Do You Need A Will

Writing a will provides peace of mind for you and your family. It’s important to put all your assets and final wishes in place for when you’re no longer here. Creating a will can be a simple and easy process when carried out by the right team. Get in touch with EMC for more information.

How Important is Having a Will?

A Will is very important as it is the only way to set out what your wishes are and how you would want your estate to pass when you die. Whatever your age, if you've assets, eg, a house, savings, or a business, and people or others you'd like to look after, consider making a will. While thinking, talking and planning for death may feel uncomfortable, you need to consider how much worse the situation would be if you died or became incapacitated – through illness, accident, old age or emergency – without sorting it.

Why Have A Will?

Not making a will can cause months or years of grief for your loved ones.

Here are many specific reasons for writing a will, including:

• Children

If you have children or step-children under 18, you should choose who will look after them and ensure there are funds to help.

• Unmarried couples

The law doesn't really recognise this, so don't expect anything to go to your partner if you don't make a will.

• Divorced

You may want to update your will to include what happens to your assets if a previous partner remarries.

• Pets

Decide what should happen to family pets.

• Specific funeral plans

If you know what you want your funeral to be like, you can detail it so that your family doesn't have to make the decisions.

• Property

'Joint tenant' mortgages automatically pass to the other owner. If you've a 'tenants in common' mortgage, it's important to say what happens to your share of the house. If you own a property overseas, inheritance laws may be different to the UK.

• Change in circumstances

Update your will when you marry, divorce or have kids.

• Small businesses

If you're a sole director, it's possible that if you die without executors, nobody can authorise payments (including to staff), so your business could collapse.

• Trusts

Take control of your assets, protect your legacy.

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What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows you to appoint one or more people to make decisions on your behalf during your lifetime. The people you appoint to manage your affairs are called the Attorneys. A Lasting Power of Attorney is a completely separate legal document to your Will although many people put them in place at the same time as getting their Will written, as part of wanting to plan for the future.

Why is a Lasting Power of Attorney So Important?

Once you have a Lasting Power of Attorney in place you can have peace of mind that there is someone you trust to look after your affairs if you became unable to do so yourself during your lifetime. This may occur, for example, because of an illness or old age or an accident.

Having a Lasting Power of Attorney in place can allow your attorney to have authority to deal with your finances and property as well as make decisions about your health and welfare. Your Lasting Power of Attorney can include binding instructions together with general preferences for your attorney to consider. Your Lasting Power of Attorney should reflect your particular wishes so you know that the things that matter most would be taken care of.

You can only put a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in place whilst you are capable of understanding the nature and effect of the document i.e. you have the required legal capacity. After this point, you cannot enter into a LPA and no one can do so on your behalf.

Many people don’t know that their next of kin has no automatic legal right to manage their spouse’s affairs without a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, so having to make decisions on their behalf can become prolonged and significantly more expensive.

The best solution is for couples to have ‘Mirror’ (identical) Lasting Powers of Attorneys because these documents would allow them to appoint each other to make decisions about each other’s financial affairs and health issues; should one of them lose capacity to do so.

What is a Trust Will?

A Trust is a legal structure which can be included as part of your Will and can offer increased asset protection for your loved ones. These types of Wills are called Trust Wills. Emily would always recommend that you consider the benefits of setting up a Trust as part of your Will.

They are most commonly seen in the following circumstances:

• You wish to protect your estate against possible care fees in the future

• You have a spouse or partner but children from a previous relationship

• You wish to leave some of your estate to a vulnerable or disabled person

How Do Trust Wills Work?

Usually, when making a Will, you name people that you would like to receive your estate when you die, known as your Beneficiaries. However, there may be circumstances where you would prefer that your estate doesn’t go directly to the beneficiaries when you die, but rather, that it is held on behalf of those beneficiaries in a particular way.

The people holding the assets on behalf of the beneficiaries are known as your Trustees. Trustees are nominated within the Will to administer the Trust on your behalf. For more information see Making a Will, Trusts and Trustees.

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Types of Trust Wills

Emily offers the following types of Trust Wills to assist in different circumstances:

Property Trust Wills
Life Interest Trust Wills
Discretionary Trust Wills

Property Trust Wills

A Property Trust Will, sometimes referred to as a protective property trust, can provide greater peace of mind if you own a property and wish to best protect its value for future generations.

Benefits of a Property Trust Will

• Guarantees who benefits from your share of the property if your surviving partner: o Remarries after you die (marriage automatically invalidates any existing Wills) o Writes a new Will after your death, changing their original wishes

• Can help reduce the potential impact of residential care fees on the property value for the benefit of future generations.

Who Can Benefit from a Property Trust Will?

• Anyone who owns property with someone else, whether married, unmarried or in a civil partnership and wants to protect the property value for specific loved ones in the future or wants to protect the property value from the potential future risk of residential care fees should this be required for the surviving partner.

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Flexible Life Interest Trust Wills

A Flexible Life Interest Trust Will can help if you have significant assets or investments as well as property, and wish to protect their value for future generations.

Benefits of a Flexible Life Interest Trust Will

• Guarantees who benefits from cash assets and investments as well as property if your surviving partner remarries after your death (marriage automatically invalidates any existing Wills) writes a new Will after your death, changing their original wishes

• Allows a nominated person to benefit from the income generated from your investments if you die, whilst protecting the capital value for future generations.

Who Can Benefit from a Flexible Life Interest Trust Will?

• Anyone who holds cash assets and investments in their sole name and wishes to take care of a nominated person such as a surviving spouse, but help protect the capital value of investments for specific loved ones in the future and wants to protect the value of the investments for future generations.

Discretionary Trust Wills

A Discretionary Trust Will allows you to appoint trustees to manage inheritance on behalf of vulnerable loved ones who require assistance.

Benefits of a Discretionary Trust Will

• Guarantees that vulnerable people are given assistance in the management of their inheritance

• Reduces the risk of state benefit entitlements being compromised by the receipt of inheritance

• Potentially helps unmarried couples with Inheritance Tax planning.

Who Can Benefit from a Discretionary Trust Will?

• Anyone who wishes to leave inheritance to loved ones who lack the mental or physical capacity to look after their own affairs or loved ones who have a disability and run the risk of having their state benefit entitlements compromised by the receipt of inheritance beneficiaries who are in a vulnerable position. e.g. someone with learning disabilities, undergoing a divorce, struggling financially.

DO NOT PUT OFF PUTTING YOUR WILL INTO TRUST.

Fixed Cost Will Writing Services:

£99 ( including VAT) for a Single Will

£150 (including VAT) for Mirror Wills

£225 ( including VAT) for a Lasting Power of Attorney

£350 (including VAT) for a Mirror Lasting Power of Attorney

Cost of Setting Up a Trust Will in England & Wales

£295 (including VAT) for a Single Trust Will

£350 ( including VAT) for a Mirror Trust Will

(2 Wills for a couple)

The fixed fee costs includes one of the three types of Trusts listed above. Once Emily has provided you with a written quote for the agreed work to be done, that price will not change.

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Wills are not regulated by the FCA and clients information can be passed to an outside company called EMC Wills Ltd. Information will only be shared to a third party with their permission. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate Will Writing and Inheritance Tax Planning Advice.

These products are not regulated by the FCA and we are not authorised via PRIMIS Mortgage Network to advise on them