Any One Know About Wills

Dog Breath

My parents are 80 (Mum) and 85 (Dad), and my Mum was telling me today that Dad has not made a will. Even when his own elder sister told him he should make one, he simply shrugs it off saying that my Mum will get everything anyway as they have been married for 60 years.

But will she ? The house is in my Dad's name, and he's the only one with a bank account. My Mum only gets her Govt pension. What are the legal implications should my Dad pass away first. Will my Mum automatically inherit everything; house, Dad's bank account etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
DB

lc1981

There's some information about this here, but put simply, yes she will. It might take a little longer and involve more paperwork, but providing your parents are married then everything will pass on to your mum.

Scrumple

Don't ask for advice on a thread.
You are liable to get half truths, and rubbish at best.

Having studied private client law, I'd say a will is pretty much essential and most "off the shelf" ones are dangerous in all but the most simple circumstances... I a will fails, then the wish fails with it. And if you don't cover it, it isn;t covered etc...
That said, depends what his estate is worth - and exactly who he wants the cash to go to. No will, and the law decides. And you are likely to lose tax planning opportunities. If his house and assets are worth a bit it be best to nudge him towards a lawyer - though most oldies are tight buggers! If you are talking under the tax threshold, things aren't that complicated.

markos1963

A will is essential. I hate to say this and it probably doesn't affect your case but what if your dad had an affair years ago that resulted in a child being born? This happened in my family and as there was a lot of money involved it all became very nasty as there was no will. get proper legal advise, it's not as expensive as people think. If you are in a trade union you can often get free, cheap wills done through their solicitors.

peat

I executed the estate of an aunt who died intestate (no will). It was a total PITA. Don't let that be your dad's legacy to you.....

They are so simple. If his wishes are straight forward, the off-the shelfers are fine, just make sure they get signed/witnessed properly.

capt_slog

As others say, the wife automatically gets his estate if there are no complications.

I like marcos1963's comment, it's a good point and although it it's a painful subject to bring up, you never know what skeletons there might be in the closet. This is something I'd not considered.

There is usually some clause in a will along the lines of "I leave all my xzys to XXXX should she survive me by seven days". I had it explained to me once, but I've forgotten it, but I think it's something to do with a 'car crash' scenario where one person has been killed outright and another is hanging on in hospital for a few days. I didn't understand the legal implications of this at the time, and I still don't. I mention it because as said above, sometimes the off-the-shelf will forms might not be up to scratch.

Frank the tank

Get him to make a will. If he's a "tight wad" explain the cost of dieing without one is more than dieing with one.

I don't mean to sound flipant but it's true and (to the OP) I'm sure he'd sooner your mum cop the max she's entitled to rather than some weasel of a lawyer or shitbag of a chancellor.

markos1963

The other advantage of a good detailed will is if you have to get a Grant of Probate. When my dad died and I was the executer he had left a lot of money in premium bonds. My mum couldn't get her hands on these as he had gone over the threshold. I enquired about getting a G o P done by a solicitor and they wanted to charge me 5% of the total of my dads estate, this came to £6k!!!! I went on the Government website that handles this and there was a guide to doing it yourself. So I went through the process and because I had a detailed will it was easy. In the end it cost me £95!

Graculus

Don't envy you, but you do need to push him to make a will, and your mum should have one too. It needn't cost that much especially if they do them together.

No-one can predict how things will pan out, your mum might die first, they might die together! (Happily rare, but it does happen in car crashes etc). Unfortunately people get a bit freaked by these thoughts, and begin to think they are tempting fate by planning for the worst. My husband and I did our wills three years ago, and we're still going strong!

They also need to be sure they are not above the inheritance tax threshold too, it's crept down over the years and by no means only affects 'millionaires' these days.

-spider-

Try this for info - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family ... heap-wills
March is also "free wills month" if you are over 55 - see http://freewillsmonth.org.uk/

Whatever - get dad to make a will. It really helps his family.

lone wheeler

I notice you are from the Wirral, give Goldsmith Williams a call. They are based in Liverpool and i have been referring clients to them for over 14 years. I don't work for them but it is an important issue as others have also pointed out.

plowmar

The op mentions that there is a house involved, what happens therefore will greatly depend on the value of the house.

If dad goes first mother automatically inherits the first £250k of assets and a life interest in half the remainder. May be inheritance tax to pay.

Cost therefore does not come into it as compared to the upset that could occur, no one has a crystal ball, will is a must.

If assets greater than £250 k how will you and any brothers and sisters get your inheritance without selling the property.

Where does your mothers pension go? Account of her own fine but if goes into dad's account she could be without money when she most needs it. Also if dad is paying the bills those payments may not be paid as account holder is deceased. Again problems.

First thing therefor is to get all bank accounts into joint names - apart from any ISAs ofcourse and then get a will sorted. To my mind and probably yours aswell one day of upset is well worth avoiding no matter what a will costs.

Best wishes in getting this sorted.

paultheparaglider

Capt Slog wrote:

There is usually some clause in a will along the lines of "I leave all my xzys to XXXX should she survive me by seven days". I had it explained to me once, but I've forgotten it, but I think it's something to do with a 'car crash' scenario where one person has been killed outright and another is hanging on in hospital for a few days. I didn't understand the legal implications of this at the time, and I still don't.

The reason for this is almost certainly to make the most of 2 individual inheritance tax allowances.

Imagine you die today and leave everything to your wife and nothing to your 3 children because, although you don't mind the money going to them when your wife dies, you want her interests protected first and foremost. Then she dies 2 days later from injuries incurred in the same car crash and leaves everything to your 3 children as you have already popped your clogs. Your children will only benefit from her inheritance tax allowance, and your allowance will have effectively been wasted.

rodgers73

I'm a probate solicitor and have written hundreds of wills in my time. He should make one. They don't cost much.

fossyant

Get him to do it. We did one a few years back as the kids need security, and we were in our 30s.

Needs doing as it is a pain to sort out if they don't have one. They need to do it for each other, rather than the children... The other partner does not need the stress.

Dog Breath

Thanks for all of the useful and informative replies. All very helpful.

Cheers

DB

nickyboy zz

My Dad died last year. Whilst he had a will which left everything to my Mum, he also had a personal bank account with all the household stuff running through it

Complete PITA to sort this out at a time when Mum should be concentrating on herself (whilst I could help with this she had to be involved as it was her account taking over the household stuff). I would recommend trying to get them to set up a joint account and shift all the transactional stuff through that. Of course when people have kept their banking separate for a long time this may not be possible