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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We put off arranging our wills for years then finally paid a solicitor £350 to sort out both our wills before our first DC was born.

Regardless of our material estate, our will also stipulates who looks after our DC should we both die. Without those arrangements in place I really don't think I could sleep at night.

We bought our own business a few years ago and the Sol acting at that point basically put a rocket up us to get our wills sorted - as our financial situation was becoming more complicated and we needed to make clear what should happen to take care of our children, should something terrible happen. We had been very lazy up to that point, and although we'd talked vaguely about it, we'd just never got round to it. Actually writing it raised all kinds of questions & scenarios that we'd never even thought about. It really is must for everybody - even if you think you have nothing to leave it will make life much more straightforward for those left behind sorting out your estate. Not a nice thing to think about - but necessary.

Wills are so important, we did ours after getting married

After my last child was born I decided to make a will and my parents guided me through the process. I am glad it is done and would recommend making one to any parents out there, old or young!

I didn't even think about having a will until my first child was born. Making a will gave me and my partner peace of mind that we had a say in what would happen to our child should anything happen to us. I think it was important to have the conversation should something happen to only one of us, to ensure we both agreed on the arrangements - and let family and friends know!

I did ours myself - I have a degree in law so it wasn't too difficult. It needs updating though.

Getting a will has been on my to-do list since my baby was born 10 months ago and I genuinely think about it every day!!

However, I don't really know where to start. I've been told that online ones aren't worth doing but solicitors seem to charge upwards of £500 per will which seems ludicrous for a very simple one....

We really need to get around to writing wills, but I keep putting it off because of time /money. Also, honestly, I don't want to think about the children as it will be more complicated- I can't bear to think of them separated, but the eldest two would go to their dad and the youngest would go to his dad, or another family member - but who?!

We wrote our wills at the same time as buying our first home - the solicitor who managed the sale did them for us and we just wanted a simple 'everything to spouse and then any children' each. We had just lost our baby and so the subject of mortality was on our minds. Before then we had had no assets at all. I'm so pleased is it's done, I feel a lot more secure.

We sorted ours' out a couple of years ago, mainly because we have a house. To be honest, it pretty much lays out the same as would happen if we didn't have one!

Only recently having seen first hand the trouble not making a Will can cause have I seriously thought about making my own. There always seem to be more important things to do but once you stop and think about it we can all go at any time, there is no guarantee that we are going to go on a certain date, which if was the case would make everything more simple. Having said that I find the whole thing morbid but having young children I realise just how important it is not just the possessions aspect but the children's futures and their security. I really must make an appointment!

Wills from a solicitor are so expensive but making one for me is important as two of my children are from a previous relationship so, making a will scares me to think I might not be here for them one day. Me and my partner have a child too and to think if I died my children could be separated is just so upsetting, me and my partner go away soon on our own so I need to make one

DH and I updated our Wills last year. We have equity in the house and 2 DCs so I feel it is very important to make our wishes clear. I think it's a shame that some people (I've had friends in RL say it) leave it to their families to organise, saying that will be fair. The threads on here only tells you that when it comes to money all bets are off about how people will behave. It's a big responsibility at a time when people will be grieving and I think it's a tad selfish to leave to others to organise. I also included a letter of intent about what jewellery I'd like to leave to which DC. We made sure a disaster clause was included. It doesn't have to cost a lot either. Our mirror Wills cost £19 through Wowcher and we chose to pay to put the money in Trust for the DCs and for life time storage so we can update them any time without paying extra. There are also guides as to what the executors can access the Trusts for in the event the DCs needed some money before the age of 25. It was all arranged over the phone and via emails too so it doesn't have to be time consuming either.

Have made up wills twice, but never had them signed and witnessed so not sent back and, I'm sure, they are pretty much useless as they are.
It's very much on the incredibly long 'to do' list, but we need to pull our fingers out and get them sorted once and for all. Trying to get finances sorted this year so probably a good time to get everything tidied up including our wills.
Glad to see we're not the only ones who didn't quite get around to signing things off, but feel pretty guilty given we have five children depending on us using our common sense to protect them should anything happen to us.

Strangely we've not done ours despite having two DCs - . Off to investigate will-writing options right now...Probably to do with the arrogance of (relative) youth...

We got ours sorted when DD was born. We wanted to specify who she would go to if it was ever necessary and also make personal financial commitments to another family member, plus provide for DD's future in the most sensible way. We also named two executors, after checking they were OK to take on this role if necessary.
The only thing we haven't yet done is store them anywhere, at the moment only my Stepdad knows where they are! I'd better get that sorted...

