Share your thoughts on Wills with Which? Win £300 voucher or free Will! NOW CLOSED

[RebeccaEMumsnet]

Writing a Will is something that many of us put off, as it’s never a nice subject to talk about and the process can seem confusing, but Which? Wills is hoping to change all that with their online Will writing and Power of Attorney service.

They would love to hear your experience of how you got your Will sorted, or, if you haven’t got around to it yet, what’s putting you off? It would be great to hear your stories of how you decided how you would write your Will, and your tips to those who have yet to do it.

Here’s what Alex Neil, at Which? has to say: "It's important to make a will to ensure that your assets, including your home, savings and belongings, are distributed according to your wishes. It can be very difficult for loved ones to do this if you pass away without having made a will.”

Did the birth of your DCs prompt you to write your Will? Do you think that it’s important to have a Will as a parent, and if so, why?

Whatever your experience (or lack of experience!) of Will writing, we’d love to hear your story so that other Mumsnetters can take advice.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw, and one MNer will win either a £300 Love2Shop voucher or a free Which? Will Writing Service (T&Cs below).

Thanks,

MNHQ
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I did mine at s fab website called final fling

We haven't done ours yet. We were going to do it a few months ago but we have decided to wait until our baby arrives so we don't need to change it any time soon.

I nag DP regularly about getting wills made as we are unmarried and have a DS. We are planning to download a very basic template in the next week or so and get it witnessed by some friends.

I wrote my will after DC was born. It was a difficult decision on who we wanted to be his carer if me and DH die. We asked our chosen person first, but we upset a few members of the family who wanted it to be them.

We need to do wills, the thing that puts me off is the expense. DP has 2 children from his first marriage and we have a ds together so it's not straight forward

Smiling - Mumblechum is a MNetter who is a will writer and loads of people here recommend her. She has an advert in the classified ads section, or search for Marlow Wills. Much cheaper than going to a high street firm

DH and I don't have wills yet. My situation is straightforward and AFAIK everything I have would go to DH under the current rules, which is fine. But DH has 3 kids from a previous marriage and if anything happened to him I would hate to have to be the one responsible for deciding on equitable division of his estate.
I think he's put off by the amount of time and admin it would require. And having to find loads of papers and details about finances that are lost in the chaos of this house.
I need to get on and do it. No excuses.

We really need to do ours, we have discussed it but never got round to it. we have some joint assets, such as house, land cars etc are not married and have one child so it definitely needs doing. It comes up in conversation every now and then but never actually gets to appointment stage as around 4 years ago we were quoted £1000 to write one. I really think this year needs to be the year, thanks for the prompt!

Thanks CMOTDibbler I'll look into that

£1,000 is ridiculous lottie. Mumblechum (Marlow Wills) did mine too and it was only £125

It's never too early to make a will! I just wish my parents would make one, they keep talking about it but have both retired now and still haven't got round to doing it.

its something I worry bout.you hear so much of what could go wrong. who gets what and many elderly people needing more care and so what would be left to whom after costs of care?...it gets a bit scary for me. and also sharing between families when there are obviously issues in the family. favouritism. I don't know how this stuff could bring anything but dread.particulaly when more children come into it

We plan to get wills sorted, I think it's really important to have your wishes somewhere but with the cost it takes time to get around to it

We made wills because we were unmarried when the dc were born. The dc will go to my parents if anything happens to us both and I wanted to ensure that, although everything we own will go to the dc, my parents will be able to access our estate to ensure that our children and themselves do not suffer any financial hardship.
Our will is outdated now (we are married and living in another country) and this thread has reminded me I need to prioritise the update.

Writing a will is one of the most important things you need to do, especially if you have family (spouse, children, brothers, sisters etc.), I have had the most awful experiences of older relatives dying and the bunfight afterwards over their possessions, and the fallout from surviving relatives not speaking to each other. When my grandma died, my uncle took her jewellery for his wife and pretended he'd sold it all, he gave my dad some money from the "sale" but years later we saw the rings he claimed to have sold on my aunties hands at a wedding. The hurt that occurs from not leaving a will lasts for generations. I don't want my kids fighting over my things like that, so we made a will as soon as we had children to lay everything out clearly and concisely as to what our wishes were.

