Commonly asked questions about Wills
Making a Will can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. As a home-owner, the significance of making a Will cannot be overstressed. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions on this subject.
Why should you make a Will?
There are a number of reasons for doing so i.e.
- You can save thousands of pounds in Inheritance Tax!
- You make sure that those who you want to, will/won't benefit from your estate e.g. an ex-wife could make a claim but an unmarried long-term partner has no automatic right of inheritance.
- You ensure that those you really trust will administer your estate e.g. if you don't make a Will, your creditors could even end up administering your estate!
- You can nominate who you want to act as guardian for your children. Otherwise it can take up to twelve months to achieve a legal guardianship, which could obviously be greatly unsettling for your children, and could result in them being fostered in the meantime.
- If you have no Will, you lose all control of what happens to your assets, as the laws of intestacy would automatically apply.
- You can express your wish as to the disposal of your body on death and use or not of parts for transplant surgery should you wish to do so.
- If you have no family and no Will, everything will go to the taxman!
What reasons are normally given by those who have not yet made a Will.
Over 75% of adults in the UK have not made Wills! The main reasons usually given are:
- They have not got around to it. (So this is your chance! See the "Round Tuit " later in this website)
- They are too young (unfortunately road accidents and terminal illness are not a monopoly of the middle aged or elderly)
- They have the belief that their spouse will automatically inherit everything anyway (which sadly is not true!)
- They do not want to think about dying (of course no one does but unfortunately it's a 100% safe bet that one day you will!)
- They say I'll do it "tomorrow" (sadly it never comes!)
- They think that if they were to make a Will, they will die? (It's true! But if they don't make a Will, they will also die. So they might as well make one!)
Why is it important for all home-owners in particular to make a Will?
There are two main reasons:
- A house is the single largest part of most people's estate. You therefore want to make sure it goes (or doesn't go) to certain key people.
- There are huge tax benefits!
As a consequence, we must ensure that you and your spouse have the right type of joint ownership of your house. There are two types available. (Beneficial Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common). The wrong type of home ownership could cost your children dearly in Inheritance Tax. If you would like to find out which one applies to you, please ask us for details.
How would the laws of intestacy affect you?
If you do not have a Will, the laws of intestacy would automatically apply.
Unfortunately, these laws can sometimes be complex, arbitrary and most unjust. The two main examples are as follows:
If you die first:
The first £125,000:
Only this would go direct to your surviving spouseIf over £125,000:
50% would be held in a 'life interest' trust for this spouse i.e. they could NOT touch the capital, only the interest (then the capital would go to your children when the spouse died).
The other 50% would go to your children this would be even more problematic if they were under 18 at the timeIf both parties and the children died together (e.g. in an accident):
The law presumes that the older person died first. Let's assume the husband died first. All money will therefore go to the wife (because she was younger). As the wife is regarded as dying second, all money would go to the wife's family by her intestacy i.e. NO money whatsoever would go to the husband's family!!!
