Cost of setting up a will

[Bella1905]

Please can anyone advise the average cost of setting up a will? I have been quoted £500 plus VAT (or double if my husband and I do it together) and just wanted to check this is standard as I’m on mat leave and budgeting at the moment but am keen to get it done. Many thanks

Honestly, that strikes me as a bit steep. A local high street solicitors firm is offering single wills starting at £250 + VAT for a simple one, and £400 + VAT for simple mirror wills.

I've seen non-solicitor will-writing firms offering from £99, not that I'd recommend one.

I did mine for free with the Dogs Trust. My Will was simple and they would like you to bequeath them a sum, no matter how small in the will. I can change it whenever I like for a relatively small amount.

It was definitely checked by a solicitor as they came back to me wanting clarification on a couple of points.

Unless your estate is super complicated

I'd recommend Farewill.
Its online and super simple / low cost

I want to say we paid £150 for both our wills....

use Farewill, fine if it's a straightforward set up (i.e, just leaving everything to your spouse and then your child).

Well it's a good thing it was checked by an actual solicitor, otherwise that would be a pretty shady service! "We'll help you with your will Mrs Jones. Don't worry there's no charge. Here's the bit where you leave everything to us".

Eta, £500 seems on the pricey side for a simple will.

Another vote for farewill if your estate is simple!

DH and I have our Wills done by 10 Minute Wills online. Very simple mirror wills, wasn’t very expensive and perfectly fine as used them for my late Father and late Father in Law.

We got ours done in free wills month when charities were offering them for free (or a small donation to the charity in your will but that's not compulsory). They do try a bit of upselling but we resisted and just got simple mirror wills for free.

freewillsmonth.org.uk/

Even just a tiny part of your estate? Sounds too good to be true.

No. It's true. Leave whatever you want to. I left them 10%

That could be a lot depending on how much (if
you have) your property is worth. I’ve heard these charities are absolute vultures when it comes to collecting. Also makes things so hard if you have any children or other beneficiaries. Would have been better to leave a couple of hundred quid or something.

I have an executor of my estate who will make sure everyone gets what I've bequeathed. I dont own a property. My Will is very simple at the moment. 80% to my partner, 10% to the Dogs Trust, 10% Guide Dogs for the blind.

I used the Co-Op for my straightforward will. You do it online and a solicitor checks the info with you. Was £150.

That seems very steep, unless you have a complicated estate. Our solicitor offered to do our’s for free when we gave him other business buying/selling land and selling a rental flat.

I've seen horror stories unfold where these charities force grieving families to sell sentimental items to maximise the estate and therefore their "tiny" percentage. If you are insistent on giving to charity, it should be for a set value in pounds and pence, so they can't take the jewellery and curtains to boost their profits.

We're late 50s and still haven't done our wills ... is it simple to use these online ones if I want a caveat to say if DH remarries, then none of my share of our estate goes to his new wife/her kids? It goes to our children?

If you are a member of a union have a look at them , most do free or very good priced wills and it's always put through a reputable solicitor.

Depends. I tried to do a free /£50 will.
There were a couple of different things (Trust) so it cost about £500.

This is not a straight forward will. You would likely need to consider a life interest to your partner, with the proceeds going to children upon partners death.

You need to seek legal advice for this. I would do this sooner rather than later. You may only be 50, but you don't know what can happen at any time.

Yes I have the same question! We need to update our wills and would like to add this caveat. Have heard of too many situations where the second spouse inherits everything and the children of the first marriage are left with nothing from either parent.

I agree. Some charities are absolute vultures and do indeed insist on full inventories of everything the deceased owned, down to ornaments, clothes, etc., to check they'd been sold at open market value and nothing "taken" by family members etc outside probate. As you say, leaving a percentage opens the doors to them being a pain in the arse, checking over every little thing. If you're going to leave something to charity, then definitely leave a fixed sum amount that the charity can't argue about.

my high street firm charges £300 + vat for a simple will (SE london)

You set up a will trust (life interest) leaving your share of your house/assets etc to your spouse, for them to use for their lifetime, but ultimately, they pass to your children when your spouse dies. Protects your assets from ending up with a new spouse or the new spouse's children.

Did our very simple mirror wills through a groupon offer . About £15 for both from memory . Had a phone appointment to discuss it all , then they sent paper copies out for us to sign and have witnessed . I think we may have paid about £10 extra to have spare copies sent if needed. Very straightforward and simple and all completed in about 10 days from start to finish.

Actually legally if a charity is offering a free will writing service, they legally cannot mandate that you leave anything to them at all. Of course, it would be nice if you did given they pay a lot to be able to provide the service free of charge, but if you wanted you could make a free will with the Dogs Trust without leaving them a penny.