Advice on your will for €50 during "Best Will" week

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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21st - 25th October



Best Will in the World Week is an initiative run by Mylegacy* which takes place every October to highlight the importance of leaving a gift in your will and the difference a gift in your will to a charity can make.


During Best Will in the World Week, solicitors across the country offer will consultations for a fee of €50. People interested in making their will, or updating an existing will, are asked to consider leaving a gift to their favourite charity once loved ones have been taken care of.


Q. What is the cost to people who avail of these will consultations?Solicitors are being asked to offer these will consultations for a flat fee of €50 (including VAT). This is for the initial consultation and taking of outline instructions. MyLegacy asks that thereafter the client and solicitor discuss any additional costs between them.
 
Myself and my husband had our wills drawn up and signed last week. Our solicitor did not charge us for this.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
So the €50 is for an initial consultation only.

The cost of drawing up the will is extra.
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I thought the first consultation with a solicitor for such advice was normally free?

MyLegacy asks that thereafter the client and solicitor discuss any additional costs between them
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They may get more take up if people knew likely other costs.
 
I should get a will drawn up, so this seems like a good opportunity to get it done.

I have few assets in number, so I guess it would be relatively straightforward.
 
The vague and wide ranging costs associated with making a simple straightforward will is most unhelpful in my view. I would imagine that the vast majority of wills are not in any way complex. Why do solicitors not provide a standardized template (suitable for such cases) that could be purchased from their own or the Law Society website?
 
Its a mistake to focus on the fees charged for preparing a will. The cost of a will is negligible compared to the legal costs associated with processing the post-death estate of a deceased person.

I have seen cases where people paid solicitors £20 or £30 to have a will prepared, and a decade or two later the solicitors charged several tens of thousands to the estate for implementing the will and processing the estate post-death.

So shop around by all means, but focus on the important issues and try not to fall for loss-leader gimmickry.
 
Agreed - however it would be nice to have a standardized starting point (in terms of structure and cost) that has been approved and made available by solicitors/law society.
 
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