Discussion
Yes you can use a Will writing service if your estate is fairly simple and the division to beneficiaries straightforward. All Wills need 2 witnesses, you will sign yours with them watching then they have to both sign it in your presence and watching each other sign. Each witness will need to sign their name and print their name, address and occupation below yours. I am pretty sure you will also need to sign each page.
It seems a lot but think Harold Shipman. I have also seen a fake will that was witnessed by care home staff who believed they were signing a funeral plan. That took 3 years to sort out and went through the courts in the end with the perpetrator getting a prison sentence.
It seems a lot but think Harold Shipman. I have also seen a fake will that was witnessed by care home staff who believed they were signing a funeral plan. That took 3 years to sort out and went through the courts in the end with the perpetrator getting a prison sentence.
KAgantua said:
Hello, has anyone used a will writing service? I can see online ones, but I understand it needs to be signed by two witensses? How does that work?
Anyone used someone in the Kent area they can recommend please?
I work within the Funeral Industry. My advice - as I’ve always done and always promote to families - find a local Solicitor who specialises in Wills and Probate - keep clear of the onliners as they’re neither qualified or SRA regulated. No one likes a contested LW&T after passing. It drives families apart unnecessarily. Your local Solicitor who specialises will charge <£350(ish) including lodging. Anyone used someone in the Kent area they can recommend please?
In terms of two witnesses - yes. They’ll get another Solicitor from the same practice but totally unrelated to Wills&Probate to witness and most probably the Receptionist. It’s a thirty-second job when all said and done. It’s watertight.
Go online, you’ll have to get Nora from next door and it’s open to challenge…
Tanyastar said:
I have also seen a fake will that was witnessed by care home staff who believed they were signing a funeral plan.
The fact that they didn't know what they were witnessing was neither here nor there. They are witnessing the signature, not the document.ADJimbo said:
Go online, you ll have to get Nora from next door and it s open to challenge
There is absolutely no problem with getting Nora next door (neighbours with other names are available) as a witness.ADJimbo said:
KAgantua said:
Hello, has anyone used a will writing service? I can see online ones, but I understand it needs to be signed by two witensses? How does that work?
Anyone used someone in the Kent area they can recommend please?
I work within the Funeral Industry. My advice - as I ve always done and always promote to families - find a local Solicitor who specialises in Wills and Probate - keep clear of the onliners as they re neither qualified or SRA regulated. No one likes a contested LW&T after passing. It drives families apart unnecessarily. Your local Solicitor who specialises will charge <£350(ish) including lodging. Anyone used someone in the Kent area they can recommend please?
In terms of two witnesses - yes. They ll get another Solicitor from the same practice but totally unrelated to Wills&Probate to witness and most probably the Receptionist. It s a thirty-second job when all said and done. It s watertight.
Go online, you ll have to get Nora from next door and it s open to challenge
BertBert said:
There is absolutely no problem with getting Nora next door (neighbours with other names are available) as a witness.
Are you choosing to be both obtuse and downright belligerent on purpose? Yes. I’m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you’re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that’s a brilliant price/deal and you’re right to follow it…
ADJimbo said:
I work within the Funeral Industry. My advice - as I ve always done and always promote to families - find a local Solicitor who specialises in Wills and Probate - keep clear of the onliners as they re neither qualified or SRA regulated. No one likes a contested LW&T after passing. It drives families apart unnecessarily. Your local Solicitor who specialises will charge <£350(ish) including lodging.
In terms of two witnesses - yes. They ll get another Solicitor from the same practice but totally unrelated to Wills&Probate to witness and most probably the Receptionist. It s a thirty-second job when all said and done. It s watertight.
Go online, you ll have to get Nora from next door and it s open to challenge
The only thing with a solicitor is that they (in my experiance) will put themselves down as executors. Be very careful that this is what you want.In terms of two witnesses - yes. They ll get another Solicitor from the same practice but totally unrelated to Wills&Probate to witness and most probably the Receptionist. It s a thirty-second job when all said and done. It s watertight.
