Does anyone know anything about Wills?

[Swifey40]

My dh and I news to write one, but obviously don't want to spend a fortune. Can we do an online one, and then write a letter to go on top as to who we want to look after our children etc? We have a lot of assets (probably over a million if we both died) and we also want the children looked after by non family members.
Does anyone have any advice or am I better off going to a solicitor?
Tia

Go to a solicitor. Best money you will spend.
Don't forget to ask the people you would like to be guardians.

I would strongly dissuade you from doing them online or through a Will Writer, as they aren't regulated and will put in a lot of unnecessary extras you don't need.

Ring your local solicitors and see if they have any Charity Free Will Schemes you can use. Or see if your favourite charity is part of the Free Wills Network, and then choose a solicitor who is part of it. You won't need to pay for a simple Will and will still get the correct standard of work.

We have a lot of assets (probably over a million if we both died)

Yeah you need a solicitor.

Why on earth would you risk leaving your kids in a huge legal mess for the sake of £300 or so?

With that amount of assets do it properly by a solicitor.

With those assets and not wanting family to care for children a Professional would be better. You don’t need a Solicitor necessarily though.
If you want the name of a company I refer people to PM me (they also did my will and are really good). There won’t be anything in it for me, I just know they are good

Please go to a Solicitor the cost is minimal for a joint estate of £1m +.

Thank you very much, I was under the impression that it was going to cost thousands and I have just had to give up work due to ill health so our earnings are down. I will get on to a solicitor ASAP.

Use a solicitor.
You not only need to make a will when you have a baby but you should also review it every few years. We made one when DC were born, revised at 7, 14, and 18.
You will have to nominate someone to look after the money until the children are old enough (preferably NOT a solicitor), usually two trustees. You also have to decide when they get the money for example some at 18,21 and the rest at 25.

You can't nominate a guardian in your will but you can add requests.

There are several reasons for revising a will from time to time. In our case my parents became too old and frail for the responsibility. We also changed it for IHT reasons. Finally we revised it at 18 because we had put in place some trusts which we felt were no longer needed as our DC were very capable and financially astute.

My will cost less than £500 inc VAT from a STEP Solicitor. I wanted professional advice on inheritance tax planning etc. and I was happy to pay for the service. Yes you can get it cheaper but I wanted peace of mind.

Can DH and I agree on our will and then just I go to the solicitor or would he need to be there. I know he obviously would need to sign stuff but could I take it away and return it? His work is so mad at the moment that he's reluctant to take time off for this ... I know it's ridiculous 🙄

When we did ours, we had someone come to our house in the evening to talk through all the requirements. I think we then got it through the post to sign (with a witness).

I did mine by phone call and emails then went in to sign it with the witnesses.