mate of mine done it left couple of his kids a couple of grand each so they couldnt contest it and another one several hundred thousand
Your Will and Arrangements
- Thread starter BlueLoo
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If I were doing this, I think I would want to make a sworn statement, properly setting out my reasons, to show I was rational and of sound mind.
It is advised that if you don't want to leave anything or a reduced amount to someone in a will who may be in a position to contest it then put so reason into the will i.e. my son Fred never visited me or communicated with me in the previous 10 years so I wish to leave all my estate to my son Harry who has cared for me in my later years etc etc etc
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Yes, no problem. Often the executor will be the main or sole beneficiary.
A beneficiary cannot witness a Will. If they do, they will lose anything left to them.
I hope your kids aren’t on this forum, they might be panicking right now
Be careful of banks and solicitors looking after wills.
my in-laws have had 2 wills “lost”
and don’t appoint a solicitor as executor unless the estate is worth a fortune….they will do very little, make you do all the donkey work and charge £10k +
my in-laws have had 2 wills “lost”
and don’t appoint a solicitor as executor unless the estate is worth a fortune….they will do very little, make you do all the donkey work and charge £10k +
Unlike us they have a lifeI hope your kids aren’t on this forum, they might be panicking right now
Years ago, our neighbour left me £5k in her will. She also left £5K to her neighbour on the other side. I saw the will. She left everything else to her son. She had a daughter and the Will said something along the lines of "To my daughter, I leave nothing as I have helped her out financially throughout the whole of her life". I bet that was a shock to the daughter!
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Wife and I have made our wills - well, effectively a joint one with a detailed letter countersigned by the solicitor. We have that stored in our household safe. Our executers have a sealed evelope with the door code in it.
With the will is a detailed letter describing how to dispose of my workshop, contents and sports kit - wife isn't interested in that part of the estate and I don't want the stuff going for scrap.
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On the subject of leaving a token amount. There is no basis in law that doing this prevents them from contesting the will. It is simply hoped that they acknowledge you considered them. You can also include a no contest clause. You also have to be very careful leaving fixed sums, as these are removed prior to any %age apportionment. So you may write you Will thinking you have £100k, to split. Give £5000 to the neighbour who always fed your cat and divide the rest equally among your 4 kids only to find upon your death there is only £20k in the pot. The Neighbour gets the 5k and the kids get £3750 each.
The neighbour fed his cat, he deserves it!!
I've sorted out several in a lot shorter period than that. It's not that difficult a DIY job. Hopefully the info that is needed is readily available. That in real terms relates to assets. .A paperless world could make that more difficult. I have some assets and have never received anything at all from them other than the original statement. That seems to be increasingly common. This info needs to be easy to find.
Wills - pretty simple really. Only needed if some one wants to do other than leave whatever to direct descendants. Spouse is a bit different. The transfer is automatic however I do know a lady who's husband died and left a will. The will stated what would happen to all of his assets but effectively after his wife died. This probably included the house. No descendants. It all went to a brass band. My father owned my parents house, not my mother. The basic rules still cover that. She can legally continue living there after he died and did.
An aunt died a few years ago. No descendants. One of my cousins knew and passed the job over to a company that sorts this sort of thing out. They traced the entire family tree from her brothers and sisters to all that survived and distributed that way, I wouldn't blame my aunt for leaving things like that to sort out. There are companies that look for people who have died and no claimants. If none it goes to the state.
Some people will die with insufficient assets to cover the cost of funerals etc. Fact of life.
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