Do I really need a will?

[repeater]

I'm divorced and have 1 DC. I own my home outright and have several thousand pounds in savings. Do I really need a will?

10000% yes you do. If your DC is a minor, who do you want the money to go to if you die tomorrow to manage it until your DC is 18? (Or whatever age you set for it?).

For example, we've set up who we want to be guardians of our DC and who we want to be the trustee of the money until DC is 25 when they'd inherit (they'd inherit a smaller amount at 18).

If your DC is an adult, are they married/ in a relationship? Worth considering protecting it in case they separate/ divorce.

I'd also seriously recommend LPAs too. Especially if you're divorced and single. It'd be a lot for your DC even if they're an adult.

Other things to consider are care fees planning, possible inheritance tax etc. defo speak to a solicitor and get a will in place

I'm assuming in all this you're single & not cohabiting. If you are cohabiting, the above applies but even more urgent !!!!!!!!

You would be amazed how many people come out the woodwork when someone dies a will makes life a lot easier for everyone. You can do a will quite cheaply and quickly.

Who would the money go to if dc dies, her mum dies , there is no other family and op has no will

Presently you are still married so everything goes to your ex until your divorce is finalised

do you want your ex to have your money or your dad?

if you die after this without a will then your dad will have to try and deal with your estate whilst grieving and you not having a will ultimately makes their job so much harder

basically if you like your dc then get a will sorted, make a death book for them and have you stuff sorted

Do you watch bake off? Not having a will is a bit like the technical where they will be told to make say a Sachertorte and all they have is the ingredients.

having a will is being asked the same task but having not only the recipe but the ingredients measured out

once you have made it both will take the same length of time in the oven (which can be a pain of a wait) but the process has been much easier for you.

and writing a will isn’t any harder than writing out a recipe

I think they would check to see if her parents had siblings / their own children and go from there.

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

Work through this questionnaire. As I said above, the money would go to all sorts of distant relatives before it ends up going to the state.

@MikeRafone are you drunk?

If your will is simple ie my entire estate is to go to my child then I would do a will using a will kit. You can get them from WHSmith.
Wills don't have to be complicated, it just needs to be legally binding.

OK apologies, no will, no family it all goes to the Crown, not the state

OP hasn't mentioned any other family but it doesn't mean there isn't any.

DF didn't have a will and I didn't find half this twaddle that is on this thread

If you have any assets, and your house and money are assets, then you had best make a Will.
You need to decide who you want to benefit from these

More importantly, you need to decide who you would not want to inherit, say if you and DC died at the same time (accident), or if DC were to predecease you.

My father died intestate and it wasn't difficult to sort out his affairs. As long as you know the rules of intestacy and are happy with that, then it's not necessary.

If you are still legally married and want your money to go to your child, you do need a will however.

And the one thing that does make sorting affairs more difficult is having a will that isn't kept up to date. So if you make one, keep that in mind. One difficult situation I've encountered is when all the named executors have died. That can be a bit of a headache to sort. Having no will would have been easier.

Same. It's only 'just' if you know what you're doing.

She may not think that's important. If I had no children to leave anything to, then nothing would amuse me more than the thought of my dozens of distant relatives having to work hard to grab a bit of my estate. And if the state got it, I don't care. I'd be dead.

My Nan did exactly this . Written on a scrap of paper and witnessed by the next door neighbours .
Luckily my mum was an only child and was a very straightforward will so no issues with contesting etc , but yes this was entirely sufficient .

I’m distracted and predictable text changed dd to dad

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will
you would need to work through siblings, nephews, cousins, half siblings etc before the estate goes to the crown.

That’s really unnecessary, she, like many others assume that everything will be going to the only child , what is it that you find so shocking? It is a very straightforward process if you take out the equation this 💩 government and their stupid rules

She states she has a mother who is still alive,

Wills cost so little yet save so much time for those co,ing after you. You can download a proforma . You don’t need a solicitor, although it may be helpful. Why not?

Yes I have researched it. As our wills would be straightforward as married and two adult chn, a kit should suffice . We have no business or other chn so it’s straightforward.

The money would probably end up with your DC. But the death admin is so much easier when there’s a will jn place. Do it for no other reason than you’ll make you child’s life just a little bit less awful at a time when they’re grieving,

I'm in much the same situation as you, opening poster, except I passed my house to my adult child over 15 years ago. I did it because they were taking responsibility for the uptake, so it seemed fair, given that they'd inherit when I died, anyway.

I still got a will, leaving everything to them.
The more I can do to make it easy for my child after I die, the better.

Now I'm old, and frail, I aim to keep my estate below 23k, to make probate as easy for them as possible.

Whatever the age of your child, keeping things as simple straight forward and lacking in bureaucracy as possible is surely the aim of a parent?