IF you are thinking about getting a Will done, I hope this helps:
Ok so I decided to do our wills at long last. I wanted a local firm as always try and support local business. Contacted Sharman as they have an office in Ampthill and we live in Maulden. I was concerned that our Wills (for me and my wife) would be a little to complicated to do a diy version or one of the online ones advertised for under £100 as we have a couple of properties and 4 children. I contacted their office and explained a brief outline of our situation re property and children etc and they advised that the rate for mirror wills for me and my wife would be £695 + vat.
Now at the time I thought this might be money well spent as maybe it won’t be that simple to create our Wills.
We had a zoom call with Helen Broom who was lovely on the call and really helpful.
When the Wills turned up in the post, I was shocked to see the entire content only filled both sides of an A4 sheet of paper!
Bear in mind half the text is, our name and address and names of our children and then the place to sign for us and witness.
I have gone back to Helen and after some investigation with companies like CO-OP etc I found showing that we could have easily done our Wills for under £100. Also, can you believe every now and then they have what's called Free Will Month https://freewillsmonth.org.uk/ where you can get a Will completed for free by a solicitor in your area and if you wish to make a donation to one of the listed charities you can or not, totally up to you.
This month (March) is a Free Will Month!
I felt compelled to write this review as I approached Helen about my research to see if she could adjust the rate or recognise the Free Will Month and i could have donated something to NSPCC but she declined saying I could either send instruction to issue the Wills and pay the agreed £695 plus vat or pay her £500 plus vat for work done so far and not receive the Wills.
Anyway, I have asked for the Wills to be completed and decided to share my experience with anyone else that's thinking of getting a Will done so you are aware there are some perfectly good ways of doing for less than £100 and for free during Free Will Month
Shame Sharman Solicitors didn't advise us how simple our Will sounded from the first call and give a reduced rate or suggestions of other options. I realise they are in business, but word of mouth and good experiences surely count for more than overpriced work.
