Making a Will

[mooncake]

Hello everyone,

I've been trying to sort out our family wills for the first time, and have been directed to this charitable scheme running during November. Seems like a fabulous idea, so here is a link for anyone else interested...

http://www.willaid.org.uk/will-makers

Just a shame that none of our local solicitors are listed!

[alieh]

There was one listed in Forest Hill and I emailed them, but heard nothing back. Shame as it sounds a great idea!

[Blueskies]

I did manage get an appointment with the firm in forest hill (but didn't do it in the end as not quite ready) but I did make the appointment back in October, I called them.

[Yak]

I would have thought you could use a solicitor pretty much anywhere, these days. From the perspective of having to deal with an intestate estate, you will make things so much easier for your loved ones if you leave a will. It just adds a layer of stress on top of grief. Don't just put it off like I have!

[fl0wer]

People, please don't use 'charity' options for writing your Wills.

Written into the small print are usually some surprisingly fat sums as percentages for them. Solicitors do this too, more often than not.

For a better service altogether, one which won't drive your beneficiaries mad or cause them to waste years and fortunes on disputes, this professional organisation is where to start:

http://www.ipw.org.uk/

[sugarmouse]

Hello, I have to stand up for Will Aid - I disagree totally that there are percentages written into the wills for the solicitors as Fl0wer says. We did Will Aid last year, a couples will costing about 150 pounds I think. we went to Ewings in Penge - only a 15 min drive from East Dulwich and saw Jonathan. He was brilliant, gave us free advice, for example on how we could make sure our children were looked after if we both died. Will took a couple of weeks then we were invited back to sign it - and NOWHERE in the small print did it say anything about a percentage. We just paid a flat fee to charity (can't remember the exact amount but around ?150) and we got the wills. Ewings keep a copy free of charge as well. Can't recommend it enough and saved us a fortune.

[RenF]

Hmm, I don't think that's how will aid works. You make a donation to charity instead of paying normal solicitor fees (something like ?90 for a single or ?140 for a pair of wills is the suggested donation).

We're just in the process of getting ours drawn up via a solicitor we found on the will aid website, so will report back any hidden sums to charities/others when we get the first draft.

Solicitors taking part in the will aid month get really busy and usually only allocate a certain number of appointments to clients coming via this route- we made our appointment in October and had to ring a few before we got an appointment.

[RenF]

Cross posted sugarmouse!

[sugarmouse]

Indeed RenF! In fact, we didn't even give the cheque made out to charity until we'd seen the wills and were happy with them. Nothing dodgy I can assure you Fl0wer!