Wills, dementia and only children

[Tweedledonkey]

Hi, my parents have decided they need no wills, they are assuming they don’t need one and are wary of the cost of drawing them up officially. I’m an only child, and one parent has dementia but is currently still living with the other parent . What could be the complications/consequences of them both having no will? I have LPOA for them both. Thanks in advance!

The law of intestacy will apply. Which country are you in? Scotland is different to England.

POA ceases upon death of the person.

Do they own a property?

Based in England. They own a property (small/ medium size house) and don’t have huge savings.

I think I’m thinking of things like the time it will take to sort out paperwork etc without a will and if the parent with dementia ends up self funding a care home through their house sale, how the lack of a will for both parents might complicate things…

I don't know the answer myself, if you don't get an answer here you could try posting on the Legal board.

But if one of your parents has dementia, they may no longer have capacity to make a Will. It depends how advanced their dementia is.

I am an only child with POA for my mother who has advanced dementia. She did make a Will, which involved leaving bequests to charity and to me. Irrelevant now really, as almost all her money has gone, spent on her care.

Thank you. The parent with dementia still has capacity at the moment. I fully expect most/all of the money from the house is going to pay for care, but I want to make the process as smooth as possible, from a distance the whole care/ finance situation etc looks like a minefield!

The cost of a simple will is tiny compared with the saving in later hassle and paperwork.

They are probably too late to take advantage of half-price wills month, but they can get one done professionally for £100-200. Or if it is simply an 'everything to my spouse, or if they pre-decease me everything to Tweedledonkey' they could use a DIY form from the post office.

Are they married? Either way you should encourage them to prepare a Will each, it saves such a lot of hassle for the remaining parties, at a what is a very difficult time.

Yes they are married. Is the Post Office form quite straightforward? I might go down that route. I think they assume inheritance will be a straightforward thing to deal with without a will due to having a small family, but I’m guessing it will still take a lot longer to sort out without a will than with one.

The basic rule is everyone needs a will. You are correct that it will all take a lot longer if there isn’t one. As part of their wills they will need to name someone to act as executor.

I think you should explain how much more complicated they will make everything for yourself if they don't make a will. They don't have to be expensive. It's stressful enough when someone dies. This would upset me if I was an only child. Good luck.

Thank you, I guess I would be named as an executor as there is no other family or family friends we could trust.
If I was named as an executor, on the passing of a parent, could I then go to a solicitor to help me navigate what to do and how to do it?

both my parents died so the out leaving wills. It took a lawyer 13 months to sort everything and cost £7.5k in legal fees, which came out of the estate, but its way more than it would have cost my parents to make wills in the first place...

Wow, DeathStarCanteenGal, that is quite an eye opener!

If I was named as an executor, on the passing of a parent, could I then go to a solicitor to help me navigate what to do and how to do it?

Yes. You don't necessarily need one if you know what assests they have and where, but you can employ one if you want - most will give a choice of fixed fee or percentage of the estate.

Yes you can instruct a solicitor to do the work for you as executor.
the advantage of the will is it is clear on the face of the document who is entitled to act (the executor) and the executors powers commence on death as they are from the will. Technically administrators powers are not confirmed until the grant is issued.
they could also factor in some asset protection in the will and leave their half of the property to a trust for the benefit of the survivor for life and then to you. The advantage would be that this half would then not be taken into account for the assessment of care home fees for the survivor. This is not deprivation of assets as the person who left the asset to the trust is dead and the survivor has not given away their share (which could still be taken into account). But at least half is ringfenced. Property must be held as tenants in common not joint tenants. This is easily changed if necessary. Half also ringfenced in the event of survivors remarriage (predatory marriage?) or bankruptcy etc.

Also if a parent already has dementia the a doctor should confirm the capacity to make the will.

Ok, thanks for all the advice. As far as I can see, I have two options:

1. Do a DIY post office will for each, listing myself as executor, and in the event of a parent passing, I then employ a solicitor to help me sort it out. Not sure how the doctor certifying Mum has capacity would work with this option.
2. Appoint a solicitor to draw up wills (possibly the same one we used for LPOAs), and list the solicitor as executor. Again, not sure how Mum’s diagnosis affects this. Mum is currently in mid stage and can still understand what is being asked of her.

Im not worried about setting up trusts to get half the cost of the house- if Mum does eventually need residential care, I’d like to use as much as possible from the house sale to fund that.

If ones likely to need to go into a care home then sever the house tenancy. Then only half the value of the house will be used to assess fees.

Which also do a pretty cheap will service if you’re a member. You answer a lot of questions, they draw up the will and then you have access to a solicitor for queries etc. really easy process and may be worth looking at joining for a couple of months (not sure if you can access the will bit separately).

Pretty sure it was less than £100 for me

I’ve just used the which? Service, it was an absolute doddle. I think £90 for the most popular level of help.