General Chat

I have just watched Heir Hunters, one of my favourite programmes, and I just cannot understand why some people don't want to make a will. My sister in law is one of them, she is 70 and refuses to think about the fact that she will die one day. SIL has two children and says that her estate will just be shared between them anyway.

I can understand that some younger people may not feel ready to make a will but we never know what is round the corner. I have had to make two, one for Tenerife and one for the UK but at least I know that what I want to happen will be carried out and it can always be changed or added to in the future if needs be.

Without prying into other peoples lives or making this a sensitive thread in anyway I would be interested to know if anyone on here doesn't want to make a will and why.

I am happy to delete this thread if anyone thinks it ma offend.

Wendy x

Hi born in kent

I agree a will is a necessary for me as I don't want any government body claiming my hard earned cash. lol

Wendy

We have recently updated our wills. Sometimes it may be cost that puts people off I suppose. Even with a simple will where I had typed everything out and the solicitor more or less just had to copy it, the will were £125 each plus £25 each VAT so £300 for the two of us and I bet in total, two visits we were not in the office for longer than 20 minutes, if that.

sorry, it took ages so I thought it hadn't posted it.

Taking my Mum to sign her new one tomorrow £50 + vat so not too much for peace of mind. That is with her solicitor

My solicitor in England charged me a total of £96.00 but it was a very basic affair.

Our wills are in the safe but recently we realised that we two are the only people to know the combination!

Lol Wendy!!!

They don't come any more basic than ours. I think our solicitor was very expensive for what she did.

Going off topic ever so slightly, but still keeping with the subject, I always knew where Mum kept all her important papers [old shoe box in bottom of wardrobe] so when she died I hadn't any worries about finding the will. In there were details of solictor etc, so the morning she died we dug the A to Z out so we could find the solicitors......imagine our surprise when there were little post-it notes attached to some pages showing us where the registrars office was, the solicitors, even down to the undertakers and florist shop!! Mum was nothing if not organised!! lol

And yes we've made a will, which includes a paragraph about our dogs, who would go back to the breeder if anything happened to us both [and an amount of money set aside for thier care] I have heard about too many pets being thrown out ,or worse, as provision wasn't made for them. It's not so bad if you have children perhaps but we don't and as the person who would get the benefit [if we died at the same time] hates dogs I wanted to know they would be safe.

Although thinking about it he has now moved so perhaps an update would be in order or would a note attached to the wills be ok?

Patricia:) who has no plans of popping her clogs just yet!!

Good thinking Patricia, we don't have pets but a friend has just taken on his mothers dog when she died. It is a lovely but elderly dog who is undergoing treatment at the vets and I think very lucky to have a new owner that is happy to look after her

Wendy

It is worth reading this if over the age of 55 -

http://www.freewillsmonth.org.uk/

There will be no problem with our Wills.
My husband and I have NOTHING of any value to leave!
Deanna X ;-0)

Hi Joy

I looked at that link and it looks good as long as you are not too far from one of the participating solicitors. I have sent it to my sister in law

Wendy

Deanna,

If you own all your own furniture or a single ornament,cup and saucer,,,,,then you have value.and everything thats yours down to a knife and folk becomes your estate.

even an old ornament can cause family fifts.

Piglets Pal

I don't have a problem with his fee, I was just pleased to get it sorted.

I was a bit disgruntled when he at a later date charged me £35.00 for amendments which consisted of a name he had spelt wrong and the number of a house he had put incorrectly but Iwould rather have it put right than not

Wendy

You CAN write your own on a Will form bought from a stationers...if it is witnessed properly it is legal... I wouldn't advise it for anything but the most basic of wills, eg all estate left to one person, no one to quibble.

But it would certainly be better than none at all because it does speed up the process, when someone has died, of sorting out their bank accounts etc, and if one is totally averse to spending on solicitors it is an option.

In a friend's case the reasoning behind not wanting to make a will was that it seemed like 'tempting fate'!

Rose - two witnesses (not any one who would benefit from the will). But cheaper in the long run to go to a solicitor. Mirror wills are usually cheaper. However, before going to the solicitor - write everything down first - this will cut down on wasted and expensive time in the office!

If you are writing a DIY will don't forget it has to be witnessed by two(2) people or it isn't legal..

This happened on Heir Hunters in the last series and the poor bloke didn't get a penny from his uncles wife's will as she had only one signature on it..

Here all wills are on numbered, watermarked paper and registered in Madrid.

This is to avoid any wrong doing for instance anyone finding a second will made by the deceased and destroying it because they were named in the first one but not in the second.

Wendy

That's a bit tough on you Kathy. How long do you have to keep paying her for?

Also if you marry or remarry your will becomes null and void and you need to do a new one.

TS - the plain and simple answer to that is yes and asap.