Can I Update my will to a new solicitor ?

T

thewire2020

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Quick question I have my will made but it’s over 20 years old now, it’s with a solicitor in Cork, however can I make a new will in my local town or do I have to remain with the solicitor that has my original and amend the original one ? Thank you
 
You don't have to use the original solicitor. You can use any solicitor that you want. Just make sure it's clear that the new will supersedes/overrides any previous will(s). Your solicitor will be able to advise on how best to do this.
 
When you make the new will, it's strongly advisable to recover the old will from the solicitor who holds it and, when you get it, destroy it. It's revoked anyway by the fact of making the new will, but you do not want two different wills floating around after you are dead.
 
An elderly cousin died last year… she had 7 wills with several different solicitors dated over the past few decades. Took a while to sort it all out.

What was annoying and avoidable was she kept asking a solicitor to come to see her in the nursing home and she’d get her/him to draw up a new will and get staff to witness it. Then do the same a year later, on 4 occasions same staff, including the home manager, now she seemed to be fully clued in and alert. And it’s her right to do this. And each of the solicitors accepted a fee and each will as properly drawn up.

Sorting it all out incurred more costs. The risk being of course that there was an 8th will knocking around. So all the local solicitors had to be contacted and asked to check. There is a surprisingly large number of local solicitors! And that was in a village in midlands, dunno how that works in a city.

And the final will was beyond messy, but it was legal. Left a mess for her heirs and the net effect looks likely to be another abandoned derelict house in rural Ireland and an ongoing battle between her siblings.
 
Great advice thank you, I enquired with two local solicitors and I informed them of my previous will. I asked for a price to draw up a new will one is €150 ( 2 meetings one to draft and one to sign ), the other will charge €400!
 
thewire2020 said:
I asked for a price to draw up a new will one is €150 ( 2 meetings one to draft and one to sign ), the other will charge €400!
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A better question might be how much do they charge to process wills post death.

I know of a couple who paid £100 for the will and when they eventually died in short succession, the solicitor charged the family €60,000.
 
T McGibney said:
I know of a couple who paid £100 for the will and when they eventually died in short succession, the solicitor charged the family €60,000.
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Very true, happens a lot.

But there is no obligation on the executor to give the job to the solicitor who drew up the will.

My parents Solicitor who held the will quoted mad money for probate and house sale.
I got another solicitor to do it for about 60% less.
 
A better question might be how much do they charge to process wills post death.

I know of a couple who paid £100 for the will and when they eventually died in short succession, the solicitor charged the family €60,000.
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Have just been quoted €25,000 for a slightly complicated situation. It's a mystery how they charge - time involved? Proportion of the estimated amount of the estate?
 
Gordanus said:
Have just been quoted €25,000 for a slightly complicated situation.
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How slightly, exactly? And what kind of complication? The kind that might lead to a claim against the estate?

I appreciate that you may not want to answer those questions on a public forum. My reaction to the information you post is that €25k to draft a will strikes me as very high, which makes me think either that you're being ripped or that the complications are not as slight as you may think. Complications can include:
  • Complex family situation; existing family dispute
  • Estate includes properties the subject of an existing dispute; estate includes claims that are disputed
  • Insolvent or near-insolvent testator; subsisting claims against testator; testator has unrecognised liablities
  • Estate includes significant assets in more than one jurisdiction; estate includes assets that have been put into complex structures for tax reasons
  • Complicated disposition of assets; e.g. testator want to establish a customised trust
 
Gordanus said:
Have just been quoted €25,000 for a slightly complicated situation. It's a mystery how they charge - time involved? Proportion of the estimated amount of the estate?
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Usually a proportion of the estate.

But if there's a family dispute- all too common unfortunately- it could get to 5 or even 6 figures quickly enough. A lot of the time it's not even (or definitely not only) about the money- you've siblings who resented each other since primary school and dealing with the parents is one last opportunity to properly scratch each other's eyes out and boy do they like to drag that out for a few years...
 
TRS30 said:
Do you need a solicitor at all to do a will? Can you do it yourself?
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Legally, you can do it yourself. As in, it's not a crime to draw up your own will.

But it's easy to stuff up without a fair degree of technical knowledge. And stuffups can be catastrophic. And by the time it emerges that the will hsa been stuffed up, it's too late to do anything about it.

So doing your own will is a very bad idea. Not quite as bad as removing your own tonsils to avoid having to pay a surgeon, but in that territory.
 
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Agree that ideally a solicitor would be best course of action. However, my wife has a relative in a nursing home (still has full faculties), they have nothing of value apart from one whole of life assurance policy to cover funeral costs (modest amount from what I can work out).
I was wondering to save the cost of a solicitor, if a basic will, signed by them and witnessed would suffice for the life company in relation to pay out to cover funeral expenses.
 
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They may not need a will at all for that. Talk to the insurance company about whether the policy allows the policyholder to nominate someone to whom payment is to be made.

If they do decide to do "a basic will, signed by them and witnessed", be aware that the witnessing requirements are detailed and technical and must be complied with exactly. Probably the single most common reason for problems with wills is that they haven't been witnessed properly.
 
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