ChatterBank2 mins ago
Making a Will on-line
Has anyone used an online service to make a Will ? .I've had a look online at various providers of this service and on the face of it it seems quite good ,it also saves a visit to the solicitors and sounds as if it saves a bob or two .
If anyone has used this service i'd love to hear ,as its something that the wife and i have spoken about for some time and i'd like to get this tied-up asap .
Regards
If anyone has used this service i'd love to hear ,as its something that the wife and i have spoken about for some time and i'd like to get this tied-up asap .
Regards
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all our family members have done their wills this way. so long as you follow the laws about executors, witnesses and beneficiaries, and it's not a hugely complicated will, it's really easy, and as you say, saves a fortune. mind you, we've never used a solicitor, in the past we bought the blank form from, i think, the post office or a stationers, and did it ourselves anyway.
have just spoken to mr. ethandron and he tells me i'm wrong in what i've told you. we don't use an on-line will service. he just types it up on the computer, copying the wording and layout of a 'will form' he's got, and prints it out. the important thing is to make sure about who can (or can't) witness it, be an executor and/or a beneficiary.
the best thing is, it's absolutely free to do it this way, and totally legal, he has been executor for a few wills done this way.
the best thing is, it's absolutely free to do it this way, and totally legal, he has been executor for a few wills done this way.
I used an online company to make my will. They are called Trust Inheritance. They sent a representative out to my home to take down all the details and then their in-house legal team draw up the will.They will even act as executors for an extra fee if you require that service.I can recommend them highly.
http://www.trustinheritance.com/
http://www.trustinheritance.com/
Unfortunately, I think that DIY wills or will kits are an accident waiting to happen. It's OK if they take the details online and then come and visit you- the will writers will know that certain words have particular technical meanings for wills.
A friend of mine is a chancery lawyer and she spends a large part of her time sorting out homemade wills. The costs incurred by the estate afterwards are often disproportionate to what a simple will drawn by a professional would have cost.
A friend of mine is a chancery lawyer and she spends a large part of her time sorting out homemade wills. The costs incurred by the estate afterwards are often disproportionate to what a simple will drawn by a professional would have cost.
Morty Vicar is right. DIY is hazardous because a)sometimes people do not know or think through the legal consequences of some gifts and of some words in the will
b) they use words which are ambiguous or uncertain. A famous example is where a man wrote " All to Mother" without thinking that that could mean his own mother or it could mean his wife, whom he called Mother , she being the mother of their children. It took a court case to settle the matter in favour of the wife, there being evidence called to show that he wanted to provide for his wife , hence "all to", and not his mother. Had he not written " all to"" but made a specific gift of property or money "to Mother" instead the case might well have proved very difficult , if not impossible, and costly to resolve.
b) they use words which are ambiguous or uncertain. A famous example is where a man wrote " All to Mother" without thinking that that could mean his own mother or it could mean his wife, whom he called Mother , she being the mother of their children. It took a court case to settle the matter in favour of the wife, there being evidence called to show that he wanted to provide for his wife , hence "all to", and not his mother. Had he not written " all to"" but made a specific gift of property or money "to Mother" instead the case might well have proved very difficult , if not impossible, and costly to resolve.
i really have to disagree with those who think diy wills are either hazardous or difficult. there's a lot of mysticism put around about making a will (probably by solicitors), but it really couldn't be simpler. if you're of average intelligence and follow the rules (found on-line or in the local library) and your will isn't really complicated, which most people's aren't, then you can't go wrong. solicitors and lawyers would have us believe we can't do anything which is remotely 'legal' without them, when in actual fact we can!
Ethandron, you make a valid point. But the lawyers actually make more out of sorting the resulting mess out and most solicitors' firms treat will making as a loss leader - in the hope they will get the job dealing with the probate etc later.
I would say that around 90% of the wills I see that have a problem with construction or tax efficiency are homemade - most of which are made by intelligent people. I accept that there must be thousands of wills that are homemade that are perfectly OK, but my experience is that homemade ones are the ones that end up costing more in the long run.
I would say that around 90% of the wills I see that have a problem with construction or tax efficiency are homemade - most of which are made by intelligent people. I accept that there must be thousands of wills that are homemade that are perfectly OK, but my experience is that homemade ones are the ones that end up costing more in the long run.
and equally one simple technical error can result in a higher than average bill for Mr and Mrs Average's beneficiaries. I dealt with an average will earlier this month: he wanted to leave everything, bar a few specifics to his partner, a simple drafting error on his part resulted in a few quid going to the partner and the rest going to the children, who HATED the partner. That's going to cost a LOT of money.
Fredpuli makes an important point, that case was an average will, ended up in the High Court of Chancery.
All I am saying is that not all homemade wills go wrong, but there is more likelihood that they will do so and then they go spectacularly wrong. And professional wills also go wrong, but then it is a) far easier to rectify a professionally drawn will and b) you have the benefit of the lawyer's professional indemnity insurance who will pay for sorting out the **** up.
Fredpuli makes an important point, that case was an average will, ended up in the High Court of Chancery.
All I am saying is that not all homemade wills go wrong, but there is more likelihood that they will do so and then they go spectacularly wrong. And professional wills also go wrong, but then it is a) far easier to rectify a professionally drawn will and b) you have the benefit of the lawyer's professional indemnity insurance who will pay for sorting out the **** up.
i accept all the points you are making.
if i had anything other than this 'average' will to make, and was not confident that i could get the wording right so as to make it watertight that what i wanted to happen on my death WOULD happen, then i too would see a solicitor.
the only point i am making is that most people do not need to pay a solicitor for the priviledge of doing something they could very easily, and competently, do themselves.
there are 9 members of my family who have diy wills. and a further 2 diy wills have, in recent years, been through probate and been executed in accordance with the law. that's a lot of money saved.
if i had anything other than this 'average' will to make, and was not confident that i could get the wording right so as to make it watertight that what i wanted to happen on my death WOULD happen, then i too would see a solicitor.
the only point i am making is that most people do not need to pay a solicitor for the priviledge of doing something they could very easily, and competently, do themselves.
there are 9 members of my family who have diy wills. and a further 2 diy wills have, in recent years, been through probate and been executed in accordance with the law. that's a lot of money saved.
Ethandron, that's two wills out of eleven, so far . Have you ever found out exactly how much a solicitor charges for preparing a will?
Put it this way. I am a absolutely certain,with very good reason , that my knowledge and experience of the practice of law is greater than that of a layman. But probate and wills are not my specialty . .My own will, quite straightforward, was not prepared by me, but by a solicitor. Now, if a professional won't do his own will, what does that tell you about the hidden risks for a lay person doing it , just to save themselvesa bit of money?
It's the innocent ignorance that is the danger. At least I know enough to know some of the risks to look out for but the layman doesn't even know they are there,if they are.
Put it this way. I am a absolutely certain,with very good reason , that my knowledge and experience of the practice of law is greater than that of a layman. But probate and wills are not my specialty . .My own will, quite straightforward, was not prepared by me, but by a solicitor. Now, if a professional won't do his own will, what does that tell you about the hidden risks for a lay person doing it , just to save themselvesa bit of money?
It's the innocent ignorance that is the danger. At least I know enough to know some of the risks to look out for but the layman doesn't even know they are there,if they are.
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