lethargic_man | Will-writing

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I don't have a will. In my twenties, this wasn't an issue, as I had little of value to my name. (As a result of taking a year off and doing three degrees, I didn't start earning until I was twenty-seven, and working for the BBC I wasn't exactly raking it in at first.) Some years later

bluepork told me there's little point writing a will until such time as I have children, so I put off writing one further.

The other day, I got cold-called by a will-writing company who told me that without a will, there's no guarantee my assets would return to my family, and it's possible a neighbour could try and claim on them. Does anyone reading this know whether this is just scare tactics trying to get me to pay for their services, or whether there is anything to this? Also, is it worth writing a will when you don't (yet) have children, but do at least have a flat to your name?

Crossposts: http://lethargic-man.livejournal.com/484209.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

ephemera

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will/ lets you walk through the most common options if you're in the UK (I'm guessing from the BBC reference and the time zone that you might be)

(I really need to sort out a will ...)

/ drive by comment

From:

karen2205

Depends who you want to have your flat after your death - if you want it to go to your father, together with all of your other property then fine. If you want it to go to your sibling(s)/any nieces/nephews or similar or you want to leave some money to charity or other things to other people, then you would need to write a will to have your wishes carried out.

There's no risk of a neighbour claiming anything - if there aren't any relatives who inherit under the intestacy rules, the estate passes to the Crown.

From:

naath

The default situation is that if you die without a will your money goes in some pre-defined proportions to your close relatives (ephemera has the link) and if you have none the state; if you are basically OK with that division then there is no real "need" to write a will, although I'm told that the intestacy process can be very slow so if your inheritors are *depend on you* and will need the money quickly it is good to write a will because they will get it faster. On the other hand if you want to leave it all to a Cat Rescue then you'll need to write a will ;-p

If you have children then one thing you put in your will is who will care for the children - I'm not sure what the 'default' arrangements are, but you are probably a lot more likely to care that your children end up with the right people than that a small amount of money does.

If you do not contract a legal marriage with your long-term romantic partner then they don't get anything if you die without a will... so, er, I should write one then. But on the other foot marriage invalidates your previous Will; so if you are about to get married there's less point.

From:

liv

I tend to be pro wills, as a result of being brought up by lawyers. What you should definitely definitely do is find out what actually happens on intestacy from an authoritative source;

ephemera's link to a .gov.uk page looks promising. You should not trust anyone who cold-calls you, because they're almost certainly scammers. You should also not trust random people pontificating on the internet, because most people-on-the-internet really don't know anything about the law, they make assumptions based on half-digested American blogs or what they think the law ought to be. Yes, that also means you should not trust me, but I am mainly telling you to seek trustworthy information. So if you take me literally you'll ignore the following paragraphs ;-)

If you have a flat in London, given how completely irrational the London property market is at the moment, it is very likely to be worth enough that there will be tax implications to intestacy. Also, I can't remember if you still have a mortgage but if you do your liabilities will be inherited along with your assets and this can get complicated really easily, so that's another strike in favour of getting your will sorted out. Even if what you want is for your estate to be split between your father and HMRC, the process of making that happen is considerably simpler if you write a will than if you just leave it to the default.

I know you care about what happens to your body after death; carrying your Halachic Organ Donor card should be enough but a will would help to reinforce that. Things like making sure you get a proper Jewish funeral and activate the burial scheme I assume you're paying into at NNLS. Yes, your family can arrange this and I know your relatives are likeminded with you about following the appropriate halachic requirements. But not having a will could mean they have to go through loads of hassle to make sure your wishes are carried out.

In short: the financial implications of not writing a will may be small if you want to leave your estate to your father and nobody else. But not having a will causes potentially expensive legal hassles to your surviving relatives. It's cheaper to pay a lawyer a few hundred pounds now than to try to sort out the intestacy mess. I suppose in that scenario it's your relatives who have the hassle rather than you, but it's a bit selfish to reason like that!

From:

lethargic_man

What you should definitely definitely do is find out what actually happens on intestacy from an authoritative source; ephemera's link to a .gov.uk page looks promising.

That said my father.

You should also not trust random people pontificating on the internet, because most people-on-the-internet really don't know anything about the law, they make assumptions based on half-digested American blogs or what they think the law ought to be. Yes, that also means you should not trust me

Well, you're hardly a random person on the Internet.

If you have a flat in London, given how completely irrational the London property market is at the moment, it is very likely to be worth enough that there will be tax implications to intestacy.

I believe my total worth is still under the threshold for inheritance tax.

Also, I can't remember if you still have a mortgage but if you do your liabilities will be inherited along with your assets and this can get complicated really easily, so that's another strike in favour of getting your will sorted out.

bluepork told me years ago my mortgage will be paid off (by my life assurance presumably) in the event of my demise.

I know you care about what happens to your body after death; carrying your Halachic Organ Donor card should be enough but a will would help to reinforce that.

A will is far far too late for that; by the time the will's read out, I'll be in the ground.