Thread: Wills.

Guys, maybe you are all bored with my story. Fair enough, I would be too. But, I need to tell you something. You should all have a will. It should not be one of those things they advertise, it should be done by a decent lawyer.

Jan and I thought we had it sorted. We knew what we wanted. Everybody involved, at a personal level, agrees as to how the estate would be disbursed. We thought that would be enough. WRONG.

This is a simple estate. We had a house together. We had personal things we wanted to go to our kids. That's it, pretty much.

Jan died intestate, that is, without a Will. She had one written, and people were coming in the Wednesday to witness it. Unfortunately, she died on the Tuesday night before.

This will, which we ALL agree with, now has to go to probably the Supreme Court for a Grant of Probate. It will wind up costing around $15K to get this sorted, if not more.

Nobody has a guarantee in his/her back pocket that they will be alive in the morning. Make a Will. Do it now. Or, do you want to leave a nightmare for those you leave to deal with?

I love Jan, and I know she loved me. She would HATE what she left me and her kids to deal with. Maybe you would feel the same.

Make a will, people. If you don't you leave an absolute nightmare. Ask me how I know..

Originally Posted by johntins

Guys, maybe you are all bored with my story. Fair enough, I would be too. But, I need to tell you something. You should all have a will. It should not be one of those things they advertise, it should be done by a decent lawyer.

Jan and I thought we had it sorted. We knew what we wanted. Everybody involved, at a personal level, agrees as to how the estate would be disbursed. We thought that would be enough. WRONG.

This is a simple estate. We had a house together. We had personal things we wanted to go to our kids. That's it, pretty much.

Jan died intestate, that is, without a Will. She had one written, and people were coming in the Wednesday to witness it. Unfortunately, she died on the Tuesday night before.

This will, which we ALL agree with, now has to go to probably the Supreme Court for a Grant of Probate. It will wind up costing around $15K to get this sorted, if not more.

Nobody has a guarantee in his/her back pocket that they will be alive in the morning. Make a Will. Do it now. Or, do you want to leave a nightmare for those you leave to deal with?

I love Jan, and I know she loved me. She would HATE what she left me and her kids to deal with. Maybe you would feel the same.

Make a will, people. If you don't you leave an absolute nightmare. Ask me how I know..

Unfortunate John..stuff you just dont need in this or any context.
All wills have to go through the probate court - I would hope that if every beneficiary on the unsigned will agrees with it then it should go through without too much expense? Is there a solicitor involved that assisted with the drafting of the will? If everybody( every beneficiary) involved signed off on a carefully worded statement (drafted by solicitor) to the probate court to effect that all parties were involved in discussions that led to the writing of the will and that all parties agree that it is an accurate representation of her wishes perhaps that would help the process?
I feel for your situation.

Currently I am executor of my mothers will - she remarried after my father died and the solictors stuffed the whole situation up with the type of wills they recommended with her new husband around 10 years ago. Has cost a fortune and caused a lot of conflict and estrangement in the family. Solicitors do ok from it - and are not accountable for causing the mess in the first place.