Where there's a Will...

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by monkey hanger

then sell it on for a profit. lovely jubbly.

You fella, have been far to long in Yorkingshire!

[dotti34]

Monkey H, information is seldom useless – often it is interesting, and that’s how we learn about things. I did not know that about Edward Woodward, now I do. Will I ever use that information, probably not – but I found it interesting.

It’s a pity that lately there seems to have been a shortage of interesting facts to discuss and subjects to debate on Accy Web.

[monkey hanger]

Originally Posted by dotti34

Monkey H, information is seldom useless – often it is interesting, and that’s how we learn about things. I did not know that about Edward Woodward, now I do. Will I ever use that information, probably not – but I found it interesting.

It’s a pity that lately there seems to have been a shortage of interesting facts to discuss and subjects to debate on Accy Web.

thanks. at least you know who edward woodward was. trouble for me is that i have no clue who snoop dogg and the rest are but i,m sure they,ll have a smart phone and their ideas of what a selfie is may be far different from mine.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by monkey hanger

think a lot of this is really horses for courses. if you have something to actually leave then i agree with making a will. the other group is the ones living together who are not divorced with their previous wives and husbands still alive with kids from the previous marriages you may or may not have contact with along with those from your present relationship. this can get really nasty with some having more legal rights than others. its surprising how many come out of the woodwork if there is money around.

This kind of situation where there are very complex family issues is one where a valid Will is essential to save lots of worry keep your assets out of the hands of the legal eagles.
My Ma’s estate was very modest, but I had ten months of stress and upset because one of my brothers who does not live in this country, put all kinds of barriers in my way.
He thought he knew better than me how to handle the winding up of the estate…..me being a weak and feeble woman (and if you believe that then I am shocked) who could be bamboozled by the process.
One of these no count sons still has not been in touch to find out where and when the funeral will be….but he was hot on contacting the solicitor to find out when he would get his divi up.
So am I bitter…..you’d better believe it.

If you have nothing to leave…or if you have only one child…..then it becomes less problematic…..but it is still a good idea to have an up to date valid will.

[shillelagh]

i havent done one .... i know when my mum died she'd made one (i made the appointment for the solicitor to come to the house) she kicked me out of the house while she talked to him .. that took 18months 2 years to sort ... a cousin who died without leaving a will and no kids or wife ... that took 5 years to sort ...

yes i know i should do it ... and probably will do .. when i decide what to do ...

[monkey hanger]

even without making a will i do not know why the process is as complicated as it is. could it be solicitors themselves using the laws for a bigger payout. no will then your nearest living relative gets it all. with a will then if the person had his full faculties when making it should be totally 100 per cent accepted and thats it.

[Margaret Pilkington]

From my experience and it is the only time I have had to deal with an estate.
I had to appear in front of a Commissioner of oaths and swear that I was who I said I was.
This cost a silly amount, then I had to apply for Probate as an administrator….again a cost involved.
But the biggest cost was the solicitor having to deal with a brother who in in Oz bringing up all kinds of irrelevancies that had no bearing on the estate.
This man cost the beneficiaries£2,500 in his fatuous claims.
He tried to get me removed as administrator….though I have not a clue who would have done it if he had succeeded.
Suffice it to say, this man is dead to me now.

So yes it is a lucrative business for the legal profession

[dotti34]

To save making a solicitor wealthier you can always write your own Will, but if you do you must make sure you follow precisely the legal guidelines so that you don’t create problems for those you leave behind. Everything has to be correctly done otherwise it will be deemed worthless, as Margaret has told us about her mother's Will. There are DIY Will kits – that come with plenty of instructions. If there isn’t a lot being left in the Will then I would say doing your own thing would be fine – but if there is anything complicated or property then maybe not.

[Margaret Pilkington]

They still make money from you once your ,over one has passed.
Yes, you can apply for probate yourself….but I am not sure how easy it is…..and you still have to pay for this….if you get it wrong and have to reapply you have to pay again.
The commissioners of Oaths….well that was done in the presence of a solicitor…..neither of these people do it for nowt……so you still end up stumping up.
They make money out of the dealing with any property in the estate too.
The solicitors are required to ensure that you are not practicing any avoidance of Inheritance tax too.
You are only allowed to dispose of limited funds as gifts in the last seven years preceding the death…..so there are quite a lot of traps.
I know that I learned an awful lot about dealing with an estate during the time after Ma died.
The biggest lesson was blood is NOT thicker than water…..and where there is money to be had, some of those you called family, can turn nasty and show their true colours.

[Lost in Cornwall]

I applied for probate for both my parents in law. Wasn't too difficult, just a case of adding how much money they'd got in various places and getting a valuation for the house. Certainly not enough work to justify paying a solicitor for wills that were straightforward. Did get a bit interesting when the probate office said the solicitor who made my mother in law's will had worded a clause wrongly. The solicitor refused to agree but were told they had to find the 2 people who had witnessed the will (both employees of theirs at the time) and get them to swear that the intentions expressed were correct. One had died and the other had moved away but they managed to find her and get her to do what was needed. Not sure what would have happened if they'd both died.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Oh, that must have been a bit of a hairy time for you.
Had I not had such a trying time with the obstinate family member I might have had a go at doing it myself, but I needed the solicitor to deal with the nasty intimidating communications at a time which was harrowing enough.
When we are under pressure we can make mistakes and the last think that I needed was to have this person tell me that I had made a hash of things…..he would not accept the valuations from three estate agents, so cost were incurred in getting an accredited valuation(all unnecessary because the valuations were all within £250 of each other).

It is a time that makes me shudder and I was glad when it was over and I could consign this family member to the ‘dead to me’ file.

As I said in a previous post….it was a time when I learned a lot…..and one of the things I learned was that I am stronger than I knew I could be.

[monkey hanger]

[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;
The biggest lesson was blood is NOT thicker than water…..and where there is money to be had, some of those you called family, can turn nasty and show their true colours.[/QUOTE]

you will never say a truer word. i was only 7 at the time but i remember the day of my grandads funeral. two mid 40 year olds fighting on the front garden of a busy main road over his war medals. possibly the biggest impression adults ever made with me in my childhood.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Like you MH….I found out the hard painful way.
It was a lesson well learned, paid for with tears and money…..but it is a mistake I will never repeat again as long as I live.

[dotti34]

It is definitely possible to write your own Will and save a fair bit of money but of course you have to be careful that everything is written exactly as it should be. Some years ago I wrote our Wills myself – mine and my husband’s. I studied everything I could find about such things and used the proper wording. I made sure these were witnessed correctly. Although I didn’t use a DIY form I did read these for any helpful hints. In saying this I probably would not have done them myself had they been complicated in any way, but they were straight-forward. When my husband passed away I had to show his Will at a couple of places and this passed muster, so I assumed I had done it correctly.

In my Will I had made some requests regarding certain pieces of jewellery which I wanted to go to specific members of my family in a very fair way. However, after those lowlifes had helped themselves to my ‘special’ stuff in October 2019 (I did a blog about the robbery at the time) my Will didn’t make sense, so I re-did it. Although it is straight-forward it will have to go to Probate but my oldest son and daughter are the Executors, they are intelligent people, I’m sure they will handle it well. I won’t know….and I certainly won’t care.

[monkey hanger]

again, why should the disposal of your own property after death be fraught with so many complications. same with house purchases when you are alive. its as if you spend life and death in support of the legal proffesion.