Wills & life insurance questions xx

[DizzyMoo]

This is only to fellow SINGLE mummies/daddies

I'm just wondering what to do about getting a will &/or life insurance set up.
So just wondered which you had if any or both, What they entail? cost etc .

Have you a will?
If no .. why?
If yes what details are in it concerning your children for when you die?
Do you have life insurance?
If no .. why ?
If yes .. who with?
How much a month?
How much does it cover?
And what other details ie does your child get it straight away, is it entrusted to someone? Is it kept til they are 18? etc etc


Please add any details you think would help me choose which or both, as i dont know what to do.

Dont have to answer any questions if you want to keep it private i understand xx

 

[purpledahlia]

Im not sure i havnt done one yet, but im plannin on doing one soon when my dad is home this week will discuss it. I dont think a will costs much to do, insurance i have no idea about ive only kind of looked into will's.

 

[expecting09]

Can't help but I'd like to know the answers too

 

[Aidedhoney]

I dont have a will yet but i think they are about £100, mine will basically say who has my children should i die!!
Also will state that any monies i leave be split equally between then and held in trust till they reach 18 or start uni

I do have life insurance with legal and general i pay £6.00 per month and if i die my kids will get a lump sum think its forty thousand which would be enough for them both to go to uni.

 

[sweetlullaby]

I would also like to know the answers, actually have solicitors card in my purse and keep meaning to phone and ask questions and set it all up. Life insurance I didn't really think about but think I'll go nosey and see which is best for LO to get etc. Not entirely sure but I think if god forbid anything happened before LO was 18 then the guardians can have access to the life insurance to help with costs of LO though think they arnt allowed to blow the money type thing as it would belong to your LO.

EDIT- Unless you state the money has to be kept in trust or something

 

[lauramarie]

Hey do have a will stating that i want my parents to be guardians of my son and anything i have to be left to him.

Thanks for mentioning life insurance, hadn't even occured to me, don't know why. going to look at policy, and see how much they are x

 

[suzanne108]

Both things I've looked into but not got round t doing!

Wills can be done really cheaply if you do a DIY one. You can buy the stuff in WH Smith, there was a thread on here a while back about them. I asked my friend who is a trainee solicitor whether they were as legally binding as a will done with a solicitor. She said yes, the only difference is that you don't get any legal advice with a DIY one. The only reason they're so expensive done with a solicitor is because you are paying for their time. So you could go DIY and research. Look for child clauses usually attached to wills.

As for life insurance. Legal and General looks the best (and you get £40 M&S vouchers - bonus). Its about £6 a month for 100 grand cover!

 

[littlekitten8]

I am looking into wills and life insurance currently. As FOB is making no effort to come see LO I am seriously considering making my parents his legal guardians so he would go to them if god forbid anything happens to me. The thought of LO going to someone who he hasn't seen since he was 3 months old (and even then rarely saw and had hardly any relationship with him) scares the crap out of me!

 

[bloodbinds]

I have life insurance which will pay out £500,000 on the event of my death. I pay £13 a month for this with HelpCover

I also have a Will (which i will change once Bella turns 18)
The Will states who will take parental control in the event of my death and how the money from my life insurance is to be spent and who it is to be given to. My Sister is my trustee who will take parental responsibilty of Bella and also she will be control of the money and though it is for Bella, she will decide how it is spent on her and how much is given to her for her own benefit. As long as enough is used to pay for university and put some put into savings account.
Also i have a few other items of value and importance which is put in my Will and who will recieve them and what to do with them etc


Also i went on all those comparison websites for the life insurance for the best quote (gocompare.com moneysupermarket.com comparethemarket.com etc)

 

[ladyjayne]

I know im not a single mummy but i thought i could offer some advice.
when it comes to children be very careful with DIY wills as they can be easily torn apart in court by a solicitor if the FOB dissagrees with your child being left with whomever you choose as a guardian.
If FOB is named on the birth certificate and he has PR(parental responsibility - this isnt if he sees or pays for your LO simply that you were either married at the time of the birth or that you registered the birth together after dec 2003 or by a parental responsibility agreement with the mother or by a parental responsibility order, made by a court) any children will go to the other parent. You can if done properly impose limitations, i.e needing another persons consent to move or leave the country (even for holidays)ect.
Basically be very careful and seek proper advice. The last thing you want is your LO to go to someone who you dont feel will take care of them.

