Wills
Everyone Should Make a Will - Now
Everyone knows that they really should make a Will but until very recently, most did not. This has now changed as more and more people make the effort to make their Will.
This is why:
- More and more people are experiencing first hand the delays and expense of dealing with intestacy (dying without a Will) when a friend or loved one has departed.
- Unmarried partners and children from previous marriages have no rights to inherit under intestacy. More and more people have complex family structures which only a Will can dictate who inherits - and sometimes, who does not inherit!
- Spouses do not have an automatic right to inherit all of their partner’s estate.
- Young partners would rather their children were looked after by someone chosen by them if anything happens to them.
- Most people want to choose who deals with their affairs after they have gone.
- Many people want to remember their favourite good cause after they have gone.
- Just about everyone wants the peace of mind of knowing they have sorted out their affairs and done their best for their loved ones.
And remember...
An out of date Will can sometimes cause as many problems as having no Will at all. If you have made a Will and have not reviewed it to make sure that it is still valid and it still meets your needs, you should review it now.
If you don’t have a Will
Then the Government will write your Will for you and this is what it says:
To my family:
I hereby leave you all several months and maybe years of financial hardship and hassle while you sort out my affairs.
To my spouse:
I hereby leave you most (but perhaps not all) of everything that I own.
To my children:
I hereby leave you the remainder of my estate and I give you authority to enforce the sale of any part of it (including the family home) to realise your inheritance.
To the taxman:
I hereby leave you ALL the tax that I could have avoided if I had done the necessary planning.
To my bank and / or solicitor:
I hereby give you the authority to charge my estate whatever you feel is necessary to sort out the mess that I leave behind. I realise that this could make you one of the major beneficiaries of my estate.
To anybody else:
I leave you nothing
Signed on behalf of the deceased
by HM Government