Statutory will application needs will from incapacitated mother!

[Russettbella1000]

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help.
My sister is deputy for my mum who is seriously incapacitated (Brain damage)

We are currently applying for a statutory will and as part of the process had to submit a will written on behalf of my mother. When we were applying we were not totally sure what format this should take but used the wording/format suggested knowing it would probably need altering/come back to us...

The court appointed solicitor has now come back advising that the will does indeed need amending but we feel like we're going round in circles trying to figure out how to word it afterall the whole point of us applying for a stat will is because she never wrote one!! What is the secret??

My sister is her deputy so would it be possible to go to a solicitor and get them just to write a will for my mum and pay the £150-£200 fee for that??Or even a WH SMITH version? I feel like we're being asked to jump through hoops whichare just not logical...What we don't want is a solicitor to 'apply for the stat will' as its just not worth it and quite frankly we've done everything else now...

Also if this goes to court and we have a will, albeit crude, are we going to be penalised for this?

If anyone can help we'd be grateful...

<a class="break-all" href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218200720/www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/files/09F_-_Wills_PD.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="blank">webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218200720/www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/files/09F-_Wills_PD.pdf

As reference, we used the 'example will' given in directions 9F but got a bit confused.

I actually see where we might have made a mistake...We didn't include independent witnesses but I think we also got confused about the AB/CD references.

Would we put my mother's name for 'AB' then my sister for CD...

aLSO EXECUTORS.....Can my sister, being deputy, also be executor or not?

Sorry, this is suddenly really complicated!

Have answered your PM (advice is to get a local solicitor to draft the Stat will but send it off yourself).

Yes, your sister can be an executor.

Hi just replied to your PM but actually just looking here I think I understand it better so even though mum is in minimal conscious state, solicitor would travel to see her and then draft will following that?

Just one more thing. Would this just be a bit more than the normal fee? Taking into consideration the fact that the sol will have to travel to mum..My will was around £150. In this case what would a reasonable amount be? As I explained, the reason we could not consider a sol to actually complete and send off whole stat will app is the fee was between £10-15,000!

Thank you so much. If you could just clarify this a little further I'd be so grateful.

Depends on far away the solicitor has to travel.

The usual charging rate for a solicitor outside London is around £200 to £250 per hour. Travel is usually charged at half that rate, and there will be mileage on top.

So if someone is driving 15 minutes each way to see your mum (which is why I suggested in my PM that you use a local lawyer), the charge for travel will be between £50 and £62.50. Mileage is 45p per mile.

Then the time the solicitor spends seeing you and/or your mum, preparing the will, considering the issues (which as this isn't a run of the mill thing is likely to be up to an hour), going over the will with you, making any amendments etc will all be charged at the normal charging rate of £200/whatever their rate is.

I would suggest that you budget between £500 and £750 ish plus VAT.

Thank you so much for generously sharing here and also for the PM-really appreciate it :0)

No probs