Will Writing and Estate Planning

How can we help you?

• Do you have a Will? ...
  YES or NO
• Have you reviewed your will in the last two years?...
  YES or NO
• Is your total estate valued over £300,000? (or £600,000 married couples) ...
  YES or NO
• Are you concerned about Inheritance Tax?...
  YES or NO
• Are you concerned about Long Term Care Fees?...
  YES or NO
• Do you want to guarantee your children an inheritance?...
  YES or NO
• Have you appointed Guardians for your children?...
  YES or NO
• Are you an unmarried couple concerned that your long-term partner will not inherit your estate on death?...
  YES or NO
• Have you considered you would manage your affairs if you were no longer able to do so?...
  YES or NO
• Do you own assets outside of the UK?...
  YES or NO
• Have you considered what will happen to your business should you die prematurely?...
  YES or NO

Your will is probably the most important document you will ever own.

Not only can it help safeguard your family and all the valuable things that you spend your life working for, it will also make sure that they go to exactly the people you want them to. It could also save you up to £120,000 in Inheritance Tax or protect a substantial part of your property against Long Term Care Fees.

If you don’t have a Will, your assets will be distributed by the authorities according to the Laws of Intestacy (this links to a further page)

Guardianship

If you are a parent you should consider who would look after your children in the event of your death. A valid will is invaluable in this instance. It is particularly important in the case of one-parent families or unmarried parents living together. If no-one knows what you wanted, the Court will decide on the future of your children.

If you are living together and have children, the natural father may not have parental responsibility.

Mitigating Inheritance Tax

If your assets are valued at over £300,000 (the current Nil Rate Band) when you die you will be liable to pay Inheritance Tax at a rate of 40%.

The new rules mean that married couples and civil partners can now enjoy an inheritance tax allowance of up to £600,000.00 currently upon the death of the survivor of them.

Unfortunately, this does not apply to unmarried couples. However, by writing a Nil Rate Band Discretionary Trust in their wills, they could possibly save up to £120,000 Inheritance Tax.

Remarriage & Step Children

Modern families often involve remarriages and stepchildren and in many instances each party bring their own assets to the new relationship and want to ensure that this is passed onto their own children in the event of their death.

Also, if your spouse embarks on a new relationship after your death and changes their will, your children may lose out.

There is no guarantee that your children will receive the legacy you expected and in some instances may receive nothing at all.

You may wish to consider the use of a Trust to ensure that some or all of your estate reaches your children.

Long Term Care Fees

You can rarely pick up a newspaper today or turn on the television without hearing about the fact that I a recent 12 month period 70,000 homes were sold to help fund long term care.

When you realise that 1 in 4 of us will need long term care and the average cost is £400 per week, it is no wonder that may resent selling their hard earned homes to pay for residential care which is free to people who have not had the burden of a mortgage throughout their working lives.

In many instances a substantial amount of your estate can be protected by the use of a Trust.

Business Owners

Many difficulties are faced when a Partner or director dies. We do not contemplate our own deaths and we often overlook what will happen to our business if we are no longer around. Unfortunately about 85% of businesses fail when a Partner, Director or Sole Trader dies.

This is simply because no planning was put in place. It is possible to ensure that your business can carry on until it is sold or your spouse gets his/her full entitlement from your Partner or Shareholders for your part of the business.

Executors & Trustees

Everyone must nominate someone in their Will to carry out their wishes upon death.

Acting as an Executor or Trustee can be a time consuming and detailed job requiring commitment and skill to deal with a variety of tasks. In today’s society personal estates are frequently complicated – meaning that the services of a professional body are often required in some capacity.

We can provide Executorships & Trustee services through Kings Court Trust Corporation, allowing our clients to access a cost effective and professional service.

Lasting Powers of Attorney

Have you considered who will manage your affairs if you were no longer able to do so? There are a variety of circumstances where this may be necessary.

A Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to appoint the people you trust to manage your affairs should you not be able to.

Without a Lasting Power of Attorney the Public Guardianship Office will appoint someone to manage your affair - this is a costly and lengthy process and can leave your family in short term financial difficulties.

Keeping your Documents Safe

We all know how easy it is to misplace documents that are kept at home. Furthermore, with over 64,000 household fires, 1,000,000 burglaries and 2,000,000 homes at risk from flooding each year the statistics are against us.

Our Will Storage Scheme ensures that your documents are kept safely and your executors know exactly where to access them in the event of your death.