Needs to be done.

Anyone recommend someone near Halifax/Huddersfield?

Every year our local place does a kind of offer, I’d check local press or just window shop near to where you live and see what they do.

Not even thought to look in the local mag and what do you know, someone just up the road.

Local wills for local people; are you leaving it all to Dave, your wives? 😉

[video]https://youtu.be/QHdcP-WxSRE[/video]

We used these people http://www.wsl-ltd.co.uk

Pay the extra to get infinite changes included (you’ll regret it otherwise). I must be honest having taken the best part of 1 month to knuckle down our wills, i’m surprised that you can buy such cheap ones that offer anywhere near enough protection.

No idea if anyone does this near you OP, but we had ours done in Harrogate when the firm were supporting a local charity – basically they did the work for free on the understanding the client pays a ‘suggested donation’ to the charity (which I think was £150).

So it was a win win – we got ours done at last, the robbing solicitors didn’t get a penny and a great local charity got some money (and yes, we did give more than the suggested amount).

Bread and butter work for any local solicitor unless you’ve got some very complicated scenario. And well worth sorting out to save your family the stress of dealing with intestacy on top of your untimely death!

the robbing solicitors didn’t get a penny

What, the ones that provided you with the service that you needed? 🙄

OP, how complicated do you think it will be ? I wrote mine out myself. Various free online resources. Note if its for yourself you need to think of a few scenarios like eg a car crash where you are all killed, lump sum in trust for kids until 18/21 if parents killed etc. If you pay a solicitor it shouldn’t cost more than £100-200. I would advise against a solicitor being involved in executing the Will upon your death as it’s pretty straightforward to do this if you are ogranised.

Just give the job to the nearest solicitor. They should charge about £120. Make them the Executor and if you die they will just hand everything to a professional executor to do the leg work.

i think i looked into this a while ago, DIY through the union or something. it baffled me so left it alone, probably should look into it again. why cant you just simply sign a declaration saying “if i die everything goes to my wife” and vice versa, plus “if we both die together everything goes to my kids” without having to go through bank accounts, savings, mortgages etc?

maybe i live in a dream world where everything should be simple, but cant see why this cant be done. then its up to whoever ‘everything’ is left to, to distribute things as they see fit?

I’m a solicitor and always try to dissuade people from appointing us as executors – always looks a bit seedy imo.

you can sadexpunk.

Get it done properly. Solicitors make far more money sorting out arguements caused by poorly worded wills than they do from writing wills.

But as said, don’t appoint them as Executors. Your executors can take their advice if needed.

Sadexpunk, probably most wills are pretty much as you suggest, sounds very reasonable. Some might want to leave gifts to other friends and relatives too. No need to be complicated, ours are only a couple of pages and most of that is standard verbiage.

you can sadexpunk.

No need to be complicated, ours are only a couple of pages and most of that is standard verbiage.

i was thinking more like a couple of lines, pretty much as i wrote above ^^^ 😀

thanks tho, mebbes worth looking into again then. ill have a google see if i can find any simple templates.

As an aside imo its just as important to leave a document which details what assets, accounts, insurance policies etc you have. Its a nightmare as an exectuor if you don’t really know what accounts etc someone has.

@sadex my will is very short, maybe a bit longer than your post above but no need for anything over complicated.

Also you can make a living will, what to do if you have a severe brain njury for example.

Also you can make a living will, what to do if you have a severe brain njury for example.

thanks. can that go on the same bit of paper?
just thinking also….. if you were to write your wishes on an A4 piece of paper, sign it in front of witnesses and store it away, could this actually be used as a legal will?

I had the proper job done. A few ‘what ifs’ were brought up that I hadn’t thought about. It seemed to me to be worth paying for that alone.

Cheers one and all. Appointment booked. I’d rather have someone hold my hand and make suggestions as owning a business plus kids means I need to make sure it’s done right. Good advice regards executors.

sadexpunk, you could say in the main provison, for illustration purposes only you understand, something like:

‘(1)I revoke all previous wills and testamentary dispositions

(2)If my wife [name] survives me I appoint her as my Executrix and leave the whole of my estate to her but if my wife has predeceased me then I appoint [name] as my Executor/trix and leave the whole of my estate to those of my children alive at my death in equal shares’

Depends on how old your children are and numerous other points (size and value of estate etc) and you would also need to make sure the will was properly executed and set out with your own details confirming it as your last will and testament etc.

Owning a businesses plus kids would be a good reason to a, use solicitors and b, consider appointing them as executors . One of the things you get by paying “robbing” solicitors is professional indemnity insurance to compensate any cock ups . I agree with the general point about not appointing solicitors as executors of simple estates , always be careful of wills drawn by banks for this too.
It is worth thinking in general before getting a will the laws on intestacy are pretty close to most peoples wishes as expressed by sadexpunk ,anyway .

Little details like consider what happens if you die together eg car crash, may be unclear who died first, will should be drafted so it doesn’t matter. Common approach is that wife inherits if she survives for 30 days and v-v, else it goes to children/whoever. A handful of specified bequests to friends/charities/relatives and then residue (largest part!) to spouse/children is a simple approach that will suit many people.

Intestacy laws are not necessarily all that close to what people would want (plus they vary between Scotland and England I think), and (aiui) even if the rules happen to suit you it makes the process more troublesome.

The 30 day bit doesn’t apply any more and there is a legal presumption that the oldest dies first if people die simultaneously.

All the more reason to talk to a lawyer: our wills were last updated many years ago!