Wills

I would do it with a solicitor, not least because it IS complicated.

we paid over £1000 to Will Scotland who keep the will safely for you and who supply cards with their details to next of kin so it can be swung into action quickly when needed.Ours is also quite complicated with 2 businesses and properties that will need to be dealt with .The guy came to the house and talked us through everything we "thought" we wanted to do then gave advice about the best way of making it happen .,they came back for signatures for POA papers .Makes it all simpler if you dont have to make appointments to include travel time etc .I would certainly recommend him to any Scottish grans

Ours cost £300 about 9 years ago. Once a year lots of solicitors offer free wills in return for a charity donation, It gets quite widely advertised but I can't remember when that is or which charity.

If you decide to use a will writing service rather than a solicitor can I advise that you carry out intensive checks on them. There have been instances where a will writing service has closed down and wills lost. If a solicitor closes down, all documents held by it have to be passed to another practising solicitor and clients advised. If I were you I would use a solicitor because of the complexity of your situation.

Blimey I wasn't thinking about paying £1000 paddyann

Yes it is kind of complicated Maw which is why we have put it off for so long.

Thank you for good advice regarding will writing services sunseeker

I think the "free" will writing service is this month Nonnie but not sure if they would stretch to something more complicated.

I would go to see a solicitor rather than use one found on the internet. If you have any questions it is better to talk to someone face to face.
If they do close down, retire, etc, they will transfer all business to another solicitor and also have to pay a very large insurance in case anything goes wrong in the future.

I think the 'free' will writing service is just for straightforward wills.

During the last 12 months I used a firm of solicitors in local small town.
Solicitor was not a partner in the firm, she had 7 years experience.
I don't recall her original fee but during the process we received a letter advising that she had been promoted to Associate and her hourly rate would now increase to £225 per hour plus vat.
If I was to do it again, I would shop around and choose someone with more experience even if the hourly charge was more.
I'm probably being 'ageist' now but felt her lack of life experience made the process difficult.
Hard to explain but working with someone who has divorced/been widowed/got various children to consider/more than one property to ?share etc etc may have been easier.

gilly we had fairly simple wills made some years ago via a Will Writing Service. There was a change of management that made me doubt their professionalism. Changes were needed so we had a local solicitor draw up new wills last year. The attention to detail was so much better, the advice personal and carefully worded. Doubts about the previous wills were confirmed. We were reassured that our family would be treated kindly when the wills are needed. No cards to give them but easy enough to pass on contact details. It feels so much better. All solicitors will give an estimate of costs, there is usually an email contact so why not send the summary you have given us to a couple of local solicitors and ask for an estimate of costs, nothing to lose and a lot to gain, if nothing else peace of mind.

Will Scotland IS solicitors not just a will writing service

why not send the summary you have given us to a couple of local solicitors and ask for an estimate of costs, nothing to lose and a lot to gain, if nothing else peace of mind

What a good idea cornergran. I will do that.

Gillybob, it is/can be expensive to have your wills written by a solicitor. We had ours done some years ago, and I was horrified by the cost, but it did include POA for both as well. (I told our kids that we were spending some of their inheritance)

We talked about making our wills nearly 5 years ago, but didn`t do anything about it. Then, just over 15 months ago, when it was made clear to us that my husband was not going to get better, I called a local solicitor`s office, and they arranged for a solicitor to come to the hospital to see us. After having a word with the consultant treating my husband, she then came onto the ward and discussed with us what we wanted, before proceeding to draft first my husband`s will, then mine. It was then arranged for one of her colleagues to come back a couple of days later with the printed wills for us both to sign. The wills, now will, is being kept at their office. I can`t remember the exact amount, but the bill was roughly £257 for all of that, which we both considered very reasonable for the service rendered. They are also now keeping the house deeds at their offices for me, and no fee has been mentioned.

Our will is lodged with the solicitor who wrote it but I have put a note in the file I think the family would look in on a copy of the will so they will know where to look.

OH and I made our wills about 6 years ago. Both been married before with children, now lots of grandchildren. Not particularly straight forward wills so we had them drafted at a firm of local Solicitors. From what I recall cost about £250 which we thought was ok.

Sar53 that's a terrific price I wish I could something similar as it's something we need to take care of everyone I've looked at is in the upper hundreds .

We made our wills recently when we moved. Ours were slightly complicated too. However the solicitor unravelled it all to our complete satisfaction. Just £100 each

Mine was a little bit complicated and was drawn up by a partner in our family solicitors in the summer of 2016. Cost was £250 in a London outer suburb. They're still looking after it for me without further charge.