AIBU in thinking I should make my own homemade Will?

[Eightiesmusic]

I'm ready to do my Will, I believe it's going to be relatively straightforward as my estate will go to my children in equal measures.

However, I'm not certain that doing a DIY Will is the best option, as I've read horror stories where Wills have found to be invalid. But surely if the Will is executed properly, with witnesses signing at the same time as the Testator, and the contents of the Will and the Testator's wishes are clear then how can it be a problem drawing up your own Will?
Can anyone advise please? Should I do my own following the necessary signing rules or go to a Solicitor?

Yes I don't think I'll go down the charity route for reasons such as this.

Sorry for the loss of your Dad, that's shocking that his Will wasn't accepted, especially given the fact that he had it executed properly.
Would you mind sharing why the probate office refused to accept it?

My parents wrote their own wills, no problem at all when they died. I appoint x as executer, I want x to go to y and z to go to x. Signed and witnessed by 2 people. No problems at all. Even when we had to submit a copy as the original went missing!

I did order a Will kit last night, which is on its way, and the Will itself is made into a booklet form so nobody could add or swap pages around, not that I think anyone would anyway.

Now I've read stories of DIY wills not being accepted and I think I should take people's advice and just go through a Solicitor after all to save my kids any possible complications down the line.
I don't want to go through a charity because even though most may well be fine, now I've read that some are impatient to get their hands on your money it's put me off.

I'll look at the kit when it arrives and if it looks straightforward to me I'll fill it out and have it executed properly, BUT I'll still see if a Solicitor will review the Will to make sure they believe it's watertight, or will just spend extra if necessary for the Solicitor to draft another Will for me from scratch, then get them to store it.

Solicitors make more money from badly drawn up homemade wills than from doing wills

Have seen lots of very poor behaviour from charities over years so would never recommend leaving legacies to charity

Do you mean they make more money if the DIY wills are contested? , or that they make extra money if they have to read through DIY wills (like in my case) and start again with their own drafts?

Surely, again in my case, if the wording is in the correct order, I've made provisions and contingencies for my beneficiaries, and that I've had my Will executed correctly, then the Solicitor could tell me if it's watertight or make some adjustments if necessary?

I'm assuming that a Will a Solicitor draws up completely from scratch will cost more money than if they review and ok mine?

I’ve heard this can also help prevent a forced sale to cover care home fees.

Yes, this is correct - if your share of the house goes to someone else then it can’t be counted towards care home fees.

My question is that whether your Will is actually a simple one. In order to have your share go to your children the ownership of the home has to be switched to tenants in common (rather than joint tenants) and you may need a trust (with trustees) set up for your share to go into. The trust only becomes active upon your death.

Make sure you staple all the pages together before it is witnessed.

Contentious probate cases often cost tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees to resolve.

A solicitor absolutely would charge you more to review a DIY Will and advise on amendments, than draft one from scratch using their own template. It’s more work for them.

Honestly OP, all the solicitors on this thread have told you that they used a solicitor to execute their Will. Myself included. What does that tell you? We’re all legally trained but we still understand the need for specialist advice even in simple estates.

It’s not sufficient to just clearly write down what you want to happen in the event of your death, and then sign in front of witnesses. You have to use the correct legal terminology.

My (divorced) mum died recently without a will.

Hers was a simple estate - house, one day to day banking account, no savings, state pension and work pension, and just me and my siblings to inherit. With no will the rules of intestacy apply so there was no question of who gets what, it was split straight down the middle.

If yours is a simple estate and you have willing folk to deal with your affairs after your death, it might be ok to NOT have a will.

For ANYTHING even remotely more than 'simple split between offspring's or husband inherits everything you ABSOLUTELY should seek advice about estate planning. And POA which are often more important.

I got twin pack from Amazon for me and DH but ours are very simple
It breaks it down into sections and took me round 10 minutes to fill in and 2 neighbours witnessed them

I have said that I would go to a Solicitor, but out of interest, why wouldn't it be sufficient for someone to clearly write down what they want to happen with their estate and have it witnessed properly?

I'm genuinely confused as to why correct terminology isn't being used if I write something like 'I give my entire estate, including my house at so and so address, all my money, and all of my possessions to my two children (full names given) equally'

Then if I include contingencies should anything happen to any of my children should they predecease me or if we all died at the same time (hopefully none of those scenarios would happen) , and where I'd want either my estate or their share to go to.

I'd also state that I'd made a separate letter of wishes detailing my funeral wishes etc,

If I dated and signed it correctly, what is it that doesn't make my Will valid?
I'm not trying to be awkward, I'm genuinely curious and happy to be told what mistake I could be making if I write my Will along the lines I've given above.

I’m not a Private Client solicitor but I can see a few issues straight away which might cause a problem…

You don’t bequeath your entire estate. You bequeath your residual estate after payment of inheritance tax and funeral expenses.

It’s also foolish to state the address of the property you wish to bequeath. Every time you move house, you’d have to write a new Will.

I’m assuming your children are adults? If not, you’d need to appoint trustees to hold the estate for them until they reach majority.

If one of your children predeceased you and was survived by their own children, would those grandchildren only take their parent’s share of the estate? Or would the estate be split equally between them and their surving aunts/uncles? Do you know how to word that clause so you make your intention clear?

Most importantly, nothing in your layman’s wording gives your executor the authority to administer your estate by applying for probate and cashing in your assets before distributing the estate to the beneficiaries. So you’ve written down what you want to happen but given nobody the power to make it happen.

The signature clause needs to state that you’ve signed in the presence of your witnesses and they’ve signed in your presence.

Well quite. Everything looks straightforward when you know nothing about it

Yes, I would have inherited anyway, but I’d have had to get letters of administration which would have taken time and energy which I didn’t have at the time. As it was I didn’t even need probate as there wasn’t huge amounts of money and everyone was happy with the will. It made life much easier at a very different time.

My DIY kit from Amazon does all of that, but as I said our circumstances are very simple

To be fair, I would've written who my executors are to be, what I've just listed isn't my exact statement and I understand that I'd have to appoint an executor/s (and someone else to act on their behalf if they couldn't or wouldn't do it) , but yes I agree it's likely not as simple doing a Will as I imagined.

They just keep saying it’s not the original although it is. It’s a booklet style one from Amazon I think it’s maybe because he wrote in black pen and the paper is white I honestly don’t know much because they won’t really justify it! But they said their forensic team tested it!? If you’re really set on diy then use a blue biro!! It’s causing huge cash flow problems for my mum, it’ll be a year since he died next month and everything is just taking forever to sort!

Personally I’d use a solicitor, they do cheap will weeks and a ptoprtion of the fee for the service goes to charity. Just as you might think it’s easy but they’ll ask questions to make sure. Still only be about £150 or so. https://www.macmillan.org.uk/donate/gifts-in-wills/free-wills-month