Go online, you ll have to get Nora from next door and it s open to challenge
FWIW we've just had ours done by a recommended local will-writing person. She's an ex-solicitor, and also affiliated to some organisation that checks the wills, so that gave a bit of extra confidence. Since they are just simple mirror wills that leave everything to each other, then children, potential grandchildren, there didn't seem much point in paying extra for a solicitor to do them.
ADJimbo said:
Are you choosing to be both obtuse and downright belligerent on purpose?
Yes. I m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that s a brilliant price/deal and you re right to follow it
The fact that a professional has witnessed the signing of the will is neither here nor there, in terms of vulnerability to challenge. The job of the witness is not to determine whether the testator has capacity to make the will.Yes. I m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that s a brilliant price/deal and you re right to follow it
As for the Law Commission, it has not made (and could not make) any changes to the Wills Act.
outnumbered said:
FWIW we've just had ours done by a recommended local will-writing person. She's an ex-solicitor, and also affiliated to some organisation that checks the wills, so that gave a bit of extra confidence. Since they are just simple mirror wills that leave everything to each other, then children, potential grandchildren, there didn't seem much point in paying extra for a solicitor to do them.
There's a woman in our area who is the same - solicitor who has taken a step back and does Wills to fill in time and, I suppose, for pin money. I'd have been happy to use her but for some reason my wife wasn't keen as we have a slightly complicated family. We used a local firm with several offices across the county - but the solicitor we dealt with there left shortly afterwards so there won't be any continuity.
Runes said:
ADJimbo said:
Are you choosing to be both obtuse and downright belligerent on purpose?
Yes. I m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that s a brilliant price/deal and you re right to follow it
The fact that a professional has witnessed the signing of the will is neither here nor there, in terms of vulnerability to challenge. The job of the witness is not to determine whether the testator has capacity to make the will.Yes. I m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that s a brilliant price/deal and you re right to follow it
As for the Law Commission, it has not made (and could not make) any changes to the Wills Act.
In terms of the Law Commission - you have read their 2025 amended draft of findings which has recently been adopted by everyone in the industry as best practice, which is now going through parliament haven’t you?
alscar said:
NugentS said:
The only thing with a solicitor is that they (in my experiance) will put themselves down as executors. Be very careful that this is what you want.
Indeed although the Solicitors should be putting down exactly who you want and ask for !A positive mention on MoneySavingExpert led me to it.
We already had an older will (but the solicitor was no longer alive!), but essentially needed to change the executors to be our now adult (& functioning/competent
) children. That meant it was pretty easy to compare the wording.
It was a bit of an iterative process for us to get as we wanted (& create a will each!), but very fast and straightforward. The wording is simple plain English.
As mentioned on MSE, they offer an executor service, but we would want our offspring to have the opportunity to sort things or chose an executor themselves if they felt they couldn’t do it.
Discussed with them too.
Beware freewills month where you are encouraged to donate - some organisations get (got?) a terrible reputation for hounding people when they know they are expecting a few £K. Again, we have told ours they are welcome to donate to a charity they support after the event in their own time.
For an aunties will the executor was the firm of solicitors which resulted in a huge executor fee to administer an estate consisting of just a building society account and it took a year.
The in-laws mirror wills were 9 pages of legalese gobbledygook and much complicated then needed to only achieve a straightforward outcome using a family executor.
My parents mirror wills were 3 pages of much more plain English and it was a family executor.
Involve your executor in your will and give them a copy now and tell them where the original is kept.
The in-laws mirror wills were 9 pages of legalese gobbledygook and much complicated then needed to only achieve a straightforward outcome using a family executor.
My parents mirror wills were 3 pages of much more plain English and it was a family executor.
Involve your executor in your will and give them a copy now and tell them where the original is kept.
ADJimbo said:
Runes said:
ADJimbo said:
Are you choosing to be both obtuse and downright belligerent on purpose?
Yes. I m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that s a brilliant price/deal and you re right to follow it
The fact that a professional has witnessed the signing of the will is neither here nor there, in terms of vulnerability to challenge. The job of the witness is not to determine whether the testator has capacity to make the will.Yes. I m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that s a brilliant price/deal and you re right to follow it
As for the Law Commission, it has not made (and could not make) any changes to the Wills Act.
