Is life insurance and a properly drafted will worth paying for?

[HitMePlease34]

Is health / death insurance worth it? If so any recommendations?

Same for making a will, it is worth investing in a 'proper' one? Again any recommendations?

Thank you in advance!

A friend ended up paying £200,000 to solicitors etc., to sort out life insurance, house ownership because they failed to take proper legal advice on a £1 million estate. They did not check what was written on the life insurances as to who the beneficiaries were, didn't realise the implications of vague wording in a will and believed the advice of a cheap will writer, who they paid a couple of hundred pounds to and cost them dearly. Do your research, get recommendations for solicitors and check and double check insurance terms and conditions including the hidden clauses in the small print, including whether it works in all scenarios.

definitely get a will written professionally. Depending on the size of your estate you can pay around £300, or there are 2 events per year where you can get a will written for free by a solicitor by leaving a small donation to a particular charity. Search free wills week and see what comes up.
If you have a large or complex estate then it will cost more and you won't get it for free.

Life insurance is different topic entirely. Why do you need life insurance? To make sure your dependants are financially secure if you pre-decease them. For families with dependent kids, it really is essential. But for a retired couple with a private pension that continues paying out on death, or if you have death in service at work, then it's not so important.

LI is also useful for paying an inheritance tax bill if you are well-off enough to consider that.

So let us know why you think you need life insurance for more help.

Single parent, 3 kids, was thinking I would need health insurance if I couldn't work. Tricky housing situation with living in the family home but need to sell and get a place of my own in 10 years.

Thank you very much.

Life insurance will be useful to your kids if you die but someone needs to hold that money and spend it for their benefit, which might need a trust setting up

It's not health insurance you're thinking of from critical illness cover or income support.

There's multiple different types of insurance.
Income protection insurance: I have this, it covers 60% of my salary tax free if I cannot work. It typically has a period of time you need to be off before it pays. The minimum is typically 30 days.
Critical illness insurance, usually used for a mortgage and you can have one of decreasing value, though you have to e sick as per their terms, example cancer is not always sufficient, I could claim due to malignant cancer that had spread
There is also insurance if you're made redundant that typically pays for 12 months to give you time to find something else.

For me the main question when taking these out is, how long can I survive off savings without salary, and how long to sell my home/ change my circumstances and outgoings to afford the 'new life' I find myself in.
Only you can answer that, alongside an idea of is insurance or saving a better option for you

Marlow Wills . A specialist Will Writing company by solicitors (lots of Will writers aren’t ) run by a MNer.

A really good service, phone interviews, cheaper than normal solicitors.

https://www.marlowwills.co.uk

She did our LPAs at the same time at a discount

Glad that's what it's about. The thread title had me thinking you might be planning to bump someone off but needed to get their will and life insurance sorted first to make it worthwhile.

Yeah Mumsnet suggested the title, it wasn't my original idea!