If you have no children, have assets and have made a will...

[bigbluebus]

who have you left your estate to?
We need to re-do our wills for various reasons. We have one DS who we will leave everything to - assuming there's anything left - but wondering what to do should he be unfortunate enough to pre-decease us (as our DD has).
We (me and DH) both have nieces and nephews but due to them being spread around the country we have seen them approx once a year for their entire lives (all now adults) and we see them even more rarely now as they have mostly left home and don't live in the same location as their parents, so not sure if we would want to name them (and for one DN it would cause complications due to having a learning disability). Both DH and I have 2 older siblings each - in DH's case they are quite a bit older. One of my siblings has no children but all the other siblings do.

I was wondering what people who have no children and don't intend to have any do when it comes to writing a will - particularly if you are not close to any other wider family members.

Fluffy so sorry that you have had a cancer diagnosis. A will ensures that those that matter to you get recognised, rather than those who just happen to be related so the state recognises them in the pecking order!
I think in your position I would think about how much difference the money would make to those you leave it to. If your friends are well provided for in their own right then I'm sure they would be delighted to received a sum which could get them a 'treat' that they can remember you by. If they are struggling then a larger sum which could really help them out would be more beneficial. Most smaller charities are living from hand to mouth so the more they are left the better - as long as you are sure the money will be spent on the actual cause that matters to you.

Fullymule - sorry to hear this is timely for you. As for storage - the solicitors will store your will and I believe there is some sort of central record of all wills.

Solicitors will act as executors - but not all are totally honest. Someone had left her house to the charity I'm with recently and had appointed the solicitors as executors. They tried to scam the charity out of nearly £100,000 by insisting that they had to do the house sale themselves and by using dodgy estate agents. Luckily we made a fuss, they relented and admitted that we could do the sale ourselves after all and we didn't lose the money.

If you are leaving a considerable amount to charity then contact the charity for advice. They might have executors they recommend for example.

You don't need to think about probate - that's the executors' job.

Just make an appointment to see a solicitor and they will guide you through it all.

Thanks bigbluebus and thecatneuterer, and for some useful points and suggestions.

Anything I leave to my best friends would make a difference to them I believe. My oldest friend has had a difficult few years, with redundancy and ill health herself, money is definitely tight for her now. My other friend is a single mother who, whilst having a successful career, has been let down by her ex-husband who walked out on her and contributes nothing towards his child (and likely never will).

I know I can leave them amounts to make their lives just a little bit more comfortable, and actually that gives me comfort too. I haven’t discussed this with them, and wouldn’t want to really, it feels a little awkward. I’d rather they just find out after my death. It’s so odd really, these are women with whom I’ve shared intimate details of my life with over the years, and vice versa, the good the bad and the ugly. Yet a topic like this seems to be so difficult to even start a conversation about.

I also take on the point about smaller charities, and it has been something I’ve thought about before. The amount I have to leave wouldn’t be a blip on the radar of some of the big corporate charities with revenues in the multi-millions.

Just making the appointment is definitely the way forward. No more procrastination!

This strikes a cord, as we had a very old family friend, who was a widow with no children (just a niece who made no effort to see her aunt and yet assumed she’d inherit everything).

Our old friend’s entire estate (high six figures) was left to 2 animal charities. Neither charity attended the funeral nor did they send a letter or flowers or even put a plaque on a memorial bench etc. My dad was the executor and they pretty much said just send a cheque for the total amount once probate granted. It took him 3 months to clear the house, arrange the auctions, liaise with estate agent etc. No thanks, no nothing from the charities. I thought this was disappointing and I would always leave our assets to a person, rather than charity

Amongsthestars - Well it's unfortunate they didn't say thank you (are you sure??), but if they aren't executors they can't get involved in any of the admin/clearance stuff. The charity I'm with does generally send a representative to the funeral in the case of large bequests - however they are often met with a huge amount of hostility from relatives who were probably pissed off at not getting the money themselves - so a representative often isn't welcome. And of course charities are so overstretched it's difficult to spare anyone.

The main thing is that your grandfather wanted his money to go to help animals and that is what happened. It would have been easier on your dad if he'd made them executor of course. If you don't want to help charities that's up to you, but thankfully many people do, and they don't do it for the plaques on benches or whatever but because they want to make a difference.

Oh and personally speaking I would hate for any charity I support to send flowers to my funeral. I want them to use the money to help the cause I support and not to pay for flowers.

This is a really timely thread. DH and I have an appointment next week with a solicitor to draw up our will. We're 40 and have been meaning to do this for ages but it's one if these things that you keep putting off... I'm concerned though that our appointment is only 15 minutes long - the solicitor was insistent that it won't need more than this - which makes me think they expect us to know exactly what we want to do and in truth we're clueless - we have some ideas but would definitely appreciate advice.

We're quite close to our nieces and nephews so the easiest thing to do would be to split everything six ways between them. But then I wonder if there should be some provision for my parents in the event that they outlive me; they already struggle and I help them out from time to time. DH's parents, on the other hand, are very well off and it wouldn't seem far to have a clause for one but not the other.

I'd like to ensure that my cousin gets some jewellery which was left to me by our grandmother - we both an equal share in her will and I know she would appreciate having it all if something were to happen to me. But then, there's not a big age difference between us and she already suffers from lots of health difficulties. She also has no children so I wonder what would happen to the jewellery in the event that she was not of sound mind to receive this in later life, or if she were to die before me or around the same time and I hadn't updated the will?

What else do I need to know before this meeting?

summer you need to decide who you are going to appoint as executors ie the solicitors or a friend/relative (who can always decline and hand it over to a solicitor if they don't wish to do it at the time). You may wish to check out what fees the solicitors will charge for executorship before deciding.

Among the stars that's appalling.
Really really nasty taste in mouth, not even a card to say thank you etc that's appalling

@summer You just need to have an idea of what you want to leave to who. Your solicitor will take notes on this, draft up your will after you leave and send it out to you for your approval. The other option here is to talk to you before the meeting get an idea of what you want and draft you will before you arrive and if you are happy with the draft you can sign it there and have it witnessed.

Thank you!

Mine is going to two relatively small cat charities. Both keep their overheads to a minimum and will use the money for it’s intended purpose to make a real difference. Catneuterer will know one of them very well.

My sister. If she goes first, I've nominated two close friends (one of whom is executor) to share everything 50/50.

Should ds predecease us, or we die together, then we left a specific sum to a couple of friends and then the rest of our estate to three charities. We decided not to leave anything to family

My rings go to my neices along with any of my other bits and bobs that they may want.

My house would be sold and split equally to my neices and nephews.