This week’s newspaper front pages have been full of stories regarding a Court of Appeal decision to ignore the terms of Melita Jackson’s Will and to make provision for her estranged daughter, Heather Ilott. This decision has gone entirely against what Melita Jackson put in her Will, as she had not wanted her daughter to benefit at …
You’ve no doubt read in the press about the Ed Miliband avoiding inheritance tax by using a Deed of Variation, but how may this have worked, and what does it mean for you? As we have written about before, Deeds of Variation allow Wills to be altered after someone has died, and can be made …
We wrote an article last month talking about the how the Conservative Government planned to introduce a secondary ‘family home’ allowance for Inheritance Tax (IHT). Following the Budget last Wednesday, George Osborne set out how this might work as part and parcel of his five year plan ‘to keep moving us from a low wage, …
The new family home allowance for Inheritance Tax Read More »
A Deed of Variation is where one or more beneficiaries of a deceased person’s estate chose to give up or change the amount of inheritance they have received under a Will or Intestacy, in favour of someone else. Sometimes a Deed of Variation is called a Deed of Family Arrangement. There are many reasons why …
As you can imagine, we get asked now and again whether it’s possible to leave money or property to pets in a Will. The short answer to this is ‘no, you can’t’. Well, not directly anyway. Gifts that you make in your Will must have an identifiable human beneficiary. But don’t despair! This doesn’t mean …
Now that the Conservatives have formed a government, what’s next for their planned inheritance tax shake up? During the election campaign, you’ll remember the Tory’s promise to remove family homes worth up to £1m from Inheritance Tax, but what does this really mean and how is it proposed to work? The way Inheritance Tax currently …
In a time when we are increasingly entrusting our lives to computers and the internet, the matter of what will happen to your digital assets when you die is something we all need to consider. Firstly, what are digital assets and why do you need to think about these now? Digital assets include any information …
Digital Assets – what happens to them when you die? Read More »
With an increasing number of television shows such as Heir Hunters and Long Lost Family being broadcast, finding missing beneficiaries has been brought very much into the public eye. We receive a number of queries asking us how to track down beneficiaries named in Wills, if the person tracing them doesn’t know who they are, …
If your Will is not registered, we can register it for you – and in most cases, this is free of charge. As you are aware, writing a Will and regularly reviewing it is one of the most important things you can do for your loved ones. Therefore, ensuring that your family can find it …
From the 1 October 2014, the rules about what happens to your assets if you don’t leave a Will have changed. The rules, although they have been simplified, still mean that if you die without leaving a Will, your affairs may not be dealt with in accordance with your wishes. Briefly, if you die leaving a surviving …
