Legal question

[gwaithcoed]

When my two daughters were 3&5 years old my wife and I made our wills and naming two friends as executors.
Now that my daughters are in their early 40s I wish to name them as executors.
Do I need to go to a solicitor to make out new wills or could I alter the existing wills and get someone to verify that it is us that have made the alterations.

Alan.

 

[AndyT]

There is no law against writing your own will.
In theory, someone who writes lots of wills will be able to do a better job.
There is plenty of advice and templates to follow, which might be fine if your affairs are simple. An easy way to find decent advice is to look on charity websites - many of them will help you make a will in the hope that you will leave them some money, but you are not obliged to do so.

 

[Alexam]

You can change your Will at any time by adding a letter to the Will that has been witnessed. Ideally, get the original two executors to witness the changes and your new instructions in the letter will be sufficient. After all, who is likely to challenge it, not the first two executors, as they would have witnessed the changes.

Depending on the value of your estate, if this will not exceed the nil rate band allowance, then specific action to mitigate the extra tax will not be needed.

Please ask for more information if needed.

Alex

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I used a specialist will writer. He cost me £600, we don't have much to leave but he forsaw events and potential problems that we hadn't. Copies of the will are in secure storage, and I don't regret the money for one minute.

 

[RoamingRich]

A change such as this is referred to as a codicil. Make sure whoever is holding the will knows of the change and has the current version to hand.

 

[gwaithcoed]

thanks to you all for your quick replies. I have googled Codicil and now am better informed

Alan