How much for a will


Naive question here probably, but if married does everything not automatically go to the other anyway?
When you marry it supersedes any pre-existing will. You can then make a new one which doesn’t have to leave everything to the spouse. Commonly when people re-marry they want to leave their assets to their kids from the first marriage.
 
Naive question here probably, but if married does everything not automatically go to the other anyway?
All goes to next of kin which is your partner. The problem would be if you died together. If you died first then your wife and there was no children it would all go to your wife’s family. If your wife died first it would all go to your family. If you died at same time the eldest is deemed to die first.
If you have kids and want the money to go to them then that is what will happen.
If you have substantial wealth and your spouse remarries after your death then the new spouse would be sole beneficiary of her estate even if you have kids.
A will would be essential just in case.
 
How do wills work then? Why do I need one? I know my parents don't have one. We were recommended we made one when we bought our mortgage, but haven't done yet.

If you don't have a will, are your kids still entitled to split everything between them?
Intestacy rules are : Kids should inherit equally. If no kids, then parents. If parents not around, each sibling gets an equal share, if one of the siblings is deceased, his/her share divided between the
siblings children.
Not sure who is next in line, but if there is no one, then the State gets it.
I'm not qualified to advise, but my opinion is, if you just want it to go to your kids, then they would automatically get it. But you may want, for example, a small part to go to a certain charity/friend/ etc.
Or you may want a certain child to get a certain piece of jewellery.
If you have assets over a million, you would pay IHT at 40%.
Much less (£325K) if it is inherited by siblings.
People in London could have this problem with the value of houses in the SE.
You could put the house in the children's names to avoid the govt nabbing it to pay your Care Home needs, but you must live for seven years after you do to avoid a sliding scale of inheritance tax.
Also criteria apply to this

In other words, seek advice and make a will.

If you appoint an executor, FFS, ask him/her first.
They could be thousands of £ out of pocket if they distribute funds wrong/don't calculate the correct amount of IHT.
 
How do wills work then? Why do I need one? I know my parents don't have one. We were recommended we made one when we bought our mortgage, but haven't done yet.

If you don't have a will, are your kids still entitled to split everything between them?

My Uncle did a DIY will but he made a mistake on it it so it was invalid. His wishes were splitting things between his second wife who he was still married to and his two adult children. There was money he inherited from his father that he said would be passed to his daughters on his death. As the will was invalid, everything went to the second wife and his children got nothing.

You'd think the second wife would give them something but she kept the lot. She also kept worthless sentimental things that the children really wanted and scattered his ashes without them so they don't even know where he is.

Would recommend everyone getting a will for peace of mind. When it's needed, you're not going to be around to sort out any mistakes and it saves a load of grief for the family when they're already upset dealing with your death.
 
We did ours a few years back, including LPA's and everything going into a trust so nothing can be taken away from the kids (Inheritance tax, money if we need to go into a home etc...)

Wasn't cheap, but all worth it....
 
My Uncle did a DIY will but he made a mistake on it it so it was invalid. His wishes were splitting things between his second wife who he was still married to and his two adult children. There was money he inherited from his father that he said would be passed to his daughters on his death. As the will was invalid, everything went to the second wife and his children got nothing.

You'd think the second wife would give them something but she kept the lot. She also kept worthless sentimental things that the children really wanted and scattered his ashes without them so they don't even know where he is.

Would recommend everyone getting a will for peace of mind. When it's needed, you're not going to be around to sort out any mistakes and it saves a load of grief for the family when they're already upset dealing with your death.
What was the problem with it? Was it not signed/witnessed correctly, or did the original will include her and he didn't alter it properly?
 
In think we paid about £1k but it was fairly complicated and I doubt very much that we could have done it on the cheap.
 
What was the problem with it? Was it not signed/witnessed correctly, or did the original will include her and he didn't alter it properly?

One of those DIY templates where you just fill in the details but he forgot to sign it.
 
Plenty of employer/unions offer a free service or there are cheap online options. Bit of a faff on but deffo worth saving some coin.
 
Straight forward, 100% to the other partner if anything happens. Anyone done it recently?

I would have thought that a husband and wife would have joint tenancy as a default and it would not be necessary to make a will as all assets would transfer to the surviving spouse?

I'm not certain though.
 
We did ours a few years back, including LPA's and everything going into a trust so nothing can be taken away from the kids (Inheritance tax, money if we need to go into a home etc...)

Wasn't cheap, but all worth it....
LPA wouldn't cover the money needed to go in a home surely.
 
We did Will Aid just before Xmas with a solicitor in Sunderland for a joint will. Cost us about £170 and we couldn't fault the service. Peter Dunn in the town.
 

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