Help me write a will please

[Perimenoanti]

I will probably need a will writing service rather than do it on my own. I get overwhelmed every time I try to start with Google, thought I ask how you have done it or what you know I need to do. I have the following to sort out

A property
Shares with my employer
One pension pot
A stocks and shares ISA
Crypto investments
2 cats

I want to put something in place that stipulates how these should be distributed in case I die. For various reasons I would want someone independent be appointed to sort it out, not family.

How do I go about this? I know I can go to a solicitor or will writing service etc but I have the (irrational fear?) that I will be charged over the odds.

Use Marlow Wills. Run by a MNer and very much recommended. Very very reasonable price - cheaper than standard solicitors, and unlike most 'will writing services' run actual solicitors.

https://www.marlowwills.co.uk/

If you use a 3rd party executer they will charge to sort out your will and reduce the pot.

How do you want to split it and with whom?

Use % not cash value.

You've said what you have, but what about to whom and how you want to leave it?

Go to a solicitor please. There was a post on here recently where someone's mother had used a will writing service and the "will" was invalid as even though it had supposedly been witnessed it hadn't been signed.

A fairly simple will such as yours needn't be expensive at all unless there are complicated beneficiaries.

You definitely want to use a solicitor to do your will for you. It is worth paying for honestly and find a reputable high street solicitor LOCAL TO YOU through recommendations AND one where the firm has a long history and looks stable (more than one or two partners). You want one that is still likely to be in existence in some form or another when you die even if it's been bought out. This is less likely with a one man band.

If you are desperate you can use a free will writing service (but loooking at your asset description it doesn't look like you will be)- many charities promote this during Free Will Week. I actually myself went with a friend to investigate this for them but my experience is if you can afford to pay, I wouldn't bother. They do it because they are heavily promoting use of the firm as an executor (ie. the person that after the death has to deal with the estate - reporting the value to HMRC, apply for probate, put together all the assets (so sell ISAs, close account, sell property if applicable) and then give it to the beneficiaries). A professional executor will be paid out of the estate and it can be very expensive. Just think about how long you can be on the phone to your bank for a minor query - then think about doing that 20 times and how much billable time there will be. Some will work on a % of the estate which can be £££.

If you want someone independent, if you have any friends who are professional people, reasonably intelligent and reliable and willing to do it, I would ask them and at the same time leave them a few thousand in the will as a compensation for their trouble. They can work in conjunciton with a solicitor and it will be much cheaper than having an paid-for solicitor executor to do the whole thing.

A property
Shares with my employer
One pension pot
A stocks and shares ISA
Crypto investments
2 cats

A typical will will deal with the whole estate rather than 'portion' stuff up specifically. ie. you leave the whole of your estate to your husband. It all gets added up, sold and given to them. Shares +death pension payment + ISA + crypto + sale of property = X. X is then given to the beneficiary or divided by the number of beneficiaries.

You can however portion stuff up if you want to but this may make it more complicated and more work depending on how many beneficiaries.

If you are married and have a spouse or children, there can be tax advantages in respect of leaving a home to them but this is why you need a specialise probate solicitor to advise you.

Main point is: you do want to get a solicitor with expertise in inheritance, wills,estates and probate to write your will for you. It is absolutely one place where getting some online idiot to fill in a standard form for you as a 'will writer' is a total false economy.

Thanks all. I will leave some to my niece (child) and a friend and maybe a couple of charities. Due to the language barrier my niece won't be able to handle my estate once she's an adult. I don't mind being charged a percentage for someone to sort it. My estate is already sizeable enough. I prefer not to burden anyone.

I will look for firms again specialising in inheritance.

My estate is already sizeable enough. I prefer not to burden anyone.

You can have more than one executor - a reliable intelligent friend + a professional solicitor executor or a friend with power to use a solicitor.

The other thing I would say is that barring a car crash or something unforeseen most wills are remade (I forget the exact statistic) but something like within 3 years of death as people age and things have changed - parents die, grandchildren born .

The advice I would give is that if you have a lot of different assets held with different entities - crypto investments is a good example, if you have the opportunity (which many people will as they age including if (godforbid) you have a diagnosis of a terminal condition for example), I would strongly recommend cashing stuff in or centralising it into a small number of banks, ISA accounts or whatever.

It will really really really save the executors a massive amount of work. For every separate entity (Bank or whatever), on death executors need to get a statement of value at the date of death. This involves sending an actual copy of the death certificate and making a request (ie. usually a hard copy letter). Then once probate is obtained, they have to send an actual (Again usually hard copy) copy of the grant of probate to the bank or whatever, fill in forms for whatever you want doing with the asset (transfer to spouse, sell whatever).

If you have to do this with 5 or 10 or more different banks, share/investment platforms the time it takes is a much greater burden.

Obviously not every one will have the opportunity - or indeed care what work they are leaving for a person to do - but if you do, this would be my advice especially for people who have their children as executors. If you can and have the opportunity, look at centralising and combining accounts and shares and ISAs into a handful of banks or platforms rather than numerous ones.

When you are writing a will you need to decide what you want to happen to your money - the easy bit

You then need to sort out what happens if one of your beneficiaries pre decease you.

Eg after I divorced and before I remarried I left all my money to my son who was then under 6

BUT he then had to outlive me by 28 days which sorted out the sort of situation you might get if say we both died in a car crash.

If the worst happen my niece and nephew were the beneficiaries.

Also if I had died the money was in trust until they were 26 so you didnt get an 18 year old suddenly given a huge amount of money

It's usually worth paying a proper solicitor who specialises in this area of law.

Dh spends too much of his time sorting out badly made wills done by individuals and some will setting services who don't always use properly qualified and trained solicitors to do the job. Lots of money is lost through badly prepared wills.

We used a high street solicitor. They charged £120 for drawing up a pair of wills, and will take 3% of the estate value to execute.
Well worth it.

This may or may not be good value. For example, If you just had a house and a few bank accounts worth £1m (at the date of your death) the fees would be £30k (plus vat and expenses). On a time spent basis to deal with a simple estate this may only be £5-7k. Percentage fees do not discriminate between a straightforward to complex estate and you sound like you are tied into this before it would be possible to work out what a time spent estimate is. The £120 will could end up costing a lot more that than that on the 3%.

What is the approximate value of your estate and do you have a spouse partner or dependants? If you are looking at paying IHT (which will depend on the answer to these questions) then it is even more important to see a solicitor.

I will be dead. I won't care if they take 3 or 5pc. I don't get the obsession with reducing that cost. Beneficiaries will be extremely lucky to receive a inheritance.