A will is an important legal document which describes your wishes for what you
would like to happen to your estate (everything you own) after your death. Being
absolutely clear about who you want to benefit when you die will not only remove
any doubt and help avoid family disputes, but also help your loved ones sort out
your affairs at what will be a difficult time for them.
First things first
A good starting point for what and who you might want to include in your will is
to consider the foll
Inheritance Tax (IHT) is a tax levied on a deceased’s estate. The estate is,
with a few exceptions, everything the deceased owns immediately before death.
Normally the tax is charged at 40% of the value of the estate. However there are
lots of exemptions that mean currently only about 1 in 20 estates pay any IHT.
We explain these exemptions below.
Leaving all or part of your estate to your husband, wife or civil partner
The good news is that any gifts made in your will to your spouse or civil
p
Probate is the process of proving who is legally entitled to deal with the
estate of someone who’s died. Commonly, it also describes the process of dealing
with a deceased assets and affairs.
Probate and Administration
Technically probate only covers the situation where the deceased has a will
which appoints executors. Where there is no will, or where there is a will but
no effective appointment of executors, the process is called administration.
Administrators are appointed by the court. Exec
If your will includes a trust, you must appoint trustees. To keep things simple,
with an Affio will your trustees and executors will be the same people, so the
same qualities of a good executor will also apply to your trustees.
Ideally trustees should be someone:
* You trust to follow the instructions you make in your will and for any trusts
needed.
* Who is organised and good at paperwork.
* Willing to take on the role.
* Who will have the best interests of the beneficiaries at heart.
A trustee is a person who has legal responsibility for assets on behalf of
somebody else, called the beneficiary.
Trusts have all sorts of uses. They can be complicated they don’t have to be. In
fact even the most simple of wills might require someone to take legal
responsibility for assets on behalf of someone else. A good example of this is
where a will leaves something to a child under 18 In that case a trust is needed
to hold the assets for them until they reach 18 (or older if that’s what
When creating a will to document the division of an estate or assets, the
tendency can be to look for a will writing service that is located close by.
Historically the large majority of people have visited their town center or
high street and prepared their will with a local solicitor.
In fact, the term ‘will writing services near me’ scores very high for the
number of searches in Google’s engine.
This demonstrates that for those looking to write their will there is a common
thread of seekin Read More »
You have until June 4th to write your Will
[https://www.affio.co.uk/why-should-i-use-an-online-will-writing-service] and
register it for free with The National Will Register
[https://www.nationalwillregister.co.uk/aboutwillregistration.aspx] using code
FreeWillReg2021.
The National Will Register is a trusted partner of the Law Society of England
and Wales. The register is used by individuals, families, organizations,
government agencies and law firms to register their will. There are over 8
mi Read More »
There is a lot of talk around the importance of writing a will to ensure that
your money, property, and other assets are bequeathed to the family members or
children that you wish to nominate as beneficiaries of your estate.
However, did you know that there are certain types of financial assets and
property that you should not or cannot include in your will?
These types of assets are usually jointly owned or contain some sort of
instruction that dictates what happens to the property should you Read More »
If you have recently been considering making a will then you may have stumbled
across one of the many online will writing services.
While this may look like a fast, efficient way to prepare your last will and
testament, it may have left you with some unanswered questions.
Here we will take a look at the positives and negatives of using an online
service for your will preparation.
Pros
Convenient
Preparing a will online saves a trip to the solicitors office and means that you
can write your Read More »
If you have documented your wishes that are to be carried out after your death
in the form of a will, you will need to review it periodically.
Having your estate and finances distributed to people of your choosing can be
handled legally by way of a will. However if your circumstances change you may
want to alter things like beneficiaries or change assets that are bequeathed to
a specific person.
Life brings about many changes and there are a number of instances where you may
need to amend your Read More »
