When Theres A Will Theres A Way
If you choose not to make a will, then who determines who receives what? It may not proceed how you would have preferred. To ensure your wishes are fulfilled, you should to draw up a last will and testament.
If you pass away without without making a free will it’s the crown that determines how your estate is distributed. The intestacy rules are used and it will not be how you’d have expected or wanted.
If you are legally married or have a civil partner but no children and your assets is valued at a specific amount or under then your spouse would receive the entirety of the assets including any life assurance . If the assets is valued greater than this threshold and you have surviving relatives, your spouse would still get this figure, plus 50% of the excess. There exists an priority in which relatives would inherit, with existing parents being at the top of the list, followed by brothers and sisters and so on.
Should you have a lawful partner and children then your spouse will receive the set amount as above and 50% of the surplus. The offspring will inherit half of the amount over the excess right away and the remaining half on the passing of your spouse.
If you have offspring but no lawful partner, then your offspring would share the estate. This could not be what you would have hoped. You might have a partner who relies on you and who you might have intended to obtain at least a proportion of your property, who’d get nothing.
To avoid all potential doubt about your assets, however basic it may seem, it would be prudent to write a will. There are various options for this. You could construct it on your own or use a trained will agent or a solicitor.
Many people construct their own will, commonly using a template which you can acquire from stationers. Be wary should you go down this route – it’s very simple to make an error and you could potentially make it void. The price of having a will written, especially a relatively simple one, is not exorbitant and you can be assured that your desires will be carried out.
A skilled will company or a solicitor will be used to dealing with all types of questions and will be able to help you. You might have questions to do with starting trusts and maybe inheritance tax.
Now you’ve made your last will and testament, it’s a sensible idea to review it on occasion, as circumstances change. If you resolve to change it, then it’s a smart move to nullify your existing one and have it remade. If the amendments are small, it might be more straight forward to draw up a codicil to make a section of the last will and testament and to be used in conjunction with it. Any codicil will have to be written in the same method as the will in regards to signatures and witnesses.
Please be aware that any health insurance will terminate on the death of the will holder and no value will be attributed to It in the will.