to think that charging £450 for Wills is too much?

[Bluehyacinth]

Have been quoted £450 from some solicitors in town to do wills for me and husband. Then there's VAT on top, so altogether nearly £550!

AIBU to think this is rediculously expensive? Are the will packs from Smiths any good?

Are they very complicated? I think we paid £125 for both of our wills.

Marlow wills is very good. Google them, the lady is a mumsnetter. She will do it via phone and post. I think she charges about £150 for two "mirror" wills.

Have a Google for WillAid. I think it's usually later in the year, but law firms sign up and you make a donation to charity.

look here

YY to Marliw wills. Mumblechum is ace. And way cheaper.

Depedns if your affairs are straight forward or not.

By the time you've got say a buy to let property, or step children, or a private pension, or want to provide for your own siblings, or have commitment to elderly relatives, then you're into more complicated territory.

You wouldn't want to get it wrong by going for a standard off the shelf approach, would you?

Another plug for marlow wills. Very reasonable & very straightforward.

Are you part of a union? Some have free wills as one of the member benefits

Thanks for the plugs ladies!

OP, no matter how simple or complicated your circumstances, I can certainly help (qualified lawyer with 25 yrs experience).

Have a look at my paid for advert over on Classifieds (5*Willwriting Service Recommended by Mumsnetters).

There's a special offer on at the moment.

We have just redone our wills and wrote the cheque out last night for £420, inc VAT. That might have been a slight reduction in the solicitor's usual costs as he is a friend but we thought it was money well spent. Even though I consider our affairs straightforward, it's amazing how many points are raised during the process, particularly once you have children. If you died before they were adults, e.g., at what age would you be happy for them to have access to their inheritance? And what are the effects of preventing them from having access before, say, age 25 as opposed to letting them have the money when you die? In our case, we haven't always lived in the UK and I am not British so there is a question of where I would be considered to be domiciled if I died tomorrow, something that we would never have known about. It's such an important document, I don't think it's an area where anyone should cut corners.

I attended a 'Planning for Retirement' talk at work last year.

One of the attendees said his father passed a year a few years ago and tried to do the will himself using the Smiths pack. He pleaded with us to never go down that route. His father had missed a key area around having his signature witnessed and it ended up null and void.

When we did our wills a few years ago my DH decided he couldnt be bothered to go to the solicitors office and only signed the back page of the will as opposed to all pages!

So, please, do it properly. Its a minefield

Yes, you certainly do need expert advice. When I worked in high street practice I was charging around £400 inc VAT. The reason I can do it for much less as a freelance is that my overheads are minimal and my firm is currently exempt from VAT

It's a legally binding document and so important to make sure it's done right and that everything is covered. To ensure that you need someone who knows what they are doing, who has trained and works professionally and can guide you through the process - that will take hours of their time so no, I don't think that it is unreasonable.

OP, whether you use Marlow Wills or not, make sure that you use a will writer who's a full member of the Institute of Professional Willwriters.

Just to say good for you OP, for dealing with your wills. Excellent advice being offered here. All I will add is that no, WH Smith packs are not good.

I think we paid something in that region. We had a home visit and some very blunt questions to answer, face up to and consider, such as no matter how much I love and adore my SIL, my DBro would have sole responsibility for my DC should anything happen to us as we wouldn't want our DC to become a part of any fall out between SIL and DBro.

For the fee we paid, the person who wrote up the wills also stores a copy for us.

We had our wills done through the WillAid scheme last November. 2 wills, quite straightforward ( we have 2DDs), the solicitors are storing a copy, all for £140.

Have replied to your PM OP, look forward to speaking to you soon

Mine cost about £100 about 8 years ago, from a local solicitor, but then it was very straight-forward

When I used to draft wills we charged £500 plus VAT and that was five years ago. It included a few face to face consultations and advice as well as storage in the lead-lined Will Safe. Even at £500 they were loss-leading, and were used to draw future business in.

£500 for mirror wills, to clarify.

We used Willaid a few years ago.

Brief explanation - solicitors write your wills (so long as they are reasonably simple), you 'donate' £135 for mirror wills (both of you leave to each other, leave to the children, etc.) and this goes to charity.

Willaid raised nearly £2 million for the 9 charities last year. It's on in November and you need to book - nearer the time.

More information here

btw the special offer has been extended to 28th May (details on the paid for advert over on Classifieds (5*Will Writing Service Recommended by Mumsnetters) for anyone still dithering.

As mentioned upthread, there is a large range of pricing for wills. The reason I can do them for less than half of what I charged when in High Street practices is simply that I don't have the overheads.

The important thing is to get someone who is fully qualified and also has full professional indemnity insurance. All good will writers are members of the Institute of Professional Willwriters, and abide by the Trading Standards rules and regs.