Wills - payment up front?

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by Hetty, 17th Apr, 2020.

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  1. Hetty

    Hetty Well-Known Member

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    I’ve had wills done before, and went through some of the process when my father needed a will. I’m getting new wills drawn up and the lawyer wants the money up front. I haven’t been asked for that before. Is this normal? She takes a week to reply to an email and didn’t reply to one email at all, so I’m thinking if she has the cash there’s no incentive to do it any time soon.
     
  2. Trainee

    Trainee Well-Known Member

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    How much are they charging?
     
  3. Islay

    Islay Well-Known Member

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    My experiences have been, they do the work and give it to you after you settle the account. That seems fair to me. Having said that I hate poor communication:)
     
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  4. Hetty

    Hetty Well-Known Member

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    $1000 for two wills, two power of attorney, two enduring guardianship


    Same @Islay
     
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  5. Terry_w

    Terry_w Lawyer, Tax Adviser and Mortgage broker in Sydney Business Member

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    Lawyers can't charge upfront before the work is done. The money would need to go into their trust account.
    I don't want to run a trust account so I charge after the wills are completed.
    for $1000 you probably wont be getting good quality wills.
     
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  6. Hetty

    Hetty Well-Known Member

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    Yes it’s going into a trust account. I need good wills! I asked around and was told these people are good. I think in the area I’m in people can’t charge any more than that, I’m not keen on driving all the way into the city. If anyone has recommendations in Western Sydney I’m all ears.
     
  7. Trainee

    Trainee Well-Known Member

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    The question is, what are you NOT getting for that price? Do you know enough to know what you are not getting? Do you know enough to know what you want? What is 'good'?

    Personally, think that wills are important enough to go to the city. It's one time, twice at the most.
     
  8. Hetty

    Hetty Well-Known Member

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    No, I don’t know enough. My uncle is a film lawyer but wouldn’t be much help on this lol. I have some complexities and I want everything considered, mainly around my children inheriting. You’re right, it’s just with the situation at the moment I am trying to avoid, but best to find someone decent and make the trip.
     
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  9. Terry_w

    Terry_w Lawyer, Tax Adviser and Mortgage broker in Sydney Business Member

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    i have written over 100 tips on wills in the legal section, have a captain cook at them
     
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  10. Perp

    Perp Well-Known Member

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    That's astonishingly cheap. You can't be getting anything more than templates with names changed for that price, or it wouldn't cover costs.

    Wills are notoriously difficult for people to know the difference between a 'good' and a 'bad' one. The person whose will it was generally never finds out it was bad. Their beneficiaries only find out after they're dead. Lay people really can't assess.

    Look for somebody who specialises in succession law. Don't pick somebody who 'dabbles'; it's an extremely complex area of law. Many lawyers who mostly do conveyancing or family law or whatever think they can dabble in it, but you really can't, competently.

    #respect, @Terry_w
     
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  11. Hetty

    Hetty Well-Known Member

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    Last time I got two wills for $500. Maybe they’re even worse lol.

    I found an estates lawyer.
     
  12. Trainee

    Trainee Well-Known Member

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    Put it this way, if a lawyer quoted you $5,000 for wills, how would you react?

    Not all estates lawyers are created equal.

    You first have to understand the value in, say, a testamentary trust. Your executor and beneficiaries also need to understand what's in the will and how it can benefit them.
     
    Last edited: 17th Apr, 2020
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  13. Hetty

    Hetty Well-Known Member

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    Well, I’d rather not pay that much, but I can if that’s what I need to do. The beneficiaries apart from my husband are a 2yo and the other one is currently in utero so they’re not going to understand the will!
     
  14. Trainee

    Trainee Well-Known Member

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    But you won't pay that much, unless you understand what you are getting compared to the $500 will. Catch 22.

    You have to assume that once you do this will you won't look at it again until someone dies, so it has to allow for many possibilities.

    Usually it is advised that your will be revised every time a life event happens. Very few people do that.
     
    Last edited: 17th Apr, 2020
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  15. Paul@PAS

    Paul@PAS Tax, Accounting + SMSF + All things Property Tax Business Plus Member

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    Hope they also mention super. I always ask clients that question after they mention updated wills. Im shocked how often they say - No the soliictor didnt mention it.

    Met someone with a terminal illness who didnt realise super had massive death and TPD cover. Claimed one and now must wait for the other unfortunate event. His will had been drafted ignoring the issue days prior and on quick read it looked terribly deficient. Referred to a good estate lawyer and the revised wills were NOTHING like the former. Around $5500 I recall vs $1500 for the originals. Testamentary trusts for his 3 young kids and very specific guardianship and protection v's his wife remarrying etc. Even the trusts are locked down with 2 x independent protectors (his brothers) and all the invested capital is locked down until each kid attains a specifc age. Enough is left in a maintenance trust for their specific education etc costs but also supervised by the two guardians and the wife. Wife lacks control and on remarriage or a defacto relationship her role is severed from all but the maintenance trust. Lawyer even asked him about gifts on marriage etc. He was so impresssed to be asked this so many years before so that his kids will know he thought of them so far in advance.
     
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  16. vbplease

    vbplease Well-Known Member

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    We recently had our wills done - 2 x wills + 2 x EPOA's @ $1000 + GST.

    Paid at completion.

    Only a solicitor can assess the quality, but we were happy with the detail our solicitor went to i.e. considered every asset we had, what combinations were possible with myself/partner dying and who would look after the kids.. possible combinations of distributing assets to the kids, and time frames of allocating assets, guardians etc.

    I believe with any profession if you rock up to their office and see a mountain of overheads, you'll get charged like a wounded bull.
     
  17. Hetty

    Hetty Well-Known Member

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    The lawyer I was talking to (who wanted $1000) told me I couldn’t leave anything to my children because my property would go to my husband, I told her I made our PPOR tenants in common, and she asked if I was sure because that’s very strange and I said I did it on purpose so it would go through the will. I guess that’s a bit of an alarm bell!
     
  18. Terry_w

    Terry_w Lawyer, Tax Adviser and Mortgage broker in Sydney Business Member

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    It sure is. Your husband might die before you, and even if it was JT you could sever that - which should be part of the advice.
     
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  19. Hetty

    Hetty Well-Known Member

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    Yeah I’ve been thinking about severing it on one of the IPs at least, I want the money to go to the kids. I’m happy for him to have a life interest in the PPOR but the thought of the money going to a new wife if he remarried, rather than my kids, is way too much for me!
     
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  20. Trainee

    Trainee Well-Known Member

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    Ask them about testamentary trusts...

    if joint tenants, him to her, her to him is all they are used to.....
     
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