Cheap will change

[AgainPlease]

Hope someone can help. My DH needs to update his will but our lawyers came back and said it's £1,500 to change his entire will in to my name (recently married).

We can't afford that right now. Does anyone know how we can do it a cheaper way?

[mumblechum0]

Why would it be so high? Are they proposing very complex trusts in the new will?

When I was in high st practice, Itypically charged around £600 for a pair of mirror wills, I'm now freelance and charge £210. ( much cheaper because I don't have the overheads).

I'd shop around!

[AgainPlease]

Hi @mumblechum0 thanks so much for replying. I don't think his will is that complex.. I know he has a trust in place for his son and plenty of interests (equity and shares) in various businesses.

Was speaking to a lawyer friend of mine briefly this afternoon and she said our recent marriage supersedes his will he made before we married? Does that mean everything automatically goes to me? I'm sure he would want to make provisions for his son.

At the risk of sounding completely ignorant does he need to name me as his new beneficiary for his pension and life insurance policy? Or does that also automatically change now that we are married too?

[TotallyConkers]

He needs to contact the life insurance and pension to name his beneficiaries. Mine pays out to the named person and is treated as separate to the estate in the event of my death. It is important that he changes it to whoever he wants that money to go to asap.

As for wills we made them knowing we would get married later on so we had a clause in them so they stayed valid. Without that clause getting married would have invalidated the will. We paid around £350 for simple mirror wills from a solicitor on the high street around 6 years ago.

[AgainPlease]

That's so useful thank you @TotallyConkers !Do we need to pay to get the beneficiary name changed or is it just self-admin online/phone?

God I can't believe I'm an adult. I literally know nothing

[TotallyConkers]

With mine I just needed to fill in a form online naming DH as the beneficiary (I can name multiple people with percentages but I wanted it all to go to him).

DH had to phone to get them to send a paper form out for him to fill out with my name as a beneficiary.

There was no charge for this, in fact they encourage you to name a beneficiary as it makes it easier for them to pay out.

[RandomMess]

Just use mumblechum, she's fab - advertised as Marlow Wills.

I got some really great advice on what to do with our blended family and things to consider before finalising etc.

[zaalitje]

Can also recommend mumblechum and Marlow Wills

[mumblechum0]

thanks so much for the recommendations Random and Zaalitje!
OP, I'll respond to your later questions in a bit, just going on a call.

[TheBadgersMadeMeDoIt]

Blimey £1500? It would be cheaper to scrap the existing will and make a new one from scratch. We used Which? Wills online and it only cost £150 for the two of us. (We got a special offer code from Quidco or something like that.)

[mumblechum0]

Hi OP, to answer your questions:-

1. Yes, your recent marriage has automatically revoked your husband's will, unless he specified that it was being made in contemplation of your marriage.
   
2. No, you wouldn't automatically receive everything under the intestacy rules, but you'd receive the first £250k plus half of the rest.
   

3.as you're a blended family I recommend that your husband makes a life interest trust. This protects his share in the home for his son, whilst allowing you to live there for life, or remarriage.

1. The life insurance is completely separate and he just needs to nominate his beneficiaries on the forms.
   

Hope this helps!