Wills, probate and trusts
Wills
Only about one in three of us ever makes a Will, which is curious, because all of us are going to die and a Will is our last chance to exercise control over our affairs and to change people’s lives.
If you die without a Will, you have no say over who gets what and when – some jointly-held assets may pass automatically to the co-owner, and the statutory Intestacy Rules will divide what is left among some of your relatives. The result may not be at all what you would have wanted.
If you have children and you die without a Will, you have no control over who will take in and bring up your children, who will manage their money until they are old enough, or over when “old enough” will be.
Common reasons for not making a Will:
- “I am married, so it all goes to my wife anyway.”
Wrong. Depending on your circumstances, your wife may end up with only a small part of what you own. - “She is my common law wife, so it all goes to her anyway.”
Wrong. There is no such thing as a ‘common law spouse’. Your partner will probably get nothing. - “I am not rich enough to need a Will.”
What has “rich” got to do with it? However much you are worth, a Will is your one chance to pass it on to the people you choose. - “I am not old enough to need a Will.”
You must have a very good crystal ball. The trick is to make your Will before you die and, unless you know what the future holds, today is a better day to do it than tomorrow.
To write a Will, you need to understand the family and financial circumstances, and the wishes, of the person making the Will. You also need a thorough knowledge of succession law, trust law and Inheritance Tax, and of large elements of property law, family law, company law, insolvency law, Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax - only Solicitors are trained and professionally qualified in all these areas. For something as vital as your Will, why even think of gambling by doing it yourself or using an amateur, when you can go to a professional?
You may think that your affairs are very simple and that all you need is a simple Will but, until you have talked to a Solicitor, you cannot be sure you are right. If all you need is a simple Will, then that is what we will write for you, but you will know that nothing has been missed.
If your finances or your family circumstances are more complicated, you may need more sophisticated estate planning, possibly using trusts to shelter assets from unnecessary tax and from claims by third parties, or to protect beneficiaries. We can do all that for you, but the starting point for all estate planning is a properly-constructed Will.
If you have a Will already, when did you last look at it? The usual advice is that, whenever there is a significant change in your personal, family or financial circumstances, or in the relevant law (and, in any event, about every three years, in case the law changed when you weren’t looking), you should get out your Will, read it, and check it against reality. If the two no longer match, change the Will.
The partner in charge of this department is Michael Cutler, who has been a Solicitor for 30 years and has specialised in this field for some 20 years. He specialises in the intelligent use of trusts for tax mitigation and the protection of assets. He was admitted in 1995 to membership of the prestigious Society and Estate Practitioners, the multi-national and cross-professional grouping of the most experienced and skilled practitioners in this field.
Probate
“My husband/wife/father/mother has just died. What do I do now?”
If you have ever had to make that call, you will know how overwhelmingly complicated and unfamiliar everything seems, just at a time when you feel least able to cope with it all.
When you have to make that call, you need someone on the other end of the line who is knowledgeable, experienced, professional, sensitive and patient. That is why you should call Colemans.
“Probate” is the usual shorthand description of the process of winding up the estate of someone who has died. This can involve:
- registering the death
- arranging the funeral and arranging payment for the funeral directors
- identifying and valuing all assets and liabilities of the estate, including gifts made up to 14 years earlier
- completing and filing a 16 page Inheritance Tax return with up to 23 schedules
- arranging funds to pay any tax due
- seeking out the latest Will or, if there is none, then identifying and tracing the next of kin
- applying for a grant of probate of the Will or letters of administration of the estate
- collecting and securing assets
- settling debts
- preparing and filing a final Income Tax return
- sometimes dealing with a challenge to the validity of the Will or a claim against the estate
- looking at the scope for varying the terms of the Will or of a previous Will or Trust to reduce tax liability or to shelter assets
- drawing up accounts of the process
- distributing the net estate to the correct beneficiaries.
Most of this can wait, but some steps are vitally urgent, and some have deadlines attached. A call to Colemans will sort out your priorities and set your mind at rest.
Because we do not charge a percentage of the value of the estate, but only for the time we actually spend, we can be very flexible and you can use as much or as little of our help as you choose.
Some of the probate process is time-consuming but not technical – it is a matter of knowing what to do and then of attention to detail. We always encourage and help you to do as much of the work as you want to do and feel comfortable doing yourself. Sometimes, after we have sat with a client for an hour over a cup of coffee, analysing the circumstances and explaining what has to be done, the client will then go and deal with much of the administration without further help from us.
The partner in charge of this department is Michael Cutler, who has been a Solicitor for 30 years and has specialised in this field for some 20 years. He was admitted in 1995 to membership of the prestigious Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the multi-national and cross-professional grouping of the most experienced and skilled practitioners in this field.