The Will Writing Company, founded in 1990, have a long history of offering all their clients a holistic service in terms of Will Writing and helping people preserve assets for future generations. We have tens of thousands of satisfied customers and have helped families preserve their hard earned wealth for future generations.
We are a National company and have consultants in your area who will visit you in the comfort and privacy of your home.
We are governed by strict rules laid down by the Institute of Professional Will Writers and each Will we make is covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance of up to £2,000,000. This gives you and your family peace of mind.
Below is a brief guide to just some of the services we can offer you. If you have the time please read through the following notes. We will always endeavour to make the whole process as easy as possible for you. Where we have to use jargon we will try and explain this to you in plain English.
Making a Last Will and Testament
Many people are daunted by the prospect of making a Will. However, once you have made one it can be of great comfort to have planned for those left behind that you care about. It also gives those people a great feeling of comfort to know that you cared enough to plan ahead for their benefit.
It is important to all of us that our money is used as effectively as possible whilst we are alive. It must then be our priority to pass as much on to our children, or other family members, when we die.
Making a Will is the first vitally important step to ensure that this happens.
Without a Will the law decides who gets what and how much they get. These rules are called the rules of intestacy. They are unlikely to reflect what you would otherwise have chosen to happen.
Before your appointment it is important that you consider the following areas and to have a rough idea of what you would like to happen in each. This will help the consultant deal with these issues in the best manner possible.
Executors and Trustees
In your Last Will and Testament you need to decide who you trust enough to pass on your assets to the beneficiaries. If you do not decide in advance, the wrong people might be in charge when you have passed away.
You also need to appoint people to look after assets for beneficiaries who are under the age of eighteen (or a higher age if appropriate) until they reach this age. These people are called Trustees.
The same people will normally act as both Executors and Trustees. If you are married or have a partner you may want the survivor of the two of you to act alongside another family member or friend. Alternatively you may wish to appoint the survivor to act and somebody else to act only if the survivor cannot.
These people must be mature enough to deal with, sometimes quite complicated financial issues. They must be over the age of eighteen and not too old as they must, of course, live longer than you.
If you are worried about having nobody suitable to act or if your estate is complicated in any way, a professional may be appointed and we can advise you on this at the appointment.
Guardians
We all want to make sure that our children are given the best care possible when we die. If they are still under the age of eighteen we need to appoint guardians for them. Failure to do so will mean that other people will decide who brings up our children.
If you are an unmarried father, you may not even assume automatic guardianship of your own children if the mother of that child dies. You will need to be appointed within the Will.
Beneficiaries
You may have certain items or gifts of cash that you wish to pass to certain people and to charities, for example. These gift are called legacies and come from your estate before the remainder is passed in percentages or proportions to your residual beneficiaries.
Asset preservation
We not only want the correct appointments to be made and the right people to benefit from our estate, we also want to ensure that the maximum amount passes.
Inheritance Tax and the cost of care home fees in our old age can have a dramatic effect on what we can pass on to our family. The children expect a sizeable inheritance but the treasury or the local authority get their slice of the estate first.
Inheritance Tax
In many cases Inheritance tax can be significantly reduced by making the correct provisions in advance. This includes making a Will with the correct trust provisions contained. You should also consider altering the manner that you own your house so as to reduce what the survivor of the two of you dies leaving. It is upon the death of the survivor that IHT is payable on assets above £285,000 (2006-2007). This does include the value of the family home.
Our consultant will show you how this can be achieved without reducing the standard of living for you whilst you are alive.
Care Home Fees
If one or both of you has to move into residential care the value of your assets is ‘means tested’ at this point to see how much we are expected to contribute towards the cost.
The average cost of this care is approximately £25,000 per year (Laing and Buisson 2004-2005).
The value of your house or your share of the house WILL be included in the local authority’s calculations after the first twelve weeks of care. A husband, wife or partner cannot be removed from the house but when they die the local authority can take their share before the remainder is passed t the family.
Only the final £12,500 is disregarded from their calculations and is therefore protected. In some circumstances everything else could be lost!
There is a way of protecting half your property by altering the manner you own your house and including property trusts within your Will.
Please ask our consultant about this.
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