Will writing services

[GimmeAy]

Hi there
I'm looking to get a will written.
So far I've called 4 companies - one gave me a mobile number of their will writing dude (they're the solicitors I've used in the past), so I've left a message with him

2nd Didn't answer phone

3rd quoted £120 + VAT

4th quoted 27.49 but read out a load of waffle stating that they're paralegals rather than solicitors - they're called 'Simpler Wills'.

Should I keep searching or what would you do?

Yes, I used Marlow Wills too - would defo recommend.

@GimmeAy

My concern is how people know when you die that there is even a will in place!

Yvonne @ Marlow Wills can talk you through all this. You can pay for your will to be stored securely and your executors are given details of this.

I spoke with a lovely lady this morning and she will do the will for £100 (originally stated 120 but as I mentioned that I'm not employed at the moment, she said 100). She was very generous of her knowledge as a solicitor and mentioned things that I wouldn't even think about and she will hold my will free of charge. So I'm going to go with her I think. My only problem is going to be getting the will witnessed by two people. I'll feel more confident with a professional writing the will rather than my DIY-ing.

So I've spoken with 2 further firms and they've advised the DIY will from PO or WHSmith. Anyone have any experience with these?

Also - who did you use as your witnesses?

I don’t believe for a second two law firms advised you not to use their will services and get a DIY pack from the post office, unless you’ve been arguing about price for all these days and they’ve gotten fed up.

Seriously, don’t cheap out, it’s the people left behind that need to deal with the nonsense and expense of dealing with a DIY will. Pay the solicitor.

Backbackandforth Believe it or not we even discussed Boris. 'Our insane prime minister' as the solicitor called him and I went on to declare that his current hairstyle wouldn't leave him looking out of place in a psychiatric hospital. Jurisdictions came into discussion you see.

But yes, he along with now another 2 have advised the cheap DIY will. I've a way of chatting to people so that I can get information out of them while they believe they're having a chat . That or they know I don't have the price of their services so don't mind giving me advice for free..

@Backbackandforth

I don’t believe for a second two law firms advised you not to use their will services and get a DIY pack from the post office, unless you’ve been arguing about price for all these days and they’ve gotten fed up.

Seriously, don’t cheap out, it’s the people left behind that need to deal with the nonsense and expense of dealing with a DIY will. Pay the solicitor.

I also find this rather unlikely.

If her affairs are very straightforward, they may well say a standard Will is adequate. Solicitors give honest advice, like anyone else.

It doesn’t matter if her affairs are seemingly straightforward, any private client solicitor will have been absolutely hardened to DIY wills as they’re the ones tasked with dealing with probate when the time comes and a problem arises.

If it’s a high street firm you spoke with it’s very likely your free legal advice came from a trainee or very junior solicitor (their spot on politics views aside ) so I would take what you illicit from the chat with a pinch of salt. Check on their website who their private client partner is and email them, I promise their advice will differ greatly.

See it as a type of insurance. Will writing services are unregulated so if something goes wrong for those left behind, they’re stuffed. Solicitors are regulated and insured to the hilt.

@Backbackandforth

It doesn’t matter if her affairs are seemingly straightforward, any private client solicitor will have been absolutely hardened to DIY wills as they’re the ones tasked with dealing with probate when the time comes and a problem arises.

If it’s a high street firm you spoke with it’s very likely your free legal advice came from a trainee or very junior solicitor (their spot on politics views aside ) so I would take what you illicit from the chat with a pinch of salt. Check on their website who their private client partner is and email them, I promise their advice will differ greatly.

See it as a type of insurance. Will writing services are unregulated so if something goes wrong for those left behind, they’re stuffed. Solicitors are regulated and insured to the hilt.

Yes, honest advice from a solicitor isn't ever likely to be a DIY will. I could believe a person who clearly isn't going to pay might get some variant on 'go on to WH Smith then if you think £120 is an outrageous imposition, just stop wasting my time' but that's about it.

When I explained the simplicity of my affairs, they said, your cheapest option would be WH Smith or the Post Office DIY wills. How would I have even known such a thing existed if they hadn't told me. The last fella (with spot on political views) was the firm of solicitors I usually use, but he's their wills/probate guy - so he certainly wasn't a junior. He's the guy I left a message to call back that I referred to in my OP. Basically he explained that everything I have will automatically go to my dc anyway as that's what the law is for intestate something or another. I then asked whether there might be any complications arising out of a different jurisdiction being involved and he stated that Ireland and England have similar laws even since partition and then wandered onto Brexit and Boris. He was nice to chat to and spent about 20 minutes on the phone. The only thing that he said I will need a will for and again he said the DIY will will suffice is that I want to specify someone outside of the family to be trustee of the dc's estate should I die imminently.

Why do people on MN argue with a poster that they're telling lies. I really don't get what I'd have to gain from making shit up.

He quoted 240 (incl. VAT) so I was never going to go with his firm anyway and when I explained the simplicity of things that's when he suggested the DIY will. Believe it or don't - no skin off my nose.

Now to my other question - he suggested a bank or post office as witnesses (but stated they might not wish to take the risk). He suggested neighbours but I explained that as all my neighbours don't really speak English very well (nor do they know me), they might also not want to sign a legal document in English for someone they barely know. So there you have it - I just need to buy the DIY will, and specify trustee until last one turns 18 and find two randomers willing to witness my signature.

@picklemewalnuts Thank you for not following the mantra of 'you're lying'.

