Where there’s a Will there’s Money right?
There is also a Bill.
Wills are apparently big business today.
It used to be you could go into a stationers store and buy a standard Will document for about £1. In it, you were given tips on how to draft a Will, explanations about Witnesses, Beneficiaries and Executors, and bingo, when completed and your signature duly witnessed, it was usually sufficient to be accepted as a legal document.
It would appear that this may no longer the case.
Hubby and I made out a ‘Will’ type document years ago, but for some time we have been thinking about making everything official by today’s standards and seeing a solicitor.
Over the years, other things have taken priority and the last time we looked into it, it was about £25.
We saw a notice in a window about seeing a solicitor any Wednesday morning for free advice on a variety of subjects, including Wills. So one Wednesday when we were in town we went in.
When our breathing and heart rate had returned to normal, we decided perhaps the time was not ‘quite right’. Two hundred and fifty pounds (each) not quite right to be honest. Plus VAT of course.
We’d known we wouldn’t get it done for £1, but as it’s all pretty straightforward, we thought more along the lines of about fifty quid.
Like our marriage, (“I Do, He Does, Where Do We Sign” kind of thing) our wishes are simple. What’s mine goes to him, what’s his comes to me, we will be Executors and sole beneficiary to each other. We have nothing of significant value, so there is nothing to bequeath to anyone. The survivor can enjoy the payout from the insurance policy in whatever fashion they wish, that is if it’s still in force having not exceeded the ‘termination with no surrender value’ date (it was a budget policy designed to cover our mortgage when we had one) . Both of us admit a good holiday comes to mind.
Disposal of our remains (cremation) is also simplistic, some flowers and Il Divo singing for me (CD will do, there’s no reason to have the real thing) , but Hubby wants nothing fancy, just ‘up the chimney’ thank you very much.
As luck would have it, we were in town last week (before the dancing episode) and in the same window, saw a notice advertising WILL FORTNIGHT so we made enquiries.
As a special offer, promotion for the Solicitor firm and a donation of £125 to the Age Concern charity instead of their fee, we can get our wills drawn up. Both of them.
So we made an appointment.
And had to cancel it (after dancing episode) .
We arranged an alternative, and a large package hit the mat a few days later. In it was a covering letter together with details of fees, and the terms and conditions of the solicitors providing their services during Will Fortnight. The questionnaires that were included in the pack were like war and peace, with loads of back up documentation being required.
The £125 was for a ‘simple will’. Looking at the forms and information required, for various reasons it was unlikely that our circumstances would be classed as simple, even though our wishes are. Fees then rocketed to additional fees of over £150 an hour, MINIMUM.
So again we decided to cancel.
Hubby has since done some research on the internet and all is not lost, plus we still have our earlier DIY jobs.
Do not misunderstand. I am not planning on leaving This Life any time soon, and neither is Hubby, BUT it is something that has to be thought about. Getting on in years and Scary Stuff tends to make you think about it.
pensitivity101 