Advice Needed Please.

[Caran]

I am concerned about my brother. He is 5 years younger than me, retired, hasn't been out socially for about ten years, goes to Asda once a week for shopping. Has no conversation, phoning him is a nightmare.
He hasn't made a will, he has more money than he knows what to do with.
I have had the conversation with him, reminded him of things he should do just in case.
He intends to leave absolutely everything to my daughter. Could he just handwrite a will and get his next door neighbour to witness it. What about executor, could I be one and maybe my OH or do you not need them?
He hasn't done a funeral plan and hasn't got a solicitor.
I haven't seen him for about 3 years, he lives near Bolton and I am in Forest of Dean. And obviously now it's an impossibility as we are all at risk.
Can anyone offer any advice please.

[Vagus]

He doesn’t have a daughter.
It’s carans daughter he intends to leave everything to.

[jourdain2]

You can buy forms for holographic wills (which is what you are talking about) and this might make things easier by providing a format. 2 witnesses who are not beneficiaries need to witness the signature and your brother would have to witness them signing confirmation. Executors can be beneficiaries, but dying intestate makes things very complicated and time-consuming.
If he wants to, he can put his name etc. at the top and say 'I leave everything to my niece ......' then sign before witnesses, who sign in their turn. I have heard lately that there are questions about on-line assets - but I don't know anything about that.

[Caran]

He is making an appointment at the bank to consolidate his three bank accounts. I suggested while he was there to ask bank manager about wills, may be an easier route for him.

[Jackdaw33]

If the total value of the estate is less than £325,000 the question of Inheritance Tax does not arise. Tax is paid only on the amount by which the inheritance exceeds the threshold.

[Mamyalynne]

At least you've encouraged him to set things in motion Caran, well done.

[sherrardk]

Playing Devil’s advocate here, but you’re not actually making things any easier for him (he’s not going to know much about it when he’s gone). He might think you’re interfering to make things easier for you/your daughter and he might not care about that.

[joeski53]

Sorry Caran I misread, I thought it was his own daughter, You can of course be named as an executor, just another thought here is look into it carefully in case he later needs care etc (I dont know if this is the case) I know the state looks at personal circumstances of a person should they go into care and his/her assets.

[Buenchico]

In other life (or so it seems now), I spent a few years preparing wills for a living. So I've uploaded a draft document to here for you, Caran:
http://dl.free.fr/bxz7NjG2i
(As with my crosswords, simply click on the grey box to download it. You can then open in Word or any similar program. There's absolutely nothing 'private' about it; if others here want to download it, and perhaps to comment on it as well, they're more than welcome to do so).

Even though your brother hasn't previously written a will, I've left in the standard provision that revokes previous wills in my draft text. It's simply put there to prevent his executors having to search for any (non-existent) earlier wills in order to see if any of their provisions are still valid.

His executors can be any adults at all but it would make sense for them to be younger than your brother (so that they're still alive when he passes). There's nothing to prevent your daughter from being an executor and it might be simplest if she was. (If she's married, her husband could perhaps be the other executor).

Your brother needs to sign the will in the presence of two witnesses, who can be any two adults EXCEPT your daughter. (My latest will was witnessed by a couple of friends in a pub garden. The previous one was witnessed by a couple of people, who I happened to be working with that day, in a Tesco car park!).

While it's currently possible for wills to be witnessed remotely (e.g. over Zoom), I'd regard it a preferable for it to be done in the traditional way. (e.g. by your brother signing the will in his back garden, with the couple next door witnessing him doing so).

Once your brother has written his will (and had it witnessed), he needs to think about where it will be kept. (It will be of no use at all if nobody can find it!). The simplest solution might be for your daughter to hold it for him.

If you've got any questions, just ask!

[Jackdaw33]

It is not the will itself which is witnessed, just the signature of the testator. Witnesses do not need to have any sight of the contents.

[Buenchico]

^^^ A good point, Jack. The witnesses don't even need to know that the document is a will. They're simply asserting that they saw the testator sign it.