Wills

[LKC]

Hubby and I are going to the solicitors on Wednesday to sort our wills out because emigrating has made us think about what would happen should the worst happen. I presume that a will written in the UK will be okay in Oz and that our Australian assets (house business etc) will be dealt with in the same way as they would if we were in the UK? Or should we have really waited to get this done in Australia once we get there? Or is there anything we will need to do to the will once we arrive?

 

Is there anything that we should include in the will that relates to our particular situation of emigrating? Is there anything in relation to the children that we should include?

 

Having never had one before, I don't really know what's what with wills, so any advice of what you have done in similar circumstances would be great!

 

Thank you!

[Guest HappyBunny]

Hi, we enquired with our solicitor about making a will before we emigrated as we still have property in the UK, however we were advised by our solicitor that although we could have wills drawn up, it would be a waste of money as you need to have your will drawn up in the country where you are domiciled as that takes precedent over any other will.

[Guest jillandsi]

Hi,

We are in the process of doing our wills and will be leaving for Oz sometime next year, we decided to still go ahead and do them even though we were aware that we would have to do them again in Oz. One reason was that if something happened in the meantime having the plan to do it once we were in Oz would not do the people left behind any good, the second reason was that there are a great many questions to decide (guardianship, trusts for life insurance left behind, what money will be given to whom, executors etc) and it made sense to spend the time doing that while we were in England with not much else to do rather then do it in Oz at a time when we will be spending time setting up, settling in and possibly dealing with home sickness (which I imagine talking about all of this will not help), the third reason is that although you need to legally do a new will in Oz all of the info contained in your U.K. one will pretty much just transfer over with the appropriate amendments for Oz laws which will cut down on a lot of the work detailed above.

A quick note about domicile re OP, I am not sure that this is correct as it is on my to do list. I am under the impression that once you move over that you are resident in that country as opposed to the U.K. and that it has certain implications, however I have also been told that where you are dominciled would still be considered the U.K. unless you formally give it up and change it (presumably with legal advice and help), apparently this has implications with regards to the likes of inheritance tax it was implied that if you died in Oz your estate would still fall under U.K. rules and would be liable for inheritance tax because you were still domiciled in the U.K.

Like I said I do not know if any of this is correct, it is just something that I picked up from one of these many helpful expat websites, but it sounds like a mindfield doesn't it?

One last thing, it is will month in November, this is where certain solicitors will make up a will for free and instead ask for a donation to a particular charity (they recommend £75 for single and £150 for a partnership), there are links to the site on moneysavingexpert.com type wills into the search bar.

I know I have prattled on but I hope some of this is of interest.

Jillian

[LKC]

Many thanks for your replies!

 

We have been quoted £250+vat for a basic will for both of us and then £170+vat per hour for anything over and above the basic will (which I would imagine that we will have to pay because of hubbys business). Glad I asked now, because it is an awful lot of money to part with when we will have to have them re-written. I think we will cancel the appointment.

[neilo]

we have just made our joint will as we will be renting out our house in england and thought it best to have a plan for the proceeds of this if the worst should happen! we rang one of the willaid solicitor in our area and said we would make a donation rather than pay a recommended fee and gave 20.00.We told them upfront when we made the appointment and they excepted our donation.just an idea for those like us who are saving every penny!! ( you have to make the will in november!)

[Guest gary12]

We too were told that our wills would not be valid in Oz, I think it cost about £100 for us both. Although, this was just for a very basic, who gets the kids/house not broken down into giving aunt nelly the ornament she likes, you get my point.

 

Michelle

[LKC]

I have done a bit of googling and found out that a will written in the UK is probably valid, but that if the worst should happen, then the will will need to be proven to be valid which would involve both time and expense. So, I think the most sensible thing to do is to wait until we are in Oz before we make the wills, so that there are no problems for the children etc should the worst happen.