To suggest all couples, especially those with children

[gk6277]

Should make sure they each have life insurance, and ideally a will, as I am worried some of the people dying from coronavirus could be leaving behind a financial nightmare for their loved ones.

I am bipolar and have several autoimmune diseases and am also a part time smoker. I was very honest with the life insurance people and I pay £19 a month for £90,000 cover. My husband has OCD and two heart problems with a family history of early death from heart attacks. He pays £25 for £100,000. We took these policies out 7-8 years ago over 25 years. He is now 55 and I am 39. He got a quote last week for a new mortgage and even with his issues and high blood pressure it was still only £55 a month for 12 years cover totaling £50,000

I’m a single parent no money, council flat but my children’s father is abusive and doesn’t have contact. Never been through court though.
What can I put in place to nominate a carer so my children wouldn’t go to their dad (not that he’d try anyway).

I'm going to come across as stupid here.
What if you don't really have anything financial to leave? Or nominated people? Obviously I just mean wills not insurance

It's a good reminder, but anyone with children or dependants needs to have a will in place.

It's exceptionally unlikely that adults, especially women in their 20's,30's or 40's who have no underlying health conditions will die. If anyone's interested they've published a spreadsheet of people who died of coronavirus in March today and listed deaths by sex, age, underlying heath conditions.

According to the data my risk of dying from corona virus (I'm a 44 year old woman who is healthy) is less than 0.1%. We need to worry and keeper vulnerable people safe - but not worry excessively.

The report is here
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsinvolvingcovid19englandandwalesmarch2020

I'd also suggest thinking about what your partner and children would realistically need if you died. In the advice of our financial adviser, we insured ourselves for the amount of our mortgage. But a friends husband died a couple of years ago and had luckily insured himself for far more. It's obviously a horrible situation to find yourself in but the money meant that not only could she pay off a mortgage, she didn't need to think about work whilst grieving and has enough money to put aside for her children's university fees. All a great help.

I’ll ask a stupid question to keep you company Sux

It’s just me, DH and our 3 DC one is now 18. We both have life insurance via our jobs (for now!) large mortgage, some debts, both have pensions DH is a good one.

I need an idiots guide on what to do please?

Yabu for not putting the whole question in the thread title.

Of the things that annoy me most about Mumsnet users, people who use click baity titles come out on top.

Got life insurance sorted, will make sure our will and power of attorney is sorted before baby is born.

Don't forget to write down the password to your electricity supplier and any other things critical to keeping the household going.

I can't get life insurance because of my chronic illness. It sucks. Luckily DH has it. My worry is that I die before he does

Similar in this house, just the opposite way around. It’s terrifying.

@ChicChicChicChiclana
What do you mean?

@AlexaShutUp life insurance isn't really like other insurance, it's not about the sell but they have to ask you a lot of in-depth health questions and gauge your lifestyle in order to get you a quote. I certainly wouldn't be getting a quote online with no advice attached.

Thank you for the reminder OP, we need to do this. Very sensible idea.

I don’t have a will (I did start one but this has reminded me the paperwork never came through) but have nominated my OH (not married, no kids) to receive my death in service and life insurance payouts with the providers. Are these nominations watertight?

@AlexaShutUp As an actuary, life insurance that doesn’t require a decent medical really isn’t worth paying a single penny for.

Sux2buthen, is there no one that you'd want anything you have to go to? You could just write a simple will for it to go to a charity.

Nochangeplease, you'd make a, living will and a death will. If you were unconscious etc, your child would have to go to someone, so you'd want them to be able to come forward whilst you were still alive. SS are duty bound to find your ex, so you need to write a factual statement. It would be best doing it via a solicitor and making your nominated person aware of all the details.

For those saying you are skint anyway. I know of a man who died in work of an accident that was his employers fault. He got a payout and it went to a no good Brother, not his partner, because he didn't have a will.

And get your life insurance in trust, I found out today if it goes through probate it can take 9 months before the kids can access the cash.

@SimonJT - really? I have an Aviva one. I gave a medical history, don't have any medical conditions and don't smoke, and drink in moderation. Are you saying they find ways no to pay out?

How do you get someone to witness your signature at the moment?

Our neighbours witnessed ours over the garden fence.

@LennyPugGoat your eldest is old enough to look after the young ones. Though if you have another friend or relative who volunteers to do this then let them.

Oh and with pensions you have trustees. You should nominate who you want your pension to go to be they ultimately decide who to pay the money to.

@Rosebel we have a similar issue. What are you going to do? We've not done our wills yet for that reason.

Dealing with affairs when someone dies without a will can be very slow and expensive. The estate can't be valued until everything has been tracked down and the surviving family can be left with no income for months or years. I've seen it at first hand when DH's friend died suddenly and it was grim for the family.

The few hundred pounds or so to make a will (ideally with solicitor/will writer input) is nothing to the expense and hassle of not having one. They will be able to suggest what to put where it's not straightforward how to deal with children, property, ex's etc.

I made a will through Farewill, mainly to appoint a guardian for DS, as I want my money to go to him anyway, which would happen even if I didn't have a will. My appointed guardian has agreed to being a guardian.

@ChicChicChicChiclana I was not trying to score points, or 'win' anything ! Am genuinely worried about the loved ones of people who have died unexpectedly in the current crisis. If the title is considered bait, but even one person goes on to get insurance or a will as a result that they sadly later rely on, I am happy to accept that accusation.

thought being married meant your partner and child got your assets! My financial advisor or solicitor (can't remember which) said it'll be a waste of my money making a will for this reason.

This is exactly what i think but the solicitor who we hired to act for us with our mortgage suggested we get our wills done next for the princely sum of £300! Now the thing is our house has very little value in it as it's shared ownership and we only moved in a couple of years ago.
We have no other valuable items.
We have a DS and a family member has agreed to be guardian as we're haven't had him christened for personal reasons.
So my question is do we really need wills?