DIY mirror wills

[TheListeners]

DH and I have written wills but it was at least 5 years ago. I want to change them. We have overcomplicated arrangements over money / kids. I want us to have mirror wills where if he dies I inherit everything and vice versa. DH is fine with this.

I have two sisters and his parents all of whom would be capable of looking after our three children. I don't think I want to choose as such because it might depend on their personal circumstances.

Could we do this without using a solicitor? Our finances are straightforward.

You could, but whether it is the best way to do it is another question.

Have you thought about what happens if one of you dies and the other re-marries. Or if the other has more dc?
Have you thought about how much your 'estate' is likely to be worth - value of house plus death in service benefits plus insurance policies plus savings ?
Have you thought about what happens to the value of your estate should you both die at the same time ?

I'm sure there are lots of other things - it's years since we made our will really needs redoing so I can't think of all the other things our solicitor asked us to consider at the time that we'd not thought of.

I am not a legal representative, but I do have a mirror will.

You don't need a mirror will if you're married, it's part of the deal that the survivor inherits.

You just need normal wills to identify any specific disbursements to be made on your death, your preferred funeral etc. Any template will do for this, but witnesses might be a bit like hard work just now.

@SpoonBlender

You don't need a mirror will if you're married, it's part of the deal that the survivor inherits.

This is the danger of relying on MN legal advisors

Totally wrong unless a small estate

If there are surviving children, grandchildren or great grandchildren of the person who died and the estate is valued at more than £250,000, the partner will inherit:
• all the personal property and belongings of the person who has died, and
• the first £250,000 of the estate, and
• half of the remaining estate.

So basically, if they die intestate they spouse will not inherit the entire estate above £250k. It is also a lot more problematic sorting the estate out

You can make mirror will using online templates if simply leaving property to each other. Do it ASAP

Our estates aren't worth that much. There is a lot of equity in the house but we hold that as joint tenants anyway. We both have death in service benefits from work but I understand that these fall outside of our estate anyway.

We both have life assurance but again not a lot. I think we're both insured for around £150k. It's not written in trust so I think does form part of our estate.

In fact we'd be covered by the rules of intestacy. I don't care at this point about what the survivor would do with the money. I know we would both prioritse the children. Neither of us can have (or would want) more children. Both of us are young enough that meeting a new partner would be likely but I don't see any reason to decide now how the estate would be passed on as potentially the survivor could live another 50 years. Also if either one of us died that would leave our children as beneficiaries of their grandparents wills so the kids would be well provided for.

If we both died then the kids would get the lot. I suppose a decision would need to be made over who controls the money and at what age do they get it.

Thanks for the corrections @MarieG10 - I was going by what our legal lass said when we made ours, but I guess she was adapting to our personal circumstances.

I'd be wanting to check that if the surviving partner remarried and then died themselves, that the money wouldn't all go to the new spouse but would go to your children.

If you already have wills you would not be covered by the rules of intestacy unless you destroy them

You can write your own wills for a few £. Just do it as at least it makes farting the estate out much easier and ,less costly

Sorry re the autocorrect....sorting

Go to a solicitor and talk it through, mirror wills at my old firm were around £300, provided they were straight forward.

It’s better to get this sort of thing right, believe me the amount of families I have been destroyed by a will is unbelievable!

That way you can explain your exact circumstances to the solicitor and they can advise you best.

Don’t bother with an ‘online’ will or writing it yourself!

I always wonder people pay for builders, plumbers, electricians etc but when it comes to legal matters seem to think they can do it DIY...