Do we need a will? Does dh need to change his

[Legaleagle4]

Ages ago dh made a will because the house was in his name and bank accounts
Now it's in both names and all shared out joint bank, mortgage house deeds.

Do we need a new will because it's all shared so if he dies it's mine anyway?

I know ultimately we'll should do mirror wills but is this urgent?

Yes you both should have wills. If his previous will was made before you were married it would be invalid anyway.

Wills are not expensive and believe me it is so much easier to deal with estates even where much of it passes due to joint ownership than dying intestate.

I think we were married but nothing joint g

Is the house in joint names, or Tenants in Common?
If joint then it would automatically pass to you upon his death. Likewise any joint names bank accounts. If TiC, then he needs to specify in his Will who he wants to leave it to.

Honestly, get mirror wills done. It will almost certainly make life easier for your executors when you die.

You need a will.

If you don't then he's only entitled to a certain amount of money and assets off you.

Also doing mirror wills is not necessarily a good idea as you want to ensure your children inherit if the other one gets remarried. They have been cases where one parent dies, the other remarries and is outlived by their new spouse who then leaves everything to their own family.

Everyone really should have a will. It makes things so much easier for your loved ones to deal with. You should also do LPA too. I know it seems morbid but it is sensible.

Make a Will and a letter of wishes. Do your PoAs too whilst you are at it. As one of the 'ones left behind' who has had to deal with estate administration, it makes things so much easier when everything is clearly laid out.

And leave a funeral plan, organising a funeral when you have just lost someone you love is a horrible thing to have to do. The doubt about whether they would approve of your choice of music, readings, service type, celebrant etc is awful and is followed by anxiety over whether you honoured them sufficiently.

I would do it…in England I believe MOST banks go by the joint bank account rule but worth checking yours.

also you don’t want agro at this time…it opens things up for people to challenge or not understand if you have kids involved

if either of you die without a will spouse only gets first £200k approx of estate then 50 percent of rest

the house only passes to you if you are joint tenants but you still need to account for it in probate and inheritance forms

the cost of a Will is so minimal and makes it much easier for those left to sort out affairs other than valuable items

mirror wills are only valid if you stick to them, they are basically individual wills and can be changed at any time as I understand it

Yes you need wills and yes it's urgent.

Funeral wishes can go in a letter, don't bother putting them in a will. But write them down.

So his last will is null basically and wouldn't complicate anything?

It's registered you see. His parents couldn't access it and say blah and I'm having to prove no we own the house jointly etc.

Silly really!. If I go first he gets death in service and my work is pension and my private sipp.

I need to make a will to make sure he gets my isa?

I second all this. My husband died two years ago and boy was I glad we had MOST things in place. Also though not POA which we regretted.

wills aren’t about death, they are about living in peace!

@Doggielove thank you yes I'm sure we are joint tenants. Our house is the largest asset and his pension

If yI’m I have in laws that can challenge definitely do it. It just makes for peace all round

This is such an important point. People really don’t know half the time if they are joint or in common - yikes!

I agree with other poster to use wills to specify what you would like in terms of your funeral, saved so much pain for others at difficult time. All myself and my husbands children knew was a certain song, we had to guess the rest

@Doggielove thanks and I'm sorry for your loss 🌺

Oh bless you 🥰

I’m doing well, but it’s made me get all my affairs in order pronto!

A will nullifies any previous will and there is really no disadvantage to having one, especially if there are greedy relatives in the background.

If you're married and have no children then you're entitled to everything. You should make a will, but it's not urgent urgent: it would be inconvenient but not disastrous if one of you died without one.

Dad died, House joint, savings single, but of a level that all went to Mum, various pensions. All very easy to do as letters of admin replaced probate. In our case, Will would not have made anything easier, so would have wasted money.
It is very easy to research and find out if you need a will, but of course legal people will say everyone needs one.We also did not need a solicitor for the administration. Very basic admin that a functioning adult can adult can do and Dad had a lot of accounts. There is a lot of smoke and mirrors to keep solicitors in work.

The only way it would be urgent would be if the existing will left something to someone who he no longer believes should receive it. If it specifically leaves the house to you but you now own it jointly then there's no harm done.

As a general rule we should all be making sure we have up to date wills and keep them under review

Other than the cost I can't think of a single reason not to do it. Yes, I know you can write your own will for free but I guess most people prefer the comfort of a properly qualified person doing it

We have two dc one nearly 18 whom I will make executor

You definitely need it then if the Will is out of date with children I would say.

you never know why until you fall foul

like pp said what’s not to do..it’s peace of mind imv

If we all own everything pretty much joint, why would we need a will aside from death funeral wishes etc.