Wills & Testaments

[rjb]

Most trade unions offer a free will writing service for straightforward situations.
I've been the executor for sorting out my parents estates, it's not difficult but does involve sorting out finances. You soon realise that the help some organisations offer is very variable and you often feel you are banging your head against a brick wall

[profpointy]

step 1 - buy a book which explains (uk) wills and the probate thing. read this and you’ll be better informed regarding diy or solicitor - -nd in any case will help you think it through, and explain the mechanics if you diy

2 are your affairs complicated - eg separated but not divorced , or cutting out someone who might reasonably be considered a dependant - this would push me down the lawyer route

3 If it”all to Fred”, or “split equally between Fred and Mary” - what happens if either or both have died by the time you die ? - their descendants, or would you rather share it amongst those still around.

4 executors - I can seen no reason to appoint a solicitor as executor. i’d Name the main beneficiaries - they can still appoint a solicitor to do stuff and pay them from the estate before anyone gets a share.

5 Read carefully on the witnesses thing. must be done right or it won’t count. Eg witness is invalid if they are left as much as a teacup in your will

6 if paying someone use a solicitor not a will writer. I did the latter once, and whilst it was an ok job, I knew more about wills than he did

6 And check the intestacy rules (ie the rules for who gets what if there’s no will) - everything will go to family in a set order. if this is what you want anyway, and they are not the sort to squabble, why bother with a will

[Debs]

If one is a house owner, would it be appropriate to use the solicitor who also safe-guards the property deeds?

Don't think I've got deeds. Maybe I should check. I assumed they were superseded by the more recent Land Registry. Shows how daft I am, spend £10 on a fan heater and I've still got the receipt 3 years later but spend quite a lot more on a house and I don't even know if I have a "proof of purchase"!

Ian

Property deeds are usually kept by the mortgager until the debt is fully paid.

Presumably, the outstanding mortgage amount owing will probably get paid off by insurance if the mortgagee dies before final payment.
However if a property is mortgage and debt free, then the owner needs to take responsibility to safe guard the property deeds.

It simply seems handy to use a solicitor who can safe-guard the deeds and the will and testament along with them.

[Cyril Haearn]

What happens if one dies with net negative worth?

[profpointy]

What happens if one dies with net negative worth?

your creditors inherit in that case

[softlips]

If one is a house owner, would it be appropriate to use the solicitor who also safe-guards the property deeds?

Don't think I've got deeds. Maybe I should check. I assumed they were superseded by the more recent Land Registry. Shows how daft I am, spend £10 on a fan heater and I've still got the receipt 3 years later but spend quite a lot more on a house and I don't even know if I have a "proof of purchase"!

Ian

Property deeds are usually kept by the mortgager until the debt is fully paid.

Presumably, the outstanding mortgage amount owing will probably get paid off by insurance if the mortgagee dies before final payment.
However if a property is mortgage and debt free, then the owner needs to take responsibility to safe guard the property deeds.

It simply seems handy to use a solicitor who can safe-guard the deeds and the will and testament along with them.

Depends who the mortgage is with. Many banks don’t keep deeds at all. They’re all registered electronically these days.

[softlips]

step 1 - buy a book which explains (uk) wills and the probate thing. read this and you’ll be better informed regarding diy or solicitor - -nd in any case will help you think it through, and explain the mechanics if you diy

2 are your affairs complicated - eg separated but not divorced , or cutting out someone who might reasonably be considered a dependant - this would push me down the lawyer route

3 If it”all to Fred”, or “split equally between Fred and Mary” - what happens if either or both have died by the time you die ? - their descendants, or would you rather share it amongst those still around.

4 executors - I can seen no reason to appoint a solicitor as executor. i’d Name the main beneficiaries - they can still appoint a solicitor to do stuff and pay them from the estate before anyone gets a share.

5 Read carefully on the witnesses thing. must be done right or it won’t count. Eg witness is invalid if they are left as much as a teacup in your will

6 if paying someone use a solicitor not a will writer. I did the latter once, and whilst it was an ok job, I knew more about wills than he did

6 And check the intestacy rules (ie the rules for who gets what if there’s no will) - everything will go to family in a set order. if this is what you want anyway, and they are not the sort to squabble, why bother with a will

Agree with this, I once used a will writer. They did an appalling job and the document would have been worthless if it had been needed.

I’d also add, everyone no matter what your age need to do a will. More so if you’ve ever been divorced, got children, cohabited etc etc.

[meic]

I’d also add, everyone no matter what your age need to do a will

Only if you have a care about what happens to your money after you die. The thing is that you will be dead, so you are probably not going to be bothered at all about how your will turns out.
Much as I would like to prevent the Ex getting her hands on my money as guardian of my child and sharing it with her new partner, that is probably better than giving any to a load of solicitors.

