Wills
What exactly is a Will?
A Will is a legal document that allows you to state what should happen to your assets (your money, property, investments and possessions) as well as your young children after you have passed away.
A Will is your last testament when you are no longer with us. It is important to have a will drafted so that the ones you live behind can action your last wishes.
By making a Will you can:
- appoint people you trust to look after your children under 18 years (called guardians)
- appoint people you trust to carry out the terms of your will (called executors)
- name the people or charities you want to benefit from your estate (called beneficiaries)
- leave gifts of specific items or fixed sums of money (called legacies)
- create trusts to help protect your assets for future generations, protect against residential care costs or help vulnerable or disabled beneficiaries
- state your funeral wishes
A Will is one of the most important legal documents you will ever sign. If you die without a valid will in England or Wales the law can decide who has responsibility for children under 18 and who receives your money, property, cars, pets and all your other belongings.
Your Will deals with your belongings (such as your property, bank accounts and personal possessions) that you own at the time of your death, not at the time you write your Will. So even if you don’t have much to leave now, your financial situation could change significantly in the future, particularly if you expect to have paid off your mortgage or are likely to receive an inheritance at some point.
Making a Will clarifies your wishes and enables you to give your loved ones financial protection after you die.
How to make a Will
Many people assume that making a Will is complicated, but with the right advice and a specialist Will writer to help you every step of the way, we make the Will writing process easy.
Before you start to think about how to make a Will, there are some decisions that you’re going to need to make.
These include:
- which type of Will you want to make
- who you’d like to inherit from you
- who you’d like to look after your children (if they’re under 18)
- whether you’d like to leave anything to charity
- who you’d like to deal with your estate after you die
You can either have made these decisions before you start to make your Will or you can discuss your thoughts with your Will writer at your appointment. Once you’ve decided, you’ll need to have certain information to hand, including the names and addresses of anyone you’re naming in your Will.
When you’re ready to start the process of making a Will, you can speak to our Will writing team to ask any initial questions and start the process of making your Will.
What happens if I die without making a Will?
If you live in England or Wales and die without writing a legally valid Will, the government will decide who gets what. If you have no living family members, all your property and possessions will go to the Crown. If you have children under 18 years old, other people can make decisions about who will take care of the children and manage their finances, education and living arrangements. By making a Will you can specify your wishes.
Get in touch with us for more information.
What is Probate:
When a person dies, whether they have a Will or not, the people who are responsible for their estate may need to apply for Probate. The application is made to a section of the court known as the Probate Registry. If granted this document confirms that they, the applicants, are authorised to deal with the deceased’s affairs.
If there is a Will naming and appointing these people then they will be known as the executors and will apply for a Grant of Probate. If there is no Will or the Will does not appoint any living executors the applicants could be relatives (possibly a widow or children), beneficiaries or even creditors.
If the deceased’s assets are small (under £15,000) then a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration may not be required to realise the deceased’s assets. However, where assets are above this or include land or property then a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration will be required. Even if there is no Inheritance Tax to pay the application must be accompanied by a tax return summarising the assets and liabilities and showing any Inheritance Tax due. The deceased’s Will need to be realised and converted into money. After payment of the funeral costs and other expenses the deceased’s debts will need to be paid and what is left distributed in accordance with the deceased’s Will or if they had no will the rules of intestacy accord to a strict order laid down by the state
Where there is a potential Inheritance Liability it is very important to get advice early on in the process, it may be possible to reduce the amount of tax due by careful planning. Assets will need to be valued, tax calculated and of course paid.
Sometimes after a death disputes can arise between family members about the provisions in the will with perhaps relatives feeling that they have been unfairly treated. If you find yourself in or responding to that situation we can help you. We can advise you on merits of any claim and the steps that you can take to protect your position.
How much does probate cost?
We will provide you with a fixed fee probate quote which is based on the individual circumstances of your loved one’s estate. Please note, each circumstance are different, and each case is different. There are a number of factors which can affect the complexity of an estate and the quotation you will be given, including the value and nature of the assets, whether or not there is a Will, and the number of beneficiaries. Our price ranges from £1,750 to £45,000 excluding VAT (charged at 20%) and disbursements. For more complex cases our fees could be more.
Our solicitors may charge an hourly rate for time they spend on the administration of an estate and some charge a percentage of the value of the estate.
