Anyone made their own will at all, and if so:
– which pre-prepared form did you use
– how easy did you find it

Thanks all

A barrister friend of mine told me in his Chambers they had a cartoon of two rich looking lawyers toasting each other and "The man who wrote his own will."

Seriously, unless you've no dependants it has to be worth getting it done by a pro.

It all depends how complex it all is. If everything is simple then DIY is not an issue.

I believe "all to mum" has been upheld as a legal will

http://www.helptheaged.org.uk/en-gb/AdviceSupport/FinancialAdvice/MakingAWill/

Thanks C-T … good advice. Can confirm, just myself and Mrs J to be concerned about.
It's as much about stopping any potential probate issues should anything happen to one of use, as it is anything else.

do you have any nice bikes
can i have them when you pop?

TJ – useful link, ta.
Kimbers – you bad person you….. (especially when just bought a Blur LTc)

why grim ? It makes sense to make a will while you're fully fit and lucid as it'll be too late when you're crook :o)

given some of the silly stuff we do on bikes maybe its not such a bad idea

It is worth writing one as god forbid something happened tomorrow the money/property (etc) may not go to the people that you want it to. I was always informed that the DIY ones were pretty useless. When we paid recently I think it was £135 for everything in the end and he made us think about things that we may not have otherwise. Certain items which may be worth lots of money or have sentimental value. WOrth getting it done properly.

Possible alternative to DIY … Will Aid is on this month …
http://www.willaid.org.uk/

Worth getting a solicitor involved – I was surprised how simple "we want to leave everything to each other" actually was – especially when there are kids involved – if we both died together, do the kids get it, do they get it equally, who actually gets the kids, if the kids died with us who'd get it then.

From the OP I'm inferring no kids yet, but things change, and so should your will)

Makes you think about lots of potential problems that don't seem importnat at the moment, but may destroy all you leave behind if one of them gets jealous and wants to challenge your vague-ish wishes.

agree with others about doing it properly. my SOs grans 2nd husband died recently – made his own will up and left half of 'his' house and car to her and half to his kids – except what he didnt take into account was she actually owned (and has the paperwork to prove it) 95% of the property and all of the car – interesting probate going on at the moment (especially over who has inherited his rathe rlarge dirty book colection that his wife didnt know about)

anway, its will aid time – do do it now and you dont have to pay the solicitor, but instead make a donatin to charidee – thats what we did last year (had to set up trust etc for junior blues)

been sorting out my mum's legal stuff and doing probate and one thing i found is you can register a will with the governments probate service (google probate)so in theory a copy is available without someone knowing where you hid it

we did our will on line and found pretty good ref advice on executors etc
but will dig it out of the safe and register a copy – just in case

and swadey is correct except the online service covered that stuff