You can get free of cheap wills see below:

If you’re on a low income, have little savings, disabled, have a disabled child or are a single parent, you may be able to get help writing a will through the Legal Aid scheme.

some trade unions offer free or reduced rate Wills - Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the NASUWT teachers' union, the Fire Brigade Union and Unison to name a few.

or try WillAid -
A UK wide scheme, run every November, WillAid teams up with 1,100 solicitors to provide free wills. One of its main advantages is it doesn’t impose a minimum age on who can get a will.

However, rather than a bequest, it hopes you’ll make a £75 donation (£110 for a couple, £40 to amend an existing will); much less than it’d cost to pay direct, yet if you can’t afford this you don’t have to. Just give what you can.

Or check your home insurance and car insurance -If you opted to get legal cover as part of your home or car insurance policy, check whether it includes a will service, eg MoreThan’s £20 add-on legal service allows access to a range of wills and other legal template documents. Complete your details and it's checked by the legal team, who’ll send the will back to you for signing.
Hope that helps
xxx

 

[DizzyMoo]

Tbh i'm not sure what to do yet, When i set up life insurance i certainly wont want it to be entrusted til they are 18 i know that much, Id want id say majority of it to be used for their upbringing , clothing, toys food & trips out etc. Im just wary about it not covering something & then that happening & they get diddly squat.
I want the life insurance to pay for the funeral 1st & anything left after that is to be shared equally between the boys. This would be in the will.

With the will thing i know they can be contested if you do not put reasons why you want such & such to happen, Neither of my boys have their bios on the birth cert & at the moment i would want both of them to go to my brother & his wife BUT they have 3 kids already & i actually feel they wouldn't like to have them so i need to ask about it as my mum would take josh but ive nobody for jax & i sure as hell aint splitting em up.
Jaxs dad at the moment still hasn't seen him so he wouldn't get jax either, Anything i own would be sold & given to the boys or their then guardian for them.

All this talk of wills & insurance has really upset me & i keep bursting into tears & hugging them both, I think its kicking in now i wont always be here ..oh god here i go again brb ...

 

[purpledahlia]

 

[sweetlullaby]

hope your ok hun

 

[suzanne108]

 

[Nij]

I am not a single parent but I can answer you on the wills front. You can make your own and it is totally legal. There are some rules which makes it legal but hard to explain here. Pm me if you wanna know more it's on a word doc.
It seamsmpretty straight forward and it is what both I and kte will be doing. I paid for the info so it's not the usual bull you get from google.

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

can anyone answer a question for me ? I'm a bit daft when it comes to this stuff... but is there any way i can make sure that if anything happens to me, that my LO goes to my parents and not to him(my ex})...he is on the birth certificate tho .... thanks I worry about this so much as i know for a fact, he would try and take him/ his parents would stick their nose in ... he is a abso twat lol ! X

 

[suzanne108]

can anyone answer a question for me ? I'm a bit daft when it comes to this stuff... but is there any way i can make sure that if anything happens to me, that my LO goes to my parents and not to him(my ex})...he is on the birth certificate tho .... thanks I worry about this so much as i know for a fact, he would try and take him/ his parents would stick their nose in ... he is a abso twat lol ! X

Just because he is named on the BC it doesn't mean he'll automatically go to FOB. Its one of the things I seeked legal advice about when trying to decide whether FOB was going on the BC or not.

The best thing to do is draw up a will stating who you would like him to go to if anything happened. The courts would look at the circumstances and decide what was best for the LO which wouldn't necessarily be FOB. Just mae sure that your wishes are clear. X

 

[bloodbinds]

Big hugs Dizzy!

I cried when it first occured to me that i would have to do something to make sure Bella was looked after if i was no longer here. The thought of being apart from her makes my heart feel like it's bleeding, but putting a will together and setting up life insurance actually made me feel a little better. If i'm gone, she'll be without a mummy, but because of what i've done i know she will be in a loving family and she'll never want for anything with the amount of money i'm leaving her. As long as she's loved and is happy, then everythings alright, even if i'm not the one there for her.

Big hugs hun, whatever you decide to do will be the right thing. Plus, we are both a long long way off dying! I think Bella's going to be pretty pissed off when i get to 100 and i have great great grandkids i'm having to split all my money between!! Lol xxx

 

[purpledahlia]

ok now im all teary about it too

 

[DizzyMoo]

Right i'm back again not so teary now ..

I'm going to enquire about seeing a solicitor next week so will report back n let you know x