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Why make a Will?
You might be thinking that you do not
need a Will. After all, you are young, with no possessions, no
spouse, no kids and no problems. Alternatively, you might think that
dying without a Will means that everything passes on to your partner
automatically, so you don't need to worry about a Will. In both
cases, you are wrong!
A Will is about so much more than simply dividing up your Estate
after death. The Will covers aspects of tax planning, which can save
your loved ones thousands of pounds, as well as making provisions
for guardians for your children and unmarried partners.
Wills myths & legends
It is a myth that spouses/civil
partners are automatic beneficiaries when you die. If you do not
make a Will, your Estate will be distributed in accordance with a
set of compulsory rules (“intestacy rules”) which dictate that your
spouse/civil partner only receives the first £125,000 of any assets
held in your name, plus house contents. That may sound like a lot,
but with average house prices over £200,000 in the UK, this is an
amount that is easily reached by many Estates.
Likewise, did you know that unless you
specifically appoint guardians in your Will for your children, if
they are under the age of 18 at the date of death, then it is highly
likely that social services will become involved? The decision as
to whom should have the responsibility of bringing up and looking
after your children will then ultimately be with social services and
not with your family or, most importantly, with you.
A Will is a document
that should accompany you through your life. When you are young,
free and single, a simple Will suffices to ensure that your family
do not suffer from the additional burden of sorting out your Estate
if they are grieving your early death. As you progress through life,
making investments, choosing life partners, having a family, so the
Will can change with you. It is virtually impossible to make a Will
for life!
The dreaded inheritance tax!
You may only own a house and do not
have much else in the way of cash or investments but if the house,
whether owned only by you or jointly with your partner, is worth
more than £285,000*, then there is a very good chance that
your Estates will attract inheritance tax at 40% on all assets over
£285,000. Unfortunately, these days, inheritance tax is not a tax
on the wealthy, as it was originally intended, and is now in fact
catching many people out just on the value of their property. Did
you know that you can significantly reduce your inheritance tax
burden through using the correct planning techniques in your Wills?
At Innes Wills & Estate Services, we
offer a full, tailor-made service that makes will-making really
easy. We can advise on inheritance tax planning mitigation and
appointing guardians for children as well as the rules for
benefiting partners, including Civil Partnerships, and what they
mean to you and your Estate.
Is it expensive?
As to costs, we agree a fixed cost
with clients, after finding out roughly what their requirements are,
in advance of carrying out any work and we stick to this. There are
never any hidden costs at Innes Wills & Estate Services and we do
not even make a charge for storing your original Wills once they are
finalised as why should we charge for storage when you can store the
original documents yourself for free anyway?
One final comment, not to put too fine
a point on it, you can never make your Will soon enough although it
is quite easy to leave it until it is too late! Don’t delay, give
us a call today!
* - Inheritance tax threshold as of
6th April 2006 |
