Making a will

[fassbender]

I would really appreciate any advice and information on making a will, please. It is something DH and I desperately have to get organised, as we are married and have 2 DC. However, could someone explain exactly what 'assets' are? We have a mortgaged house but no savings so I am not sure exactly what we would be leaving. Does the solicitor help talk you through it? I clearly have NO idea about this!

I'm doing mine with a solicitor through a charity ( dignity in dying). Its free although they do ask you consider leaving something to the charity..I don't have a problem with that.
I'm planning to leave it to kids and a hefty bequest yo my brother just to annoy ex h

DP and I made wills when our dc was born, I was just like you, had no idea how it worked, but the solicitor sorted everything out, we just answered a series of questions, it took about half an hour, and then she drafted our wills and sent them to us for approval. It was incredibly easy. We're like you, mortgage but no significant savings, most of the details in our wills are about guardianship of the dc. Do it, it's easy!

Guardianship was the hardest thing for us when ex and I originally did wills...we had no natural guardians.
Luckily kids are past that stage now

Solicitor/competent will writer will help you talk it through, but you will have had to get mortgage protection insurance with your mortgage so if one of you dies the mortgage gets paid off. The house will then be the asset. Similarly if either of you have company pensions they are likely to have some element of payout if one of you dies (could be capital or income) and that needs sorting too. You also need to consider care of the children if you both die of course.

My solicitor charged £175 for the pair of us - including instructions on winding up our businesses
they made the job simple and clear
and they hold a copy of everthing

Brilliant, thanks everyone. I will get on it asap. We keep putting it off (for no specific reason), so I need to get on it!

MarlowWills advertises on MN, she is a lovely poster and fantastic solicitor. Everything is discussed and as she isn't VAT registered her wills are much cheaper than your average solicitor.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/small_business_ads/2350623-Marlow-Wills-Top-Rated-Willwriters-Who-Work-Around-You

Here you go - MumbleChum is the poster

Thank you RandomMess

Random thank you so much for the plug.

OP, to answer your questions, your assets are the equity in the house, the value of the contents, your cars, savings, shares and any other assets which aren't held on discretionary trusts.

Most clients' pensions, inc death in service benefits and life insurances are held on discretionary trusts. This means that they aren't dealt with in the will and don't attract IHT.

If you'd like any more info, you know where to find me