Wills Protect What Matters Most

If you choose not to make a will, then who determines who receives what? It will not turn out the way you would have chosen. To be sure your wishes are fulfilled, you need to draw up a will.

If you die without creating a will it’s the crown that decides how your property is divided. The intestacy laws will be applied and it could not be how you’d have expected or wished.

If your currently married or have a civil partner but are without offspring and your belongings is valued at a specific figure or under then your partner will receive the whole of the assets including any life assurance cover . If the property is worth greater than this figure and you have existing relatives, your partner would still get this amount, plus 50% of the surplus. There exists an priority in which relatives would inherit, with surviving parents situated at the head of the list, followed by siblings and so on.

If you have a lawful partner and children then your partner would receive the set amount as above and 50% of the remainder. The descendants would receive half of the amount over the set amount immediately and the remaining 50% on the death of your spouse.

If you have children but no lawful spouse, then your offspring would divide the estate. This may not be at all what you would have wanted. You might have a partner who relies on you and who you will have wanted to inherit at least share of your belongings, who’d receive nothing.

To remove all potential apprehension about your estate, regardless of how basic it may seem, it would be wise to write a will. There are several options for this. You could make it yourself or use a professional will agent or a solicitor.

Often people make their own last will and testament, generally using a form which you can acquire from stationers. Take care should you proceed down this route – it’s very easy to make a mistake and you could even find it invalid. The expense of having a will made, particularly a comparatively simple one, is not excessive and you can be sure that your wishes will be realised.

A professional will agent or a solicitor will be experienced with dealing with all forms of queries and will be able to aid you. You might have queries to do with starting trusts and perhaps inheritance tax.
Having written your will, it’s a prudent decision to review it periodically, as circumstances change. If you decide to alter it, then it’s prudent to nullify your existing one and have it remade. If the amendments are small, it could be more straight forward to make a codicil to make a part of the last will and testament and to be read in conjunction with it. Any codicil will have to be constructed in the same fashion as the will in regards to signatures and witnesses.

Please be aware that any medical insurance cover will terminate on the death of the will holder and no value will be attributed to It in the will.