If you have made a will, do you have anything unusual in it?

[Smallredclip]

I have to make a will - mine was previously a mirror of my STBXH but now I need to make one in my own right.

My solicitor has sent me a form which seems to be very “I leave the lot to the kids” but I’m now wondering about special instructions - I have some nice furniture I’d like to leave to my friend, and what to do with my jewellery etc?
Or should I keep it simple and leave it all to the kids?

Of course the solicitor will advise you but you also need a good idea of what you want.

We just made our trust including living wills, poa's and basic wills. The attorney asked all the questions we needed to consider. And gave us a long questionnaire to fill out. It really helped, and forced us to have the hard discussions.

I did ultimately have a clause inserted that my eldest sister is to have no claims on property or any say in any decisions of health or welfare. She's a monster, loved closest to me, and would be most likely to swoop in at the first sign of death. That felt very dramatic, but our attorney said better to specifically disinherit and block than leave any wiggle room.

@Smallredclip - no your exdh wouldn't have to manage the trust fund. You can state in your will who you want to do it or it could be the executors of your will. We manage funds for our nieces and nephews.

@NonBinaryNumbers

I work in wills and probate so have seen dozens of wills. Nothing really unusual comes to mind but a surprising amount of disinherited children (with accompanying explanatory letters). What are common reasons for disinheriting children?

I live in a country where 50% of all belongings automatically go to the children of the deceased. I have often wondered how many people go to the trouble of giving things away before they die so that their children don't get them!

Mostly things like "they haven't visited for the last 20 years". Not terribly exciting but still sad.

Other than my mum and dads rings which I've asked to go to one of my nieces (she was very close to my mum and dad), everything goes to dh in my will. Outside of this have setup 25% of my death in service benefit to go directly to ds(17) which dh knows and respects.

DH has earmarked part of his Death in Service payment (if he should die at work) as the Stupid Fund. We can only access it to do Stupid Things. Like buying a boat, or trekking across the desert.

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

I've asked for no funeral because I loathe funerals. I want to be just cremated with no service. I've asked my ashes to be mixed with and scattered together with the ashes of my beautiful 20 year old cat that I loved so much in one of my favourite places in the countryside.

🥺🥺🥺 I love this!!

My will is complex since I have a large estate (own a few property in various stages) but no partner or family. My estate is split between about 10 people, who all get different things.
I'm also a writer, so had to include both a literary executor and appoint someone to inherit the copyright of my works.

@ohforarainyday I'm a writer, too, and wondered what would happen with that side of things. I've just got my adult children as my executors - do I need a literary executor as well?

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

DH has earmarked part of his Death in Service payment (if he should die at work) as the Stupid Fund. We can only access it to do Stupid Things. Like buying a boat, or trekking across the desert.

That's bloody marvellous! He will be remembered forever, we should all do this

Be very careful if leaving anything to charity. Best to name a fixed sum rather than a % to avoid challenge.

@Hax I thought you weren't meant to give a fixed sum as they would get that even if you had spent virtually everything on care home fees.

@Hax

Be very careful if leaving anything to charity. Best to name a fixed sum rather than a % to avoid challenge.

Wise words My husband has named a national charity, I'm changing it if anything happens to a small local animal charity I have been quite vocal about it A friend worked for a large charity and the money she said they wasted was shameful

@ohforarainyday I'm a writer, too, and wondered what would happen with that side of things. I've just got my adult children as my executors - do I need a literary executor as well?

I don't know anything about the legal side but I'd assume if you have adult children who you trust then it'd be fine. My first immediate blood relative is a distant aunt who I've not spoken to in ten years, so I've had to get really specific. It feels a bit poncey to appoint both an executor and a literary executor but it just worked out easier this way. I put down my best friend who's a very successful writer and is repped by the same agency as me as both literary executor and literary heir just because he'd be the best placed in a practical sense to handle any requests, but would be too busy to be main executor so that's a different close friend.

My niece and two favourite cousins get to choose a piece of my jewelry (some of it is inherited from grandma).

I’m planning on leaving my lottery numbers! Assuming I don’t win of course 😂 I love the thought of them being passed through the generations and just maybe my great-great-great-great-great-grandchild will win and will thank me!

Love the idea of passing down lottery numbers