To think making a Will is pointless if yoyu have no assets?

[FunPartyIdeas]

Just that really. My husband and I have literally nothing so nothing to give away!!

But hopefully you won't be going for a good long while yet. So wouldn't it be best to just put it in writing - something like 'all we leave is to be split equally between our children', just in case you do something like win the Lottery the day before you pop your clogs? Imagine how complicated THAT would be to sort! And you never know what the future holds, by the time you go there may well be something to leave.

The point you're missing is that by not having a will, you and your husband are causing the surviving spouse a whole heap of hassle around obtaining a Grant of Letters of Administration and the associated cost, delays and additional administrative and legal burden of administering the estate. This stuff does not happen automatically even if it is obvious and informally agreed between you who gets what. Without documentation and without following the legal channels, nothing can happen.

All this can be avoided by simply writing a will (and remembering to make a document that lists all of your personal assets - bank account numbers, savings accounts, premium bonds, pensions, insurances, ISAs etc. and states where the relevent documentation can be found so that your grieving spouse doesn't have to spend time searching through heaps of paperwork).

Better not die intestate, it's a pain for your family. A will saying you leave everything equally to your children and naming one or two executors will sort it. You don't need a solicitor but you need 2 people to witness you signing.

A lot of rubbish is talked about dying intestate. I've done the applying for administration thing after a death without a will. It's pretty easy. A will is important if you want to distribute stuff to specific people and/or in a different way from the rules of intestacy. Otherwise it's not that important.

One thing that is definitely worse than dying intestate is dying with a badly written or outdated will. Which you do risk if you DIY. I have had experience of a will where the executor named was dead and the will hadn't been updated. That was a whole lot more hassle than a death where there was no will.

You don't seem to be able to grasp the issue. It's not about your children being happy to close your accounts. It's about simplifying bureaucracy of the process so they don't spend two years after your death arguing with the gas company that yes, you really are dead and yes, they really are your son. Just sign a few papers so they can deal with your affairs in a minimally stressful way. Nobody wants to be send round the circles by a bank clerk while they are grieving a death of their parent.

No death in service pensions?

I might be wrong but I think you can write a letter of intent if you don't want to write a will (or see no point) but want to declare any wishes for dc to have specific items or to make specific arrangements. It isn't legally binding but should be taken into account.

I'm going to do something like this because I don't have many relatives and don't have assets but I want my ashes scattered with my dog's and I want to write what I'd like to happen to certain very old items.

You genuinely have 0p after rent and bills?

It’s not about it being “obvious and informally agreed between us who gets what”. Legally, it is clearly dictated by the rules of intestacy. Literally the only difference in the process with or without a will if the person is happy with the laws of intestacy is that their next of kin will have to apply for Letters of Administration, which involves submitting a form.

None of that second paragraph is will related either. We have documents that list all our accounts and assets, so that paragraph is entirely irrelevant and unrelated to whether we have wills.

Make a Will. Choose an executor. Detail your wishes. Even if you don't have a funeral, there are costs involved. Someone will need to register the death. Copies of the Certificate need to be paid for. You need at least one certificate to close down accounts/utilities or transfer them to the remaining partner. The Executor uses the Will and Certificate to prove they can legally do this. Don't make a hard situation even more difficult for your children/remaining spouse. Yes, the rules on intestacy are clear, but those left behind will be second guessing themselves with every decision they have to make.

Haven’t you or your partner got any inheritance coming from either sets of parents or have they already passed?

@NoNotDolly Not masses, but would consider writing a will at that point if it was worth doing so.
@OhNoooooooooooooooo My husband, yes. Me, no. I'm self-employed and just have a very basic pension.

My dad died intestate and I just registered his death and got a death certificate, same as I did with my mum that did have a will, there was no arguing that he was dead and who I was.

I managed this without a will, all in a timely fashion

The likelihood is that you will outlive your parents so thinking about not writing a will now is a bit premature.

That being said, my parents don’t have a formal will but they have verbalised their wishes in terms of cremation and evenly split assets.

All of these are your wishes though!

Definitely cremation as cheapest
My daughter would have our wedding rings
my eldest would be happy to sort the practicalities
I don't want a funeral
All furniture second hand so could just be chucked. Clothes - cheap so again, just chuck. No sentimental items I can think of.
It would be free for my son to do, no problem at all. But if anything changes we will of course look into this as, even though he is well off, no way would I want him to incur any expenses.

OK some of them are more "Letter of Wishes" than Will, but the point remains. You are expecting your grieving family to just... know all of this at the most difficult time of their life, and be able to be 100% sure they are fulfilling your wishes and all that? What if your son gets engaged and would like to use your wedding rings? Who decides? What if the well-off son WANTS to give you a lavish funeral from his own money? What if the local women's refuge wants your furniture? Who decides? Who decides who decides?

I just don't understand why you are so AGAINST a Will at all, when you can DIY it for no cost and save a lot of potential heartache. It all feels rather cutting your nose off to spite your face. I say all this as the daughter of a recently deceased parent and they had a Will. It was still very difficult to take action given the emotion of the time.

@singthing Can I not just simply say to them: "Don't waste your money on a funeral and bin all of my shit, it's worth nowt?!!!" Anything else seems like a bit of an unecessary faff?
I don't get why my son would want to have my relatively cheap wedding ring for any purpose...I'm not even married to his dad?

Me pondering who to leave my ford fiesta to 😄

@FunPartyIdeasI'd still put a will together so that you can declare who you'd like to deal with all matters and to make it clear who you want to have your wedding rings.

I speak from bitter, bitter experience here.

Even if you think your kids would just happily deal with your belongings, save them the aggro of deciding it all and explicitly dictate what you want to happen. Doesn't matter if your jewellery is worth a fiver or five million. Tell them exactly what you want - who is to have what, What's to be binned. What you want for a send off and how to pay for it.

I cannot tell you the heartache you could leave behind if you don't.

It doesn’t have to cost anything, write down a plan for what you do have listings any pensions, insurance etc and beneficiaries then you need to sign it in the presence of others who countersign and date it, download the template online

@Nearlyamumoftwo As I say, I'm remarried so unlikely my sons would want my rings. They are worth nothing from a cost pov and I am sure their wives would want their own??? What would they do with them?

@bababamama I don't have any insurance and a bit of a pension; nothing at all of significance. I'm mid 40s so unlikely this will ever change now!

Ok, so you've been told why you should but you're committed to not so crack on I guess!

Free wills via MacmillanFree wills via Macmillan

go to the website here and select your area and Macmillan will link you to a solicitor who will do a simple will for you for free. You’ll be asked if you want to leave Macmillan a donation but it’s not expected. For anyone not just people with cancer.