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Dull question I know. Close friend and ex colleague of wife just lost her husband and seems to be in a world of shit as issues with house etc. Very aggressive cancer and rapid decline meant he hadn’t prepared for the ‘what if something happens to one of us?’ scenario. She’s left struggling to cope with her loss but all sorts of financial shit including the house going through probate and not directly to her as it wasn’t in black and white in a will. Got me thinking as neither does me or the wife. Should we have one? Do you?
We have ours all written out but not legally sorted. ~We really should as its quite complicated
Yes.
Yes we have reciprocal wills (married so quite simple). My brother and partner aren't married but have kids and so really did need one, so in the end I made them an appointment and paid for their wills as that was the only way it would get done....
Thanks guys - we’ll get one sorted ASAP.
Yes. I had to deal with both my parents deaths and having the will made it all straight forward. It's also important if you have kids. What if you both die one night without the kids? Imagine both sets of siblings and parents arguing about where your kids should live. Better to have it black n white
yes. sorry to say I got one written up when I graduated, by an uncle - who insisted it was done.
have updated the will (and subsequently our wills) on a regular - 10 year - basis since then.
Also powers of attorney (health and well-being and financial affairs)...
Yes - bought a DIY one from online, very straightforward to understand and fill in. We are reciprocal and skint, so straightforward
Yes - no brainer given home ownership and dependents. And anyone considering getting one done get them to add in power of attorney as well.
No. But about to get one sorted.
...hard lesson learned here as I’m currently sorting out my parents financial mess. Dad passed away last year, no will at all so all of his interests have passed to mum who is in care with dementia (she doesn’t even know he’s gone).
Found a blank will form in his house but no apparent intent to ever write one. Fairly tangible assets and local authority sniffing all over it (for mother’s care costs).
Get a will. And think about possible scenarios ie if one of you is not of sound mind, power of attorney etc
if you can wait till november and you want a proper one: https://www.willaid.org.uk/
That’s a great idea ^^
yes and Power of Attorney (Englandshire, financial and health) - see https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney
suggestion - *imho(and ime) mirror wills (everything to partner etc) become less good as you age, so it's worth reviewing your will every so often and making sure it's fit for purpose
tj (et al) - it's not complicated, but it might be expensive and very irritating - no will - so the rules will be applied - https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will
No and thanks for the reminder to get one done. The thought of the government getting all my money & spanking it on foreign aid & benefit breeders would be the ultimate insult.
The cats home will do well out of me.
I was wondering if I actaully need one. I'm divorced, clean financial consent order so no ties back to ex wife, I'm single and have two adult children. Is it not just accepted that everything i have goes to the kids ?
Yep. Updated recently and lodged with our solicitor.
Includes provision for the custody, care and financial security of our children in the event of both of us dying and and also a second level of provision in case the person named to manage the first level dies as well.
i.e in the event of my wife and I both dying, then the kids get everything and Person A gets the kids and the management of their financial affairs until they're old enough.
In the event that Person A then dies then that responsibility then goes to Person B.
It's not the money or the property that's the problem. It's the care of dependents in a wipe out scenario. We weren't comfortable leaving that decision in the hands of a Court.
Is it not just accepted that everything i have goes to the kids ?
Or possibly your parent's (assuming they are still alive) or any siblings. I'm not sure, but given you don't know either it's probably not worth the risk for a couple of hundred quid.
Anyone who is in a trade union, their legal service may well do if at a reduced rate or even free. I know Unite do, (or did) that's how I got ours done.
Bloke I know had a pal who died young. He had an unmarried partner who nearly lost her home because his kids acted like tosspots for a while. Definitely worth having one.
The thought of the government getting all my money & spanking it on foreign aid & benefit breeders would be the ultimate irony
We need to sort one out, just me and her but need to get it done. PoA's too really.
Are the DIY ones fine?
Is it not just accepted that everything i have goes to the kids ?
Or possibly your parent’s (assuming they are still alive) or any siblings. d
This - really worth getting it sorted out as it seems its not nearly as clear cut as you'd expect based on the expeirience of some friends.
>The cats home will do well out of me.
5% of our estate does go to the Blue Cross IIRC!
Yes - get a will. Well worth the expense.
We did it mainly for our daughters financial security and guardianship.
I do and so does my wife.
My best buddy died a few years ago in a diving accident. No will, lots of debt, most of which was hidden from his missus. The people left behind will be in a shite state already, don't make it worse than it has to be by leaving them to clear your mess up.
Yup, Mrs B and I did them last year. We felt it was worth going to a solicitor, as there were various complications with apportioning assets to children/stepchildren, issues of guardianship for our youngest, and ensuring that sufficient monies were allocated for his upkeep and care in the scenario that the Mrs and I snuff it simultaneously.
