Will question

[BeccaBean]

DH and I did mirror wills in 2017 and are thinking of reviewing and updating if necessary. If one of us dies, we will leave everything to the other. But if we die at the same time and our 8 year old DC survives us whilst still a child, we want to put the best arrangement in place for her that we can. For various reasons, my closest friend and her husband will become guardians if this happens and I know they would do this regardless of our finances but we want to do the right thing by them and, of course, by DC. We have a house owned outright (no mortgage), pension funds and some savings and stocks and shares isas. When we did our current wills, the solicitor was not great and we ended up (for this scenario), leaving a fixed sum to my friend to cover any general expenses from having an additional child in the family (they have their own DC) and the rest to DC. The solicitor said they could not advise us on trusts so under our current will, everything else gets left directly to DC. Not sure how this works in practice (ie their responsibilities as a home owner as a child). Should we be specifying a trust for this scenario? Thinking that we need to find a solicitor with a trust speciality and redo our wills rather than just update small parts of the current one. Any tips? Thanks.

No real tips beyond finding a solicitor who is recommended by someone you trust and respect - really do your research.

Find a solicitor and ask for proper advice rather than on here when you don't even know if advice given is accurate.

Have you nominated beneficiaries for your pensions?

Yes, we have each other nominated as beneficiaries of our pensions.

Do you have life assurance?

Agreed but we used a solicitor we found on the Law Society website to do our current wills and now I'm doubting their advice. I'm interested to know if others in the same situation have been given different advice before we reach out to a different solicitor to redo our wills at what might be considerable cost.

@Goldie766 Yes, we both have life insurance through work.

That’s ridiculous if a solicitor advising you on a will was unable to advise in relation to trusts. You need to find a STEP qualified specialist Will solicitor(not someone who dabbles and also does a bit of property and litigation work). https://www.step.org/directory/members
Not a will writer they are not trained regulated and insured in the same way.

For young children you definitely want to include a trust, if you don’t specify an age they will get it at age 18. Even if you do specify an age, say 25, What will they be like then? Will they be responsible? In a controlling relationship? Will they be into drugs, gambling, dodgy investments? Will the be easily persuaded to part with the money and ways it or will they use it for legitimate purchases? Will they have a pending divorce? The point is you don’t know. People can make mistakes. You don’t have a crystal ball and have no way of knowing.

The best way to provide for them is through a trust where the trustees can control how and when they receive the funds. You leave a letter of wishes you trust them to follow. You could for example say that funds could be release at a specified age but only in connection with a property purchase. Or the funds could be loaned from the trust. Or that the funds could be used for university expenses. Etc ie controlling the use for things that will set them up in life. The choice of trustees is important. Depending on the types of trust chosen there is potentially a maximum of a 6%IHT charge every 10 years on the amount over the tax free allowance (£325,000). This can be avoided by using a flexible life interest trust as opposed to a discretionary trust. Both have different advantages and disadvantages and a competent solicitor will be able to advise you on your options.

@22mumsynet Thank you so much for your very detailed and helpful response. We are going to redo our wills and will use a STEP member lawyer as you advise.

I am very cross with myself for not pushing back on this when we did our first wills. We chose a solicitor who had a will specialism per the Law Society website but it never sat right that they couldn't advise on the suitability of a trust in the event our daughter inherits whilst still a child.

Thanks again.

Why are you leaving everything to the other? What if you die and your spouse remarries? Would you be content for your child to potentially inherit nothing from you and for it to pass from you to your spouse to your spouse's second spouse?

You're right. Hadn't really considered that as I've mainly focused on how to protect my DC if we both died at the same time as we have hardly any family in the UK. Will address with the rewrite. Thanks.

Then you should discuss that with each other and if the survivor marries , you both agree to making a new will in which you leave your assets to your children, or to wife and your children.

The reality with Mirror wills is that they can be changed following the first death. You’d be better off leaving your share in trust and giving your husband a lifetime interest in the property. And if something was to happen to both of you, I’d leave everything in a trust, with instructions that the interest or income from the trust, can be used for your child’s expenses. That way, you don’t have to leave anything to your friend, (although you could if it meant they had to add on an additional bedroom etc), and the rest of your estate is ear marked for your child’s needs. But as people have said, go see a decent solicitor and get some independent advice.

I would go seek legal advice from a solicitor not a will writer and not from Mumsnet!

I used a local solicitor who advised me on guardians and a will trust for any children under 18. The cost was relatively reasonable just over 100 pounds and I have the backing that the solicitor was qualified and that they are a member of the law society.

Thanks for your comments but finding a solicitor was not as easy as you're suggesting. I spoke with three solicitors back in 2017, all chosen from the Law Society website and noted as having a specialism in wills, before I chose one. The costs quoted were between £1,500 and £3,000 and this was 8 years ago (in London but not central and "local" firms). Was not happy with the advice we got and still have to update the wills as don't currently feel like I know what I'd do differently today.

The reason for posting was to arm myself with more knowledge based on others' experience so that I can challenge the advice if it's similar to that I received previously.

My will was written by a solicitor.

This was who I used I appreciate they not local to you but they may be able to help I am somewhat surprised by your costs quote but perhaps fees substantially change around the country https://www.raworths.co.uk/our_people/leslie-tuck/

Many thanks @Avidreader12 for the recommendation. After comments earlier, was thinking maybe I should find a solicitor outside of London. Recall that with my existing will, the detail was worked out by calls and reviews done by email and I only met the solicitor once to sign.