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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Its vital and so important if you have children. Make a will (its not morbid) and keep it up to date.

I only wrote a will once DD arrived. Did it through Will Aid, it was very straightforward. Having seen the completely unnecessary rifts caused in families where there has been no will I wish everyone would just make one!

We've been going on about getting a will since we had DC1 in 2013 and not sure why we haven't got our act together. I am worried about the cost though. Now I'm expecting DC2 and this thread had prompted me to get going! Thank you!

We made our wills about 20 years ago.

Has anyone else seen the TV programme Heir Hunters? I love it and it shows how important it is to make a will.

I wrote a will many years ago and I recently reviewed it with a lawyer just to update it. There were very few changes as I considered the person, already a grown up, I'm leaving my assets is the sweetest ever and the one who deserves it.

We didn't have a will before we had the children, but when they came along I felt it was really important to make sure they were cared for in case something happened to us. Not just financially, but I wanted to say who I wanted as their guardians. It put my mind at rest knowing it was all sorted.

We did get round to getting wills written when DC2 was born. Took us ages to decide what to put in the wills and we were totally ripped off by the firm of solicitors who we went to.

We need to revise our wills due to change in circumstances but are guilty of dithering over this! We certainly won't be going back to a solicitor to get it amended - it will be a DIY job with plenty of help from free/cheap guides etc.
Must get this back on out to-do list!

Our Solicitor when we bought a house said, "If you don't make a will now, make one when you have kids" so we did. It was free through the Union but we had to get someone to agree to have the kids in the event that we both died and left them. My Sister agreed.

My Dad didn't leave a will and we had to get Probate. All that running around could have been avoided for the sake of something very simple.

I lost my mum and father in law recently I now realise what a nightmare it is trying to sort everthing out.I'm hoping to make a will soon.

We've recently completed our will after our second daughter was born. We put it off for years but finally got round to it, my father in law died young, you can't take life for granted.

Don't think I need one at the moment as what I want to happen is what would automatically happen by law should I die without a will.

We have a will. I believe it's very important for everything to be as straight forward as possible for the mourning parties left behind

DH and I keep talking about making them but we are still undecided over who we would like DS to go to if something happened to us both. We go round in circles and never reach a conclusion so never make the appointment to get the will written.

This thread has made me put it at the top of our list again.

We have only just done ours. One of those things that you don't really want to think about.

I have made a will and explained it all to my grown up children. The hard thing will be changing it if anything major happens within the family.

We had our wills drawn up by our solicitor after we bought our first home & decided we would like family. It is important to ensure your wishes are complied with for guardianship & any assets, & less stressful for those having to sort everything out. It is a sad fact that 'green eyed monsters' can appear following a death where/who you least expect.

everyone should have a will, even if you don't have assets, at least leave any final instructions with a loved one.

After years of procrastinating, we got ours done this very week! We haven't signed it yet, but it's currently being drawn up.

We've specified who would have the kids if we both die (we did ask them first) I was wondering if I'd get upset when we were discussing it with the solicitor, but I didn't. The only moment I came close is when he asked what we would want to happen to our estate if we AND the kids should all die together - I think they called it a "disaster clause". That was a bit of a sobering thought. We hadn't prepared for that scenario, so had to have a think and get back to him.

Anyway, I feel so much better for having done it. I'm now just worried we'll die before we sign it! Just got to make it through the next 5 days...

It took until I lost my dad for us to write our wills... We'd been meaning to for 7 years!!

I need to write a will and so does my husband. We have two young children and if anything happens to the two of us I would hope that they are taken care of, but we can't decide on who to look after the kids if anything happened and who to be the trustees. We have a joint house and some minor assets so we'll have to get round to it soon

We are yet to write a Will and its something that we need to as we now have children and were married last year.... I believe a Will makes everything easier and clear when things happen.

Never put off making a will. My partner died unexpectedly just before Christmas......no will and still married to his estranged wife! You can only imagine the added grief this has caused myself and our children as I head for the court trying deserately to hang onto what I thought was mine.

Me and dh don't have a will yet. We don't have any assets at all, so we've never felt a 'need' to get a will. However, we now have a baby and a will is something we've been discussing as we want her to go to specific people if anything happens to us (we are nc with dh's family so don't want them to make a claim on her). It's something we've been talking about for months and months but we've still not done anything about it due to a.) Not knowing where to start b.) Cost (no spare cash) c.) Finding the time.

Oh, yes. They're so important. I don't come from a typical nuclear family and today don't have a typical nuclear family but thankfully we all get on well and can talk about these things - we are fair people and no one is grabby. For others, however, I've seen the fallout that comes from not sorting it out and it is just brutal.

I assumed it would be unnecessary as I have nothing but debt to leave but maybe I should get my head out of the sand