Will

[Jim Bullock]

Who or where do I go to get a quote? I spoke to someone this morning but he only wanted to know how much a month I wanted to pay

Wife and I did one last year along with Enduring power of attorney and it cost circa £2100 which was a bit of a shock. Just wish I could get the previous generation to do the same before it's too late..

 

[CFMF]

You can do an Enduring Power of Attorney online @Office of the Public Guardian, I paid £102 but from last April the fee is now £82.

 

[Walterp]

A Will should cost about £200 per person, maybe a bit more depending on the time/complexity involved.

Charges can vary enormously, so it's worth asking other people what they have been charged, and how amenable and helpful they found their solicitor. (As a measure, I used to charge £50 + VAT for a 'standard' will, because most people's wishes tended to be fairly similar - but that was back in the day).

It's a very routine task, and solicitors will have drafted hundreds, if not thousands, by the time they retire. The idea that there are dishonest solicitors - who would recommend drafting a will simply to gain a few quid - is a characteristically unpleasant suggestion.

The more realistic peril is that some practices simply over-charge, because they can: farmers, surprisingly often, equate expensive with competent.

 

[outofthefryingpan]

Who or where do I go to get a quote? I spoke to someone this morning but he only wanted to know how much a month I wanted to pay

Just straight life insurance is damn cheap for what it will cover if you are young and healthy. Anyone with a family relying on their income should really have something. Consider a policy (its called a family income benefit policy) that will pay a monthly amount to your family rather than a lump sum (unless you have large debts to repay) as this will replace your income and give them more cover now when they need it rather than later when they should need less. Also costs less than covering a lump sum throughout the whole term. Regarding costs - I have just done one for myself, I'm paying £32 ish that will pay out £3,000 a month until I would have been 70, increasing with inflation. I'm 37. I also have a Critical illness policy ............. much more expensive

 

[FonterraFarmer]

A Will should cost about £200 per person, maybe a bit more depending on the time/complexity involved.

Charges can vary enormously, so it's worth asking other people what they have been charged, and how amenable and helpful they found their solicitor. (As a measure, I used to charge £50 + VAT for a 'standard' will, because most people's wishes tended to be fairly similar - but that was back in the day).

It's a very routine task, and solicitors will have drafted hundreds, if not thousands, by the time they retire. The idea that there are dishonest solicitors - who would recommend drafting a will simply to gain a few quid - is a characteristically unpleasant suggestion.

The more realistic peril is that some practices simply over-charge, because they can: farmers, surprisingly often, equate expensive with competent.

Like any business, they should charge a "fair" price for the work done, no problem with that, but to blatantly overcharge because they can , makes them sound no better than a car dealers's workshop.

 

[Forever Fendt]

A Will should cost about £200 per person, maybe a bit more depending on the time/complexity involved.

Charges can vary enormously, so it's worth asking other people what they have been charged, and how amenable and helpful they found their solicitor. (As a measure, I used to charge £50 + VAT for a 'standard' will, because most people's wishes tended to be fairly similar - but that was back in the day).

It's a very routine task, and solicitors will have drafted hundreds, if not thousands, by the time they retire. The idea that there are dishonest solicitors - who would recommend drafting a will simply to gain a few quid - is a characteristically unpleasant suggestion.

The more realistic peril is that some practices simply over-charge, because they can: farmers, surprisingly often, equate expensive with competent.

is it still the case if it ever was that the solicitor who is left as an executor is entitled to a percentage of the value of the will as well as standard charges,Law society guide lines 0.75% on property and 1.5% on other assets, could prove costly

 

[Still Farming]

Just straight life insurance is damn cheap for what it will cover if you are young and healthy. Anyone with a family relying on their income should really have something. Consider a policy (its called a family income benefit policy) that will pay a monthly amount to your family rather than a lump sum (unless you have large debts to repay) as this will replace your income and give them more cover now when they need it rather than later when they should need less. Also costs less than covering a lump sum throughout the whole term. Regarding costs - I have just done one for myself, I'm paying £32 ish that will pay out £3,000 a month until I would have been 70, increasing with inflation. I'm 37. I also have a Critical illness policy ............. much more expensive

Some if not all critical illness policies only run for a set length of time and also check small print and latin names as years ago neighbour asked a doctor what the list was on his policy and he said most illness were from countries you will never get ?

