Anyone made their own will?

[mickey house]

Me and the wife still haven't done a will (I know it's stupid), and it's about time we did, but we would rather not pay a solicitor if we can do it ourselves.

Our wills will be simple in that if one of us dies the other will inherit everything. If we both die our son will inherit everything.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

My late Dad completed his own. Hand written on a form from W H Smith.

So much easier now as you can download a pack online

I did the Probate and it was perfect.

You need to get them done. My Father in law died aged 44. Business owner etc but no will. I did the Probate and it was a nightmare.

[novocastrian]

Originally Posted by mickey house

Me and the wife still haven't done a will (I know it's stupid), and it's about time we did, but we would rather not pay a solicitor if we can do it ourselves.

Our wills will be simple in that if one of us dies the other will inherit everything. If we both die our son will inherit everything.

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we set this up exact same mirror will then our daughter gets everything


we got it done by a lawyer was mates rates as the missis worked there but sure its easy enough to do yourself


talking to some friends recently who have two daughters & no will, they just assumed the daughters would inherit the estate but as they both have siblings / cousins etc etc it could get messy if one of them decides to make a claim on the estate. having a will clears this up

[mickey house]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

My late Dad completed his own. Hand written on a form from W H Smith.

So much easier now as you can download a pack online

I did the Probate and it was perfect.

You need to get them done. My Father in law died aged 44. Business owner etc but no will. I did the Probate and it was a nightmare.

See more...

Sorry to hear about your father in law. Good advice and I will google for online will packs.

My elderly mother has asked me to do a power of attorney for her, and I've felt guilty doing it (I know it's daft), but I must do it because one of her sister's is in a care home due to dementia, and her other sister recently had a bad stroke and is still in hospital.

[Rac20]

I’d recommend doing your own based on my experience of using a solicitor. When DS was born DH and I made a will that obviously was based around him. Well when DS2 came along, it cost me about £120 to add 3 words- his first, middle and last name. 🙄

[DisneyDaffodil]

I have made my own will. DH has his made free of charge with his trade union, it’s a simple will leaving everything to me and if I predecease him, then equally to our children.

I simply used his as a template and wrote my own, as my wishes are the same as his, it was very simple. However my mother made hers with a diy kit from WH Smith’s and we had no problems after her death with it.

Edited to add: If you have applied for POA, then you will be fine writing your own will. I found the POA forms more complicated than my will. Don’t let that put you off the POA forms though, they are not difficult they just need reading carefully beforehand. They are still fairly straightforward

[Orlando 2004]

We also haven't done ours. I should know better as my dad died unexpectedly aged 54 when I was 24. From memory everything was complicated with us having to do probate. We did a deed of variation and a will trust fund so my mum still has the house for now as she would have if they'd done the will. My parents actually had an appointment to make a will the week after he died. How easy is it to do ourselves? We have a 14 year old daughter and everything would go to each other and if we both died to our daughter. Would we need to specify what should happen if we all died? I suppose we need to put in who we would want to look after our daughter. It just seems so morbid.

[Mel49]

Have a look into Will Aid which runs this month - "Will Aid is a special partnership between the legal profession and nine of the UK’s best-loved charities. Every November, participating solicitors waive their fee for writing a basic Will. Instead, they invite clients to make a voluntary donation to Will Aid – we suggest £100 for a single basic Will and £180 for a pair of basic ‘mirror’ Wills. With Will Aid, everyone benefits. You get a professionally drawn-up Will and peace of mind, while the charities receive much-needed donations for their vital work."

Anyone reading this who does not have a will please make one as soon as possible as it makes life so much easier for those left behind when the time comes. A homemade one is better than nothing but if you own property or have a lot of assets the cost of one drawn up by a Lawyer is worth it to make sure everything is water tight. Sorting out an Estate even when there is a will can be hard enough without the added complications if no will.

Also if you live in Scotland and have children please look into their Legal Rights to ensure you don't have the added complication and cost of them waiving their rights or if you have "cut them out" of your will them claiming these (more in it than this but not the place to go into the complexities).

I made my first will when my DH and me were going away for a short break without our then young son as I wanted peace of mind incase anything happened to both of us while away. It has been updated at minimal cost a few times but this thread is a good reminder too for anyone who made a will long ago to check it is still in accordance with any change in circumstances.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Orlando 2004

We also haven't done ours. I should know better as my dad died unexpectedly aged 54 when I was 24. From memory everything was complicated with us having to do probate. We did a deed of variation and a will trust fund so my mum still has the house for now as she would have if they'd done the will. My parents actually had an appointment to make a will the week after he died. How easy is it to do ourselves? We have a 14 year old daughter and everything would go to each other and if we both died to our daughter. Would we need to specify what should happen if we all died? I suppose we need to put in who we would want to look after our daughter. It just seems so morbid.

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Very easy to do yourself, much easier than dealing with an estate without a will as you have already found out sadly. Your plans are exactly the same as ours. When we made our wills, our daughter was under 18, there was a part of the will that specified who we would like to be guardians of our daughter if we died before she was 18. We chose her elder brothers as they were both over 18 and informed them of the decision too. I’m sure a will kit would cover how to do this, but if you did have any questions you could pm me and I would let you know the exact wording if that part on my will.

I did feel it was a depressing thing to do when I wrote mine, but I feel relieved now that it’s done and that whenever it’s needed, I have made the financial part as easy as possible for our children

[megaflyer]

I did mine myself but due to recent bereavement and dealing with that and the estate as sole executor plus, quite frankly, getting on in years with health issues I have been advised to put in place the standard 2 LPA’s one for health and one for wealth and at that time revive my will for IHT reasons- I am going to get the families lawyer to do that all as a one job 👍