£120 to write a Will? Are they ripping me off?

My old school was built from someone's will. He worded it wrong, so his fortune went to his brother instead. The brother kept half for himself, and used half to build the school. So the school was half the size it should have been.

Wording matters a lot.
 
billysielu said:
My old school was built from someone's will. He worded it wrong, so his fortune went to his brother instead. The brother kept half for himself, and used half to build the school. So the school was half the size it should have been.

Wording matters a lot.
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that was rather nice of the bother to build the school.
 
£120 for peace of mind - no brainer really.

I charge clients £399 for joint wills, power of attorney and advanced medical directives x 2.

It's not my main line of business and thus the pricing is not very competitive.
 
Write your own, or if you must, get one of the will kits from the likes of WHSmits. Then, get a solicitor to witness the signature, for which they will charge, but not an awful lot.
 
£120 sounds about right. While you can do it yourself it's easy for someone else to contest and it can be dragged out for ages through the legal system. £120 for piece of mind seems reasonable.
 
This was on the radio the other day. The second they say that they need to be a named executor on the will to make things easier, run a mile.

They also said that you can get a kit from WH Smith and just fill in the blanks, get 2 witnesses to sign and you are done. Sounds like there are loads of dodgy dealers out there.
 
tsgray70 said:
This was on the radio the other day. The second they say that they need to be a named executor on the will to make things easier, run a mile.

They also said that you can get a kit from WH Smith and just fill in the blanks, get 2 witnesses to sign and you are done. Sounds like there are loads of dodgy dealers out there.
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I'm curious.. why run a mile if they offer to be the named executor?
 
£120 sounds right for one done "properly". If complicated then expect a lot more. My bosses was almost £1500 but there was an ex, 2 kids, inheritence tax, several businesses, trust funds involved.

If your affairs are simple you can buy a pack from the post office for a tenner which will cover most people adequately but it can easily get messy if you fall into inheritence tax or children are involved.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
I'm curious.. why run a mile if they offer to be the named executor?
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I would imagine that when you die they can charge lots of "reasonable" costs sorting out your will/wishes which normally means they charge a fortune for doing very little which one of your family members could have easily done for nothing.
 
Strife212 said:
It's really not necessary to pay a professional, I think one of the shortest wills that was valid said "All to son" on the page and nothing else.
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It depends how complicated the estate is and what relatives are involved - if it was just the son then it's probably not all that different from dying intestate, if there are other family members then they could challenge it and have it set aside if they wished since it's denying them what they should be entitled to by law (prior rights in Scotland).

£120 isn't too bad for writing a will, you might find it a bit more competitive at another practice but it's unlikely to make a huge difference - depending on the solicitor they might not be much interested in preparing wills so will charge a price that isn't especially competitive but it's enough to compensate them for having to deal with something they're not interested in.
 
To get a very decent watertight will done, you can easily be expected to pay £1000. If you want a bog standard one, hell even Argos can do them online for you for a small fee!!!

£120 sounds reasonable for average Joe's needs. Getting a reputable Solicitor to draw it up for you is the main point i'd like to highlight.
 
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