Not to have a will?

[MissCromwell]

Was wondering this after reading the other thread on wills. Neither DH nor I have one.

We have a very simple set-up, no steps and exes in the picture. We get on with our immediate families and trust them and each other to do what is right.

So - if one of us dies presumably the other inherits our (jointly owned) house and the insurance pay-outs. If we both go, then presumably DC gets it all, and our immediate families sort out what is the best way to care for DC (we have talked to them about this, and DC will be cared for by family, but nothing is in writing).

So, is there really any need to write a will? Or is there something I'm over-looking here?

If you don't have a will then your family will have to pay for all the costs of your funeral etc from their own pockets because your assets will be frozen.

If you don't have a will, then your children won't go to your family automatically, they may be put in the care of social services and your family members may have to prove that they are fit to look after them]

If you don't have a will and your ex remarries, there is nothing to stop him leaving your entire estate to his new wife and cutting your children out entirely

MAKE A WILL!!! If you have children it is horribly negligent of you NOT to tbh

If you do decide to make a will (and please do, I have also heard lots of horror stories about the mess left behind for family when people died without one), then it's worth seeing whether any local charities are having a "make a will week" (or month). They team up with local solicitors, the solicitors will do you a proper will and the payment goes to the charity. You have the chance to include a donation to the charity in your will, but there is no requirement to do so. Also I think the cost for these may sometimes be less than it would normally be otherwise, though I'm not 100% sure about that. We did this when DS was on the way, and helped our local hospice.

Glad you started this thread OP - I've learnt a lot... and am putting wheels in motion for DH and me to have a will. Living overseas, grandparents in different countries, complex tax situation: lots to think about. Although I always felt that thinking about it was somehow macabre and tempting fate. Pretty daft really.

"You have the chance to include a donation to the charity in your will"

You do but we were told that if we wanted to do this, our executors have to come up with the money first to be paid out of their own pockets before the money from our assets etc is released. It put us off as they couldn't afford to do that.

We are in the position of living in a different jurisdiction to our relations. We had to choose the lucky couple who would have our children (we are happy with the choice, it is a brother of dh and his family who would be most like ourselves). We appointed trustees from my family, plus a friend. So nobody would feel excluded. As others say, the complications of having no will, or one not watertight, are massivee. And the incomes of solicitors are swollen by the intestate!

Cannotfindaname - not convinced that is correct. The donation may not occur immediately the will is read, but should come from the estate once moneys are being distributed.

Hulababy, you're right

YABU
IABU too as dont have on either

If you have concerns about trusts, then the best thing to do is to talk to a solicitor! We have trusts for our DCs in the case of us both dying. We have family members as trustees and they are allowed to use the money for the DCs' upbringing. The DCs do not get their hands on the money directly until they are 24. This was a big thing for us - we remembered how we were at 18, and there was no way that we would have given ourselves thousands of pounds.

So that is yet another thing that can be properly clarified with a will.

I don't have a will, I have nothing to leave and no one to leave DD with, really.
I would hope my Dad would provide for her financially should anything happen to me now, and she'd then inherit my half of his estate when he dies, but who knows really

It's probably a good idea to make a will- doesn't cost much and not difficult in itself, however, I wouldn't have sleepless nights over it. As a married person, if you die intestate, your spouse will receive first £125.000 (correct me if wrong) then rest to your children.
If you and spouse get on, don't see it as that big a deal not to have a will.

The rules of intestacy (not being patronising here by explaining what "intestacy" means- I didn't know until a year or so ago myself) i.e. dying without a will are straightforward enough. Spouse (if exists) first taker, then children, then parents, siblings, and on it goes.

The poster who said cohabitees don't feature is correct: but then since they've not made a will or EXPLICITLY said by way of marriage that they wish someone else to be their nearest and dearest don't see why they should be. Are the authorities psychic or something? Although it is my understanding that a non-married partner can put some kind of a claim to inherit from someone's estate, it is not a given that they'll get anything (and greedy relatives who are "next in line" under rules of intestacy will fight the nature of the relationship and downgrade it to a "mere fling" if they can) as being married would.

