A: Without nomination in a Will the courts will decide who, in their opinion, is best placed to care for any children until the attain 18 years – this may not be whom you want to be Guardians so a Will ensures your wishes re carried out.
FAQs
A: Children can inherit from the age of 18 years, until this age any monies are held in a Trust by the Trustees of your estate whom you nominate. In your Will, you can deem when your children receive any funds e.g you can state they could have a certain percentage at various ages of your choice. There are tax implications to be aware of and we will advise you accordingly based on your individual circumstances.
A: Not necessarily, for example an unmarried Partner is entitled to nothing and even a spouse is only entitled to an amount based on the current rules which we can explain in more detail.
A: For a married or civil partnership couple Inheritance Tax occurs only when they have both deceased, there are various allowances depending in whether you are UK Domicile or not – at the present time for Domiciled married or civil partner couples tax is only applicable on that proportion above £650,000 at a rate of 40%. This is an area requiring specialist tax advice from professionals, we can recommend various companies throughout the UK should you wish us to.
A: You can but there are significant risks involved should you not complete it correctly and an incorrectly worded Will could be open to challenge – in addition if the Will is not attested correctly it could be deemed invalid – use a professional.
A: Most certainly and this is common placed – we do however recommend you consider the use of professionals also and the advantages of this would be explained and discussed with you.
A: Only if those assets are held jointly and as many people have assets in their own name if you do not have an LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney) or its predecessor an EPA (Enduring Power of Attorney) I am afraid you would need to apply to the Court of Protection which can cost anywhere between £2500 – £3000!