To be honest, for a will, I suspect they give you good advice because if/when you DO need a solicitor you're likely to go with one who gave you sound and reasonable advice in the first instance, rather than one who tried to upsell their will writing services for the sake of peanuts to them in the grand scheme of things/legal fees for criminal cases etc. The last fella is as I said my local solicitors and they're a fairly large practice with experts in Criminal/Family/Wills & Probate etc.

You can use anyone as a witness - work colleague (or ex work colleague if you're not working now), neighbour, the postman, anyone who doesn't stand to benefit from the will. They don't have to have "standing" like a witness for a passport application does.

The problem is trying to persuade some randomer that all they're doing is witnessing your signature and not that they're signing some strange legal document with implications for them.

BTW if anyone is prompted by this to do a will, I can recommend the lady I referred to above - she was from Winterborne Legal Services and her name was Christine. £120 (incl. VAT) - she's the lady who said she'd do it for £100 for me. She mentioned scanning a copy of passport and a short video call to clarify that I look like my passport photo - so you don't necessarily need a firm close to you that you can physically walk into. I'm in London and I don't know where she's based but it's not a place name I recognised.

By the way I ended up using a service called Bark to advertise for a solicitor which is how a few of them ended up calling me.

I was asked to witness a signature by a lady I didn't know well, just a neighbour. Unfortunately she'd already signed it, so I had to explain I needed to see her sign it, as that was the point!

Red faces on all sides after that!

Mum is doing hers at the moment, considerably more complicated than yours, OP.
I'll look at Bark- see if that works to help us find someone suitable. Though the recommendations on this thread have been really helpful, so thanks all!

Unfortunately she'd already signed it, so I had to explain I needed to see her sign it, as that was the point! I did the exact same thing many years ago when applying for a passport or driving licence. You needed a member of the gardai (Irish police) to witness your signature, but being uber efficient, I had of course signed the bloody thing already. So had to fill in the whole form again because the garda was an officious sort. Lesson learned.

@GimmeAy

When I explained the simplicity of my affairs, they said, your cheapest option would be WH Smith or the Post Office DIY wills. How would I have even known such a thing existed if they hadn't told me. The last fella (with spot on political views) was the firm of solicitors I usually use, but he's their wills/probate guy - so he certainly wasn't a junior. He's the guy I left a message to call back that I referred to in my OP. Basically he explained that everything I have will automatically go to my dc anyway as that's what the law is for intestate something or another. I then asked whether there might be any complications arising out of a different jurisdiction being involved and he stated that Ireland and England have similar laws even since partition and then wandered onto Brexit and Boris. He was nice to chat to and spent about 20 minutes on the phone. The only thing that he said I will need a will for and again he said the DIY will will suffice is that I want to specify someone outside of the family to be trustee of the dc's estate should I die imminently.

Why do people on MN argue with a poster that they're telling lies. I really don't get what I'd have to gain from making shit up.

He quoted 240 (incl. VAT) so I was never going to go with his firm anyway and when I explained the simplicity of things that's when he suggested the DIY will. Believe it or don't - no skin off my nose.

Now to my other question - he suggested a bank or post office as witnesses (but stated they might not wish to take the risk). He suggested neighbours but I explained that as all my neighbours don't really speak English very well (nor do they know me), they might also not want to sign a legal document in English for someone they barely know. So there you have it - I just need to buy the DIY will, and specify trustee until last one turns 18 and find two randomers willing to witness my signature.

The existence of cheapo DIY wills from the likes of WHSmith isn't exactly a state secret. A quick Google would show up options like that, so that's how you could quite easily have known. I dont know why people on MN make shit up and what they gain from it, but then this is a site that has an actual piss troll.

Ye - I just made it all up Zombie. In fact I'm not writing a will at all. I was bored the other day and decided, how can I annoy an inordinate number of people on MN. I know! I'll pretend that I want to write a will. I won't tell them that not being British, that I still know of the existence of DIY will writing kits - that'll get them all going! Yeay!!
Get a life.

If I was going to make up a thread, surely I'd have said that I wish to bequeath my billions to the donkey trust and ask for advice. Perhaps ask for the most expensive solicitor on the market. Cos, you know, I can afford it.

Some of ye here are pure mule to use an Irish expression. Muppets.

Oh how I wish I had started a thread about the donkey trust.
I can see the exclamations of horror now - "WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN??!!"
I could then elaborate that I never wanted children, that they invaded my body and why should I pay for the ungrateful lazy louts when they've ruined my figure and all they want is my billions.

But oh no - I started a fairly innocuous thread asking for advice about wills as I'm not in the business of writing wills and am repeatedly told that I'm lying. Idiots.

@GimmeAy

Ye - I just made it all up Zombie. In fact I'm not writing a will at all. I was bored the other day and decided, how can I annoy an inordinate number of people on MN. I know! I'll pretend that I want to write a will. I won't tell them that not being British, that I still know of the existence of DIY will writing kits - that'll get them all going! Yeay!! Get a life.

Mate, I'm not the one claiming multiple solicitors told me to do a DIY will, nor that there's no way I could possibly have found out info that comes up near the top of google when you type in wills without their input.

Thanks to everyone who’s recommended Marlow Wills

Feel free to PM me or just google Marlow Wills in you have any questions. It’s important to check that a willwriter is a member of the Institute of Professional Willwriters, so you know they’re qualified, insured and are bound by the code.