[profpointy]

I disagree with the “everyone should write a will” point. Eg my mum didn’t and everything straightforwardly went to my Dad. My Dad hasn’t (so I understand) so it’ll come my way. so far so good. my mrs and I have done wills as we don,t have kids so have to cover the scenario where we’re both killed in the same road accident and divi it amongst an array of distant relatives - all goes to the other in the even one of us dies - and there’s really no point leaving it all to my elderly Dad who already has plenty of dosh for his modest needs

so if the intestacy rule (Ie don’t have a will) is fine for you - if you write a will you simply risk getting it wrong a mucking things up.

by all mean smake a will if your only relative is the awful Uncle Monty you hate and you want to leave it all to the scabby donkey sanctuary. if your nearest relative is said Uncle monty and he’s a fine fellow - no need for a will

[thirdcrank]

... have to cover the scenario where we’re both killed in the same road accident and divi it amongst an array of distant relatives - all goes to the other in the even one of us dies - and there’s really no point leaving it all to my elderly Dad who already has plenty of dosh for his modest needs ...

I believe a lot depends on whether you have sufficient dosh to be liable for death duties - IHT. AIUI, if two people die together in a crash it's assumed - in the absence of evidence to the contrary - that the elder died first. You could end up with the older of the two paying death duties on their own estate, and the younger paying both on their own existing estate and that inheritance. Then, the remaining dosh would go to their family members, not necessarily the same as their partner's. To avoid that there are things like making the bequest dependant on the recipient surviving eg for a month. The increased allowance for people bequathing their house to their descendants complicates this further. etc.

[RickH]

I believe a lot depends on whether you have sufficient dosh to be liable for death duties - IHT. AIUI, if two people die together in a crash it's assumed - in the absence of evidence to the contrary - that the elder died first. You could end up with the older of the two paying death duties on their own estate, and the younger paying both on their own existing estate and that inheritance. Then, the remaining dosh would go to their family members, not necessarily the same as their partner's. To avoid that there are things like making the bequest dependant on the recipient surviving eg for a month.

We re-did our wills recently (cost was £360 for the 2, must be at least 10 years, probably more since we did them before). I wondered about the bit they put in about surviving more than 28 days. Our circumstances aren't very complicated but we wanted to make that they would do what we wanted (& cover as many circumstances as we thought possible to arise).

A couple of, hopefully, useful snippets

Intestacy - who inherits if someone dies without a will?
The husband, wife or civil partner keeps all the assets (including property), up to £250,000, and all the personal possessions, whatever their value.

The remainder of the estate will be shared as follows:

the husband, wife or civil partner gets an absolute interest in half of the remainder
the other half is then divided equally between the surviving children

If a son or daughter (or other child where the deceased had a parental role) has already died, their children will inherit in their place.

(link)

The inheritance tax threshold is currently £325k (40% of anything over that goes to the government in tax) . it must be very easy to be bumping into that if you live in the South of England with no outstanding mortgage. If you do, do you know how much it is worth?

I don't know if you can add DIY wills but the solicitor says they register them on a national database so the wills can be tracked down should those that need to know not have the contact details (or presumably if the firm moves or merges).

[Cunobelin]

From the other side (no,,, not THAT one)

Please do have a will or testament.

My father was a very strong, fit person, but died after a very quick illness. He had never seen the need.

One of the most difficult things, is a quickly drawn up statement and the conversation you are going to die, now sign this!

Even many years later I feel regret that this was the last but one conversation that we had because he died later that day

[thirdcrank]

... The inheritance tax threshold is currently £325k (40% of anything over that goes to the government in tax) . it must be very easy to be bumping into that if you live in the South of England with no outstanding mortgage. If you do, do you know how much it is worth? ...

This is what I've been saying about being able to leave more of the value of a house to direct descendants. I don't know the figures, but when Hammond introduced this in a series of annual increases, it was announced that eventually, a couple would share a £million allowance if their estate included the value of a house which they were leaving to direct descendants. Incidentally, other changes made it unnecessary for couples to have "nil rate band" wills.

I think the point is that if you have enough to be paying IHT or on the threshold, then a professionally written will is a necessity.

[Psamathe]

I’d also add, everyone no matter what your age need to do a will

Only if you have a care about what happens to your money after you die. The thing is that you will be dead, so you are probably not going to be bothered at all about how your will turns out.
Much as I would like to prevent the Ex getting her hands on my money as guardian of my child and sharing it with her new partner, that is probably better than giving any to a load of solicitors.

My situation has similarities (I don't want my my default inheritees inheriting) I'm wavering between charity and/or the next generation (my brother's kid). I'm thinking of leaving (some) directly the the kid (actually now in his late 20's). Depending on age, it might be possible to put in trust until a specified age, or to award income up to a specified age (for defined uses), etc. But this is where a professional could advise (as this is just me thinking aloud).

Ian

[thirdcrank]

AFAIK, if you want to leave money in a trust to stop somebody laying their hands on it until they are mature enough to spend it wisely, then the limit is their eighteenth birthday. The big issue here is time, in that the earlier you give it away, the liability to duty is reduced, as is the likelihood that the authorities will assume that you have given away money to stop it being used to pay for your care.