It's a weird process to go through and involved some slightly odd conversations about guardians in particular (all our siblings live abroad, so we ended up asking a couple of friends from school to be guardians).
Cost about £500 all in, we'll review it every five years or so.
Edit: Don't forget to elect care for pets, unless you're happy enough for them to go to a rehoming centre.
I meant to say, defining who wasn't getting any say in the upbringing of our boy (nor claim on anything) in the event of our deaths was also a complete relief. Ex wife and my psychopathic mother can jog on - they'd be exactly the sort to contest the wills if there was the slightest whiff of monies to be had.
When Ms C and I bought the house together we had to make a will as otherwise our individual estates would have gone to our then three year old son, which would have been held in trust until he was eighteen, which would have made things rather awkward.
As we were making one we also sorted out guardianship of the kids if we both died, money for the guardians to bring up the kids for the next twenty years or so, trust funds for the kids which our combined life insurance would pay into, executors for the trust funds and estate etc, it was all actually very easy and we just did it over the phone with our family solicitor who just put it all into legalese for us to sign, didn't cost too much as I remember.
My mum is in the process of doing her will this week, says it gives her great peace of mind knowing everything is set down exactly as she wants it.
Yes, as it's even more of a nightmare if you don't live in the UK.
Used tenminutewill.co.uk and it did indeed take about 10 minutes. They do a checking service and even confirmed and clarified a few points. Very impressed for the time and cost - couldn't ask more really. We did mirror wills as a married couple and it was about 60 quid I think.
Just get it done, I say.
I do, and have written about 10,000 over the past thirteen years. The sad fact is that 2/3rds of people don't, amongst the under 40's 4/5 don't have an up to date valid Will.
Get one done, it doesn't cost the earth. Then keep it up to date.
Info here https://www.will-probate.co.uk/will-estate-planning-checklist/
I keep on meaning to. I used to be of the opinion that my assets would end up where I wanted them to go anyway but an inheritance which has made the estate bigger, a partner I'm not married to and a desire for a decent chunk to go directly to my nephews rather than my dad/sister has made things a bit more complicated.
I do know that I'm the guardian for said nephews if something happens to my sister/brother in law.
prompted by this thread ive decided to do a freebie through the union. its done online and im already struggling with percentages of estate, legacy gifts etc, i just dont understand all the terminology so i may have to ring them rather than make a booboo.
why cant you just say "my wife gets it all if i die" and vice versa instead of all this hooha :-/
why cant you just say “my wife gets it all if i die” and vice versa instead of all this hooha :-/
That's what I/we did for ours and it was very straightforward. This sounds like the process is overcomplicating it somewhat!
Yes. Get it sorted. It's not hard, and avoids a lot of unnecessary hassle when least needed should the worst happen
AS an aside, if you have life assurance, ensure it is held "In Trust". Any payout can then be made in a matter of weeks/days instead of taking months going through Probate
Just ****ing do it rather than thinking about it indefinitely.
My my sister thought about it for literally years, decades even, the last few months while knowing she was terminally ill. Still didn’t write the ****ing thing, just left a vague list of ideas and expects me to sort it all out.
as well as a will make sure you have thought about POA just had to use this for my dad.
was organised a year or so ago but it has crept up far too quickly ☹
Not a lawyer but brother is. Wills needn't be expensive. Write down what you want to happen with your assets. Make sure it's witnessed. Title the document as a will.
why cant you just say “my wife gets it all if i die” and vice versa instead of all this hooha :-/
You can, if you don't need to make complex provisions dont. Keep it simple.
why cant you just say “my wife gets it all if i die” and vice versa instead of all this hooha
you can, but it can leave it open to challenge i'd imagine, generally under intestacy laws that's basically what happens for anything under 350k, I think, over that then things start getting shared out, to children etc
can easily do it without if you want though, it;s pretty simple with my mums stuff, everything goes to my da, then he gives out what was intended. Don't even need a probate if account amounts are small. If they are large though it's just a case of filling out the government probate form and getting someone legally nominated to deal with the estate. you don't need to pay lawyers anything if things are simple and there is trust in the family. If they aren't probably best going through lawyers.
>why cant you just say “my wife gets it all if i die” and vice versa instead of all this hooha :-/
You can, but the will still has to consider what if you both die e.g. house fire, car / plane crash etc.
You can reduce inheritance tax if you leave 10% or more (IIRC) to charity. I think we've left 20% to charity and the rest to nephews / nieces.
why cant you just say “my wife gets it all if i die” and vice versa instead of all this hooha :-/
Depends who ends up getting your wife's hooha