My DH and I finally completed our wills when I was pregnant with our third dc, 9 years ago.

We went to a local solicitor and also arranged for a trust to help alleviate some inheritance tax. I can't remember exactly but I believe it cost a few hundred pounds for the wills and the trust. I understand that the rules for the trust have now changed and I now have a large note on my TO DO list to get our wills updated! Not my favourite chore....

My main motivation at the time was to ensure that a guardian was put in place in the event of DH and I dying at the same time. I wanted to make sure that the right guardian was chosen from our family members!

We also have life insurance and some critical illness insurance for DH as he is the main breadwinner.

I have also realised that it might be helpful to our children and the surviving spouse if we clarify what we want for funeral/burial and set aside funds. I know my MIL has done this and it will make things a lot less stressful at what will already be a very stressful time!

For those who haven't done it and have specific wishes, do it!! Particularly regarding guardianship for your precious dc's.....

This has been on my 'To Do' list for years. We both need to sort this out, but we seem to have been unable to organise ourselves to do it so far. I would hate to leave DD with a mess to sort out if anything happened to us.

I am a solicitor, now worrking as a judge. I am married and we have 2 children (10 and 8). I don't have a will. I have, in the past, had one which I prepared myself but I revoked it (by ripping it up deliberately) when I had children as it didn't provide for them and have not bothered to replace it.

The thing is, we have a house with some equity and a large mortgage. This is in joint names and will therefore pass automatically to my husband if I die first. We have very little else. A small amount of savings, no investments, no real valuable possessions. All of that will, under the intestacy rules, pass to my husband when I die. If we die together, it (and the house) will go automatically to the children. The trust rules for that eventuality are more complex than they would be if I set up my own version, but still manageable. There will be no tax.

If my husband dies before me (potentially resulting in sufficient insurance to pay off the mortgage) then I would want to write a will as the entirety of our assets would come to me, and I'd have to think about how to manage that for the children, and how to minimise tax for them. I assume he would do the same if I go first. The likelihood of us both going at once is slim in our circumstances, unless we are on holiday and all go together (in which case the intestacy rules distributing our assets among more distant relatives are fine).

If we separate then that would be a trigger to will-writing but as we may also have to sell the house to afford separate dwellings, we could look at it in with that.

I am quite capable of writing my own will, which saves on the cost aspect - I can understand how the cost could be offputting to families on a budget, but I just don't see the need as the intestacy rules provide a fall back position which is pretty much the same as the distribution I would choose anyway. It would be differentn if we had high-value assets or weren't married, but that doesn't apply to us.

Both DH and I really need to get a will sorted, especially as we have DD. We've been meaning to sort it out since she was born 2 years ago, but hadn't got around to it. We don't have much in the way of assets - no house etc - so it wasn't anything we'd thought much about before we had her. We both have occupational pensions though and have the death benefits paperwork completed for them.

The reasons we've not yet done it - time, the cost of getting it done professionally, and to be honest not really knowing how to go about it.

I am married to a solicitor and shamefully we still haven't got around to sorting out a will! We have been meaning to do one ever since our first child was born over 10 years ago! Cost isn't the issue as it would be free for us, but the faff of sorting out trusts etc for life insurance policies is daunting and time consuming so it just gets put to the back of the to-do list. I think an online option is good for convenience but I ( and my husband) have qualms that it would be detailed or accurate enough for all eventualities. It can surely only cover basic scenarios? A good tip is to look out for will writing month when a lot of solicitors will write one for a lower fee or in exchange for a charitable donation.

We have to get wills sorted with two children. It needs to be easy and straightforward and affordable! As we only want to leave everything to each other or to the kids if we go together and guardianship of the kids. But it doesn't seem so simple if you live in London and your house is over the inheritance tax threshold ?!?

I think it's essential to have wills in place, my SIL's partner died, aged 46, and just a few weeks before he died, they got their wills done, luckily, as my SIL would have lost the house they shared, as he had kids from a previous relationship, as they were not married, she found it hard enough, because she was not officially his next of kin. DH and I have ours sorted, as early deaths run in both our families, he was sticking his head in the sand about it, but I put my foot down and insisted we sort it out. I'm glad we did, as tomorrow is promised to nobody.

Think about it regularly but have to make time to actually get it sorted out.

We made our 1st DIY will after we booked our 1st ever family holiday (we were flying to over to the US) so felt if the worse happened we needed to have our affairs in order.
Now the children are grown-ups & teens we've redone our wills with a solicitor to make sure everything is in order.