overseas.
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Westside
12:56 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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As several others have said, go to a solicitor and pay for a will to be done properly.
We (me and Mrs Westside), did our some years ago,well worth doing.
if you are a cohabiting mixed sex couples ( i know you're not Phantom, but others might be) and you do your wills, re do them if you get married,as it totally changes things.
The recent court judgement that mixed couples can have a civil partnership, is yet to be enshrined in
laws, which affect wills (Inheritance Tax for example).
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JonWHUFC
12:36 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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I got mine done last year. I paid about £200 I think but best money I spent as the advice I got was invaluable. I am on my own so I am leaving some to charity and some to my brother, some to my friends and some to my friends kids. The split was done in lump sums then percentages of what is left etc. I wouldn't have thought of some of the things that I was told and I also let the solicitors handle the estate and probate etc and the funeral is sorted out of the estate I leave so no cost for that. You can do it for free but why take the risk of making mistakes that may lead to tax implications or people having to make decisions for you when you are gone?
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penners28
12:33 Wed Jul 11
Re: Legal Eagle question - making a will...or not. Help/advice please
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Free will month is coming up (nov I think). Deffo worth getting one done. we did it recently and they bring up loads of things you dont think about...
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