Some of the figures quoted by other posters are no longer correct - they are pre feb 2009. This is about intestacy from the HMRC site.

^ * The surviving spouse or civil partner receives the chattels, a statutory legacy of £250,000 (£125,000 if the death was before 1 February 2009) and a life interest in half of the residue.

• The children receive the other half of the residue in equal shares. If any of the deceased?s children have died leaving issue, then the issue will receive their parents' share per stirpes.

Note - If the estate is less than £250,000 (£125,000 if the death was before 1 February 2009), the deceased's surviving spouse or civil partner will receive the whole of the estate. ^

The limits for inheritance tax are higher than people have said too: £325,000 and you don't pay anything if you inherit from a spouse.

I think it's the guardianship issues that will make me write a will, as I would be happy with the intestacy distribution.

But even if your children are grown, they will be stuck paying for the funeral and any costs if you don't have a will. I don't think that's very kind or fair

I have a question, if any solicitors are reading. My DH and I wrote out wills years ago when we had 3dc. We sorted out guardians for our boys etc. We have now had another dc. Do we have to update our wills or will it be assumed from the first will that we want our dd to be in the same position as our first 3 dc?

What does the will state? Does it say treat anymore children the same?

No mention of any other children Ivykaty. Did it a long time ago and then didn't think about it again. I just assumed it would be obvious that if we died we would have intended all our dc to be treated the same, given that the will was written before having dd. Now, reading this thread I am not sure, so think I will have to get it redone

You should be able to get a codicil added to your existing will for very little cost. Or it reworded to say 'and any future children' in case you decide to have another one or two (or three )

Thank you LadyBiscuit. Will definitely do this.

"You should be able to get a codicil added to your existing will for very little cost. Or it reworded to say 'and any future children' in case you decide to have another one or two (or three )"

Wish I had known this. I asked the bloke when we done our will if we have another DC, that everything would be split between 2 DCs instead of everything going to DS and he said we would have to redo the will. Pissed off now, could have put that provision in!

My will mentions that future chidren will have an equal share which is unlikely given I'm 45 but you never know!

I don't have a will because as far as I can see the rules on intestacy fall in with what I would want anyway.

I am married & we don't own much more than the house(in joint names) - each half of which is well under the 250k mark, so under the rules all our assets would transfer to the surviving spouse anyway. Apart from speed of dishing out the assets what advantage could a will give me?

Before anyone mentions guardianship of the dc's I have two problems with this 1) I don't really have anyone who stands out as more suitable than other relatives to name as guardian. 2) Guardianship is an expression of your wishes only, rather than fully legally binding.

Social services would still get involved & could make the decision to give the kids to someone other than the guardian if they felt it was in the children's best interests (and they might well do so if for example the guardian named was an elderly relative - it is common to name grandparents as guardians, but 10 yrs down the line they may no longer be able to fulfil the role).

Also other relatives can still challenge the issue in court & possibly win. I have seen this happen with a friend. She left guardianship to a relative, but after her death another relative challenged this in court (closer blood relationship to child) & it was looking likely that the guardianship would be overturned until the challenging relative voluntarily dropped the case.

I think it's fine now but my friend had a terrible time when her dad died - she had to take out a loan to pay for the funeral, getting his house cleared etc because it took a year for his assets to be unfrozen

I don't think our relatives would need a loan to pay for a funeral etc. I'm sure they would manage comfortably until they got the cash, so I'm not worried. Or maybe it's a paupers grave for me then!

I do know that in my friend's case the named guardian of her child paid thousands to defend the court case brought by the other relative (who was legally aided). And that money wasn't covered by the deceased's estate!

Firts hubby died of testicular cancer pre feb 2009, and I assure you dying intestate was not pleasant and caused no end of friction.
just do it, even a 10£ diy

what advantage could a will give me? None you'll be dead