In terms of the Law Commission - you have read their 2025 amended draft of findings which has recently been adopted by everyone in the industry as best practice, which is now going through parliament haven t you?
But that has nothing to do with your earlier point, which you now appear to agree was wrong, that having a professional witness somehow offers protection against a challenge on the basis of lack of capacity.
As for your claim that the Law Commission's "amended draft of findings [...] is now going through parliament", here's the list of current bills: https://bills.parliament.uk/ Which one are you talking about?
Runes said:
ADJimbo said:
Runes said:
ADJimbo said:
Are you choosing to be both obtuse and downright belligerent on purpose?
Yes. I m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that s a brilliant price/deal and you re right to follow it
The fact that a professional has witnessed the signing of the will is neither here nor there, in terms of vulnerability to challenge. The job of the witness is not to determine whether the testator has capacity to make the will.Yes. I m more than aware that there is no issue with the neighbour witnessing the signature. My advice was to dispense with this need, place it in the hands of professionals so the LW&T cannot be challenged further down the line.
The issue here is that after passing, a wonder-from-down-under crops up, hands out, stating the LW&T is not valid because the neighbour may have been suffering from Alzheimers. This will generate years and years of litigation.
I do assume you re aware of the 1887 Wills Act and the recent changes the Law Commission made to said act last month?
OP - that s a brilliant price/deal and you re right to follow it
As for the Law Commission, it has not made (and could not make) any changes to the Wills Act.
In terms of the Law Commission - you have read their 2025 amended draft of findings which has recently been adopted by everyone in the industry as best practice, which is now going through parliament haven t you?
But that has nothing to do with your earlier point, which you now appear to agree was wrong, that having a professional witness somehow offers protection against a challenge on the basis of lack of capacity.
As for your claim that the Law Commission's "amended draft of findings [...] is now going through parliament", here's the list of current bills: https://bills.parliament.uk/ Which one are you talking about?
In terms of the Law Commission findings - their draft recommendations were published about six weeks ago so it’ll be about 18/24 months to be read in Parliament. It does not stop anybody embracing that report.
I was always taught at Uni that under instruction, we apply common-sense first and foremost. We then have the Law to fall back on if we need it.
ADJimbo said:
If a family member contests the LW&T, where they ve come out of the woodwork claiming the next-door neighbour - whom witnessed the signature - was a bit doo-lally then we re into a contest and racking up significant fees in litigation which will ultimately dilutes the LW&T to pay those fees.
Unfortunately, this sort of comment perpetuates the myth that it's easy to challenge a Will.In fact, it's quite the opposite. In order to mount an effective challenge you would need a competent solicitor to prepare the case, and no competent solicitor is going to take a case on unless there is some fairly convincing evidence to support a claim. So in the example you give, unless there was convincing evidence that the neighbour lacked mental capacity it wouldn't even get off the ground.
And if the would-be challenger chose to ignore the solicitor's advice and challenge the Will anyway, the claim would almost certainly be struck out at an early stage, and the claimant would have to pay the executors' legal costs, which could be well into the thousands.
Although it's generally better to employ a professional to make a Will, home made Wills are quite common, and where the testator's affairs are simple the majority of such Wills are admitted to probate without any problem.
ADJimbo said:
In terms of the Law Commission findings - their draft recommendations were published about six weeks ago so it ll be about 18/24 months to be read in Parliament. It does not stop anybody embracing that report.
The recommendations were for changes in the substantive law relating to Wills. Lawyers may `embrace’ the report as much as they like, but they can’t act in accordance with any of the Law Commission’s recommendations unless and until the law is actually changed.mikeiow said:
We wrote our latest using https://www.freewills.co.uk
A positive mention on MoneySavingExpert led me to it..
(For ref of PH Powerfully Built Company Directors - it needs all your assets to be in Englnad & Wales. This is not for you)A positive mention on MoneySavingExpert led me to it..
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