 

[Still Farming]

is it still the case if it ever was that the solicitor who is left as an executor is entitled to a percentage of the value of the will as well as standard charges

Years ago if not still persons did wills through their bank and made bank executers .
And when said farmer died the bank took over and milked the estates over decades ?

 

[multi power]

Just straight life insurance is damn cheap for what it will cover if you are young and healthy. Anyone with a family relying on their income should really have something. Consider a policy (its called a family income benefit policy) that will pay a monthly amount to your family rather than a lump sum (unless you have large debts to repay) as this will replace your income and give them more cover now when they need it rather than later when they should need less. Also costs less than covering a lump sum throughout the whole term. Regarding costs - I have just done one for myself, I'm paying £32 ish that will pay out £3,000 a month until I would have been 70, increasing with inflation. I'm 37. I also have a Critical illness policy ............. much more expensive

I had a quote today, £12 a month for 150k of cover for 25 years , I think some life insurance would be a lot more benefit to my family than me making a will

 

[Exfarmer]

Be aware the different types of life assurance / insurance.
Some only pay out on death, due to accident/ illness/ etc.
Some pay out when you get to the 25 years or whatever.
Some pay out on either, and many never pay out .
Getting it wrong, Can mean paying for many years into a policy which will never serve its intended purpose

 

[Doing it for the kids]

Just straight life insurance is damn cheap for what it will cover if you are young and healthy. Anyone with a family relying on their income should really have something. Consider a policy (its called a family income benefit policy) that will pay a monthly amount to your family rather than a lump sum (unless you have large debts to repay) as this will replace your income and give them more cover now when they need it rather than later when they should need less. Also costs less than covering a lump sum throughout the whole term. Regarding costs - I have just done one for myself, I'm paying £32 ish that will pay out £3,000 a month until I would have been 70, increasing with inflation. I'm 37. I also have a Critical illness policy ............. much more expensive

I had a quote today, £12 a month for 150k of cover for 25 years , I think some life insurance would be a lot more benefit to my family than me making a will

I'm on £60 a month for £1mil pay out before I get to 60, paid out if I can't work (sadly not 'don't want to') theory is wife should survive on beans on toast if I kick the bucket early

 

[Walterp]

Like any business, they should charge a "fair" price for the work done, no problem with that, but to blatantly overcharge because they can , makes them sound no better than a car dealers's workshop.

It's not really that simple, especially where farmers are concerned.

Please allow me to provide two examples:

1. I grew up, and subsequently practised for many years, in a mining town in the heart of Welsh-speaking Wales. It was workaday, with very little visible affluence. Farmers were as cautious as their town relations, wanted to know how much their legal work might cost, and most of all wanted to be able to rely on not being ambushed by unexpectedly high legal bills.

A few miles up the road was an Anglicised country market town, with 'up-market' shops and equally up-market solicitors' practices catering to this demographic.

Few clients from the grimy industrial town instructed solicitors from the market town, because they were 'too dear'; even fewer of the market town inhabitants instructed solicitors from their urban neighbours because, well, they were 'too cheap'.

Put another way, if you bought a second-hand car in the market town you would be regarded with suspicion ('he's not doing very well') whereas if you bought a brand-new car in the urban one you would, also, be regarded with suspicion ('he's doing too well, he must be over-charging').

Farmers are the worst for this perspective, sometimes.

2. When I was obliged to buy one of my farms 'back' at auction, I was also obliged to instruct a solicitors' practice from Worcester. They are a popular farmers' firm, even though they (a) charged £5,000 for work that I could have obtained, in the nearest big city to me, for £1,000, and (b) completely buggered up the legal work so that I had subsequently to sue them to recover damages.

Jim Bullock probably instructed them. He probably thinks they're great, because they are expensive.

Whereas they are, in fact, merely expensive.

 

[Exfarmer]

I'm on £60 a month for £1mil pay out before I get to 60, paid out if I can't work (sadly not 'don't want to') theory is wife should survive on beans on toast if I kick the bucket early

Be very , very wary of this type of insurance, sounds great for the cost, BUT MAKE SURE YOU HAVE IN WRITING WHAT IT MEANS TO NOT BEING ABLE TO WORK.
As a working farmer , note farmer. Being able to work, may include the ability to give instruction from your bed , while you are completely unable as a quadraplegic!!!

