Going to bid at a charittteee auction as I ought to have had one done ages ago, what's a solictors rate for doing an bog std will ? (thinking c.£150 ?)

D

 

I think its in the region of £80 +

 

My cost £42.00 with mine

 

I charge £100 if its a simple married couples Will (although nowadays most folks have assets that put them over the IHT allowance and need something a little more complex so i cant recall the last time i did a simple one apart from the odd one for children of clients who are only young)

TBH....if you only need a £100 Will i would do it myself (if i were you)

 

Thks - need to cover wife & kids etc. Theoretical Estate would break IHT threshold but usual spouse transfers shouldn't leave a problem....as long as we're both about.
Up to £120 it is..........is all for charitttteee & the solicitor can decide whether I've paid alot or got it cheap.

D

 

if you are young then if you die your wife will hook up quick enough with someone new so no IHT issues

if you die together a decent solicitor will sort the IHT issues anyway...assuming total estate not over £570ish

 

I knew Gordon was targeting IHT but £570 ! The contents of the fridge are worth more.

D

 

sorry...i only work in thousands

 

There's a solicitor not far from where i live who only charges £25 plus vat. Geoff.

 

is that a good thing?

 

Free! Now that is a good thing.

 

my concern was what hapens when you go to a "£25 a will" solicitor and ask for his thoughts on stipulating ages beyond 18 for inheritance of money held in trust for under 18 benerficiaries in light of the recent bidget and finace act.

get what you pay for.

 

He'd no doubt pass you on to a colleague who deals in such matters

 

who can then tell you your £25 Will is crappy and do you a new one

 

For £25 it'll be a 'Won't'

 

It might be a maybe..... and on the subject....

Tiggs - How you getting on with the trust tax stuff. It seems that with all the legal boffins in the UK on their team, the insurance companies can't decide if a WOL in trust is a will, a wont or a maybe. Makes 'giving advice' interesting

 

Fairly straightforward at the moment....99% of our biz is now IHT based investment and i cant see anything changing that.

Loan Trust are all still fine and only a few providers have pulled them, only clients with an issue are those with big ones that will accrue growth beyond the nil rate band and run into periodical charges etc.

Discounted gifts and gifts into trust and a bit tricky but the average investment size has allways been 100-200k so below the NRB anyway.

People doing more than that will have to make the same call that those using lifetime transfer always had to anyway.

Waiting to know more before worrying about the "over 18's money held in trust via a Will"....most of the Wills i have done hold assets in trust to 21 or 25.

From what i gather on friday the finace act has said "not retrospective"? havent heard much else but sounds promising and makes it easier to deal with existing biz

End of the day i work on the basis that IHT planning is still the most lucrative type of private client finacial planning and as long as theres better pay outside the Inland Revenue than in it someone on the outside will make a way to make money that is one step ahead of what the IR have covered.

You are right on the insurance comp tech's though.....they are all scared to make a call on way or other until things are clearer........which they should be after the finace act now.

 

A lady friend of mine had a will drawn up by this solicitor and she is satisfied. The £25 fee plus vat also included storing the deeds to her flat. Geoff.

 

which is fine...but bear in mind that thats a very cheap service.

if she has no kids and not many assets it may not matter anyway.

 

What about the DIY wills you can buy from WHSmith?

 

I did my will last year and it cost me £400. It depends how much you are worth dead!!!

When we went to the solicitors, they went through all our financial details and also our life cover policies, and we are worth a fair bit dead!

Its all about inheritence tax and what gets taken out of your estate and the best way round it. I personally dont give a sh*t, cos i will be dead but it is your nearest and dearest you need to think about. If i was you i would get a good recomended solicitor and have a chat with them and for gods sake dont to a WH Smiths one!

 

sounds about right.

our average cost for a couples will is £650

 

What's wrong with a smiths one?

Can you not draw it up yourself, and get a solicitor to check it after..it seems a bit of a rip off (sorry but don't start me on bloody solicitors )

 

I know we all moan about solicitors, Im buying an office at the moment and I think my solicitor is actually dead!!! They have a job to do and when it comes to wills they know their stuff. Ok they charge a bit but they do it properley. If you want a WH Smiths one, do it but it aint a wise move!

 

if you have little of worth crack on.....if you have kids and/or IHT issues then i wouldnt suggest it.

 

I don't buy newspapers from a Solictors & I won't buy a will from a stationers.
I want a reputable solicitor who can be held to account, not legal advice from a 16 year old till boy.

D

 

to be fair...you could get a chocky bar at the same time and we cant supply that. Swings and roundabouts.