We too have never had a will. We have been married for 25 years and have always intended to sort one. Usual excuses, where to start, what to do with the children, finding time. . . the list goes on. We have just been reminded of the importance by a death in the family who was adamant that she wanted her ashes on her Mother's grave but her husband is putting them elsewhere stating that she changed her mind but didn't tell anyone. If only she had stated in a will what she wanted doing with her ashes there would not be ill blood now.
Still we have not organized a will yet!

We really need to get in this and sort a will. We have discussed who DC goes to in case of emergency and have life insurance to that effect.

We have wills ever since we witnessed some bizarre behaviour from their relatives when someone we knew died.

It's one less thing for bereaved people to worry about.

I am really keen to write a will as we have recently had our DD and bought a house at the same time.

My DP doesn't think it's important as the house would go to each other anyway, but I've explained about all eventualities and what we would want for our DD. I have a fear that our families would fight over DD and want to stipulate our wishes so that her and her future are secured.

I need to write a will, but with a new baby we just haven't had the chance.

I know it's soo important but (another) one of those things that we just seem to keep not getting around to sorting out ... The older we (and our kids) get, the more we hear of other families in our network sadly experiencing serious/terminal illness of a parent, as well as sudden losses, so it really does hit home how important it is to get it sorted. I think its so easy to avoid facing up to this responsibility and assume 'it'd all be fine' because we're lucky to have lovely extended family. Though actually, in the face of grief people might react in very different ways so I think its imperative to remove any potential ambiguity by plainly expressing your wishes in black and white, should the unthinkable happen, (which for most of us, I suspect, is the problem, that it is probably not that comfortable to think about). Well, think I've talked myself into putting this well and truly back on my agenda again - it's the grown-up thing to do! Thanks for the prompt mumsnet/Which.

We decided to draft our first will when we had children, just so that it was clear that we intended any assets to go to each other and, once both my husband and I have died, that any remaining assets should be shared equally between surviving children. We used a local retired solicitor who was brilliant - really good value, explained our options, talked about various trust options which existed at the time (for tax purposes, though we did not take these up) and so on.
Actually, one of the motivating factors was the need to clarify who would care for our children in the event we both died before all of them had reached adulthood. So we specifically named the guardians in our will and that they should have access to our assets to help care for our children. But it is odd that there is nothing legally that we need to complete to effect this - we didn't actually even need to tell the my sister and BIL (the proposed guardians) before we included it in the will (obv we did)!

now aged 91 we are glad to have made the will some years ago while we knew what we wanted. at the same time we gave our eldest daughter power of attorney
and lately we made her signatory of our account, which is very useful as we are not able to get about very much and so need some cash sometime.
this proves how important it is to prepare for later years well in advance since you never know how age will affect you.
Now we are happy all is prepared and the other 2 children are fully aware of the situation as well. That is another point since one wants to avoid any family disagreements that way.

We recognise we need a will but haven't yet got a round to it as something always comes up that costs. It's important for my child and hubby that we have a will, mostly my child so I know she is provided for and with people we want her to be with should the worst happen.

We FINALLY got around to it a couple of years ago - just for peace of mind really. We used one of those 'free will in return for a donation to charity' services which meant we used a really good solicitor who did it for free and we paid the suggested amount to a charity that we support a lot anyway so it felt really good doing it that way knowing we were helping a good cause and getting our will sorted out.

Having done it, i have to admit it was a bit of a faff in that we had to fill in various forms and needed a couple of visits to solicitor to sign papers etc but at least it meant we thought through everything properly.

I hated thinking of the different scenarios as no-one likes to think of things like that as we had to make decisions based on us outliving our children and various scenarios of if something was to happen to one of our children and those conversations were the hardest to think about and make decisions about.

But it is a relief knowing it is done and out of the way. I would recommend that it is worth just getting on with it and getting it sorted! We'd put it off for over 10 years!!!

I haven't got a will. Don't own property or have dependents so don't see much point really, but maybe that's not the case?

Having said that, I'm a complete hypocrite as my parents don't have a will either and it really unsettles me. I've heard sorting out an interstate death is really difficult.