 

[Woolgatherer]

I think that there is a month each year (I thought it was November) whereby you could get wills done "free". That is not really free as you're supposed to donate to charity instead of paying the solicitor. Might be worth finding out. The other thing is that I got mine done as a freebie in among the legalities of buying our house. You could try for that if you've other work to be done. I've left my cat to my friend.

 

[Woolgatherer]

Just googled it. It's Willaid in November.

 

[Walterp]

I think that there is a month each year (I thought it was November) whereby you could get wills done "free". That is not really free as you're supposed to donate to charity instead of paying the solicitor. Might be worth finding out. The other thing is that I got mine done as a freebie in among the legalities of buying our house. You could try for that if you've other work to be done. I've left my cat to my friend.

I should have added that solicitors tend to regard wills both as PR and as an investment in the sense that clients (if they are satisfied) are likely to return.

It's a very old-fashioned view, of course, but it's probably true.

 

[neilo]

The idea that there are dishonest solicitors - who would recommend drafting a will simply to gain a few quid - is a characteristically unpleasant suggestion.

I wouldn’t suggest dishonesty, just the chance of extracting a bit more income.... A bit like probate on relatively simple estates being drawn out for several years, with the clock ticking steadily the whole time. I suspect quite a few that have been through that experience would give surprisingly similar accounts. Everyone i’ve spoken to that’s been on the receiving end has begrudgingly paid, whilst muttering about being in the wrong job and looking left and right for a new ‘family’ solicitor.

 

[Old McDonald]

You have all made a Will, right?

Tell me why I should.

Go on, just for once, answer a simple question. I know you hate so much to answer any question people put to you, but just try this once. You might even feel relief that after refusing to answer questions for so long, you actually become a much pleasanter person than you appear to be from the relentless posts you start. Hopefully it will also stop you beginning so many, although I suppose I hope in vain.

You must be aware that there are posters on here from several different countries - a considerable number in Scotland to begin with, but also quite a few from France, the Antipodes and Ireland, as well as a smattering from other lands. Please tell us all what the intestacy rules are in England/Wales, and the differences with Scotland, Ireland, France and any other country you care to choose. I am fairly sure you do not know. You might know for England /Wales, but (without checking) tell us the difference between there and at least two other countries where members on here live. You cannot. Do not make such broad assumptions that everyone needs a will. Some do not.

An honest solicitor wouldn't...

My first boss (and several after that) was a solicitor of some renown. He chose not to make a will. Obviously he knew the intestacy rules of the time and having a wife and three young children had decided that the rules were precisely what he would have chosen had he made a will.

An anecdote, but, he was about to go fishing one Sunday morning and a Councillor (my boss was part-time Town Clerk) decided to pay him a visit to discuss something about council business. He never got to go fishing that day. He told me this the next morning and said that no matter what he was definitely going fishing the next Sunday morning for a couple of hours because he felt he needed a little break from work. He died of a heart attack before the week was out.

 

[Walterp]

I wouldn’t suggest dishonesty, just the chance of extracting a bit more income.... A bit like probate on relatively simple estates being drawn out for several years, with the clock ticking steadily the whole time. I suspect quite a few that have been through that experience would give surprisingly similar accounts. Everyone i’ve spoken to that’s been on the receiving end has begrudgingly paid, whilst muttering about being in the wrong job and looking left and right for a new ‘family’ solicitor.

If God had not intended sheep to be shorn, he wouldn't have given them wool...

In the end, the 'upmarket' solicitor's practice sold a deceased farmer's farm (I was in the auction, a once-in-a-lifetime performance by the virtuoso Mr Brychan Prydderch, now sadly deceased himself) and gradually filched the £1.3 million proceeds on the high living that his clients had come to expect of the principal. He got 5 years.

Farmers ought to reflect more carefully on their choice of executors.

 

[Thick Farmer]

You have all made a Will, right?

I've read the entire thread this far and have found it very interesting.

The thing that worries me is that Walter usually starts off with a bit of a ramble and a reference to a pop song from the '70s and then comes around to the actual point of the post.

Has his account been hacked?!