Doing Your Own Will.

[Jennykenny]

Elderly friend wants to write her own will, (possibly buying a form from WH Smith?). How simple is this to complete, and how legal? Can it be registered somewhere?

I know that there is an opportunity to do a 'free will' by making a donation to a charity, but the nearest one to us is nearly an hour in the car. I'm happy to take her but she finds it an uncomfortable experience getting in an out of a vehicle.

[Guilbert53]

Rather risky as if she words it wrong or does not get it signed correctly it could invalidate the whole will.

One simple mistake on a will can cause all sorts of problems.

An example. My grandmother had lots of sisters (about 6).

When one of the sisters died she basically left all her money to be shared amongst the sisters.

However my grandmother died just AFTER her sister had died but BEFORE the will was read out.

So should she still get her share (even though she was dead) and should it go to her surviving husband, or should she get no share at all.

Some thought as my grandmother was alive when the sister died the surviving husband should get the share, the other sisters felt he should not.

It caused a huge family row with some sisters not talking to each other for the rest of their lives.

Get it done properly by a solicitor.

[Peter Pedant]

discussed at this very moment in Law
I give the simplest possible text - my fathers 1972 - along with a dire health warning

and yes so short that it suffers from Guilbert's defect - no fall thro clauses

by the way Guilbert the situation is covered by case law
the sisters should have been told that those alive at the testators death, inherit - and that it didnt matter what they thought - the rules of inheritance are followed
[ it is possible to take this into account - only those heirs alive a calendar month after the testators death inherit is one way ]

I dont know why people try to save thruppence by writing a will themselves - if there is a mistake it costs much more than thruppence to cure

[Peter Pedant]

if your question can be boiled down to

Neither of us have ANY idea at all about writing a will,
do you think we should write one ?
( bearing in mind if it goes horribly wrong then there is no second chance )

you can see that a clear answer will be - - - no

[Jennykenny]

Thanks both of you.
If nothing else you made me smile.
Why this problem arose is that she has left some money to a niece but now wants to increase that amount, but her present solicitor, who drew up her present will, wants to charge her £400.00+ just to change a figure. Not rewrite the whole will.

[Buenchico]

This type of question comes up quite often. I used to write wills for a living and here's what I always advise:

1. Get hold of copy of this book:
http://tinyurl.com/j6ma44e
It's in many public libraries but, at under £3 per copy (inc p&p) secondhand from Amazon, it won't break the bank to buy it. Don't worry if you find an older edition; while there have been changes to the intestacy laws, everything about will-writing remains the same.

2. Draft your own will based upon the information and advice in the book.

3. If you're 100% confident that you've got it right, go ahead and sign it (in the presence of two witnesses who aren't beneficiaries of the will); it will then be a valid will. If you've got any doubts about your draft, take it to a solicitor and get him/her to 'tidy it up' before you sign it.

4. Tell relevant people (such as the executors of your will and/or its main beneficiaries) where your will is kept, possibly providing them with photocopies of it. There is no central repository for wills.

Having got that general advice out of the way, I'll now tackle the specific point raised in your secondary post:

All that your friend needs to do is to type out a codicil to her existing will, as follows:
"This is the first codicil to the will dated [date of existing will] of me [your friend's name in full] of [your friend's address].

1. I amend my monetary gift to [name of niece] to be the sum of [new amount].
2. In all other respects I confirm my will.

Dated:

Signature:

Signed by [friend's full name] in our presence and then by us in hers:

[Space for signature of first witness]
[Full name and address of first witness]

[Space for signature of second witness]
[Full name and address of second witness]"

As soon as your friend has signed and dated the codicil, and the witnesses have counter-signed it, the revision to the existing will comes into force. (The codicil should, of course, be kept with the original will).

[waterboatman]

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-cheap-wills

This might help.

[Peter Pedant]

if it is just that
I would get the old will
copy it out xc for the amount - put in the increased amount.
and then sign and witness

£400 does sound a bit much for this
has she named him as executor and does he have the only copy of the will ?

sounds as tho she needs a rewrite and to exclude him as executor because - - - you have some idea of what he will charge to wind up the estate ....

and again BC has given lots and lots of useful advice on this subject in this thread - lots and lots of times

[Peter Pedant]

oops sorry BC you have done a codicil

thx I might be using it....myself

[had a few shocks in 2017]

[Jennykenny]

Many thanks C. Will print out what you have written and give it to her to think about. G