to not understand this sort of false economy?

[twoonefive]

Someone I know suffered a family bereavement earlier this year. It was not unexpected but obviously still a very sad time. The dust has settled slightly now, and it's reached the stage of sorting out the will etc.

This person was the next of kin, and the only beneficiary of the will. The family member who died left a house of considerable value (not quite at inheritance tax threshold, but only a few thousand off it), a couple of personal items of modest value (few hundred pounds at most), and a post office account or similar with maybe £50 in.

I asked (as I work in a law-related field and have a few contacts who do probate work, or know people who do) if they had appointed solicitors, and if not, I'd be happy to help them find someone reputable. The response was along the lines of 'why waste money lining a lawyer's pockets I'll do it myself'. Apparently this was prompted by a local firm saying they would charge around £1500 to do the work.

Now I know £1500 is a fair amount of money, but it's only about 0.5% of the value of the inheritance, so in those terms it doesn't seem very much at all. I know for me, I'd rather be sure that all the legal requirements were dealt with properly rather than saving money and causing myself a lot of hard work.

However having spoken to a few other people who know the situation, they take the view that it's too much money to spend, and agree with some sort of DIY approach....so AIBU?

YABU

It's none of your business if they decide to do it themselves.

My sister and I did the probate when my DF died leaving everything to my DM and then when she died leaving us equal split. It was easy.

If you are asked for help, you can say no and it's still none of your business.

Your car analogy is very silly, unsafe cars can kill people, which is unlikely to happen when you do your own probate.

I'm bemused by the number of people on this forum who seem to think it's ok for them to pass judgement on others, whether it be what they wear/don't wear/eat/drink/say/don't say ad infinitum.

I wouldn't dream of paying £1500 to have somebody do this for me. It would be different if the will was less straightforward, but if the person is reasonably sensible and literate, I should imagine they can do it themselves and ask for help if they sense that they're getting out of their depth (which seems unlikely, given the circs).