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- WILLS

Take control and put the certainty in place

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Creating a Will is an important task that is often overlooked or misunderstood.

A Will is an essential legal document that everyone should have. Not having one can have disastrous consequences, as we have seen over the years.

Creating a Will doesn’t have to be an unpleasant experience, instead it should be liberating: allowing you to plan confidently for the future.

No-one can predict what is around the corner but writing a Will is the perfect opportunity to review your circumstances and affairs, including what should happen to your assets (and young children if you have them) after you have passed away.

- A COMPREHENSIVE WILL SERVICE

The right Will for you, prepared by specialists

Our specialist Will experts prepare all types of Wills with varying degrees of complexity (including single and mirrors) for people of all ages and from all backgrounds.

A member of our friendly team will meet with you face-to-face at a convenient location of your choice (normally our local office in East Molesey, or your own home) to guide you through the process and prepare the right Will for you.

You might also consider arranging Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs). We recommend preparing LPAs to all our clients to safeguard the position should you become unable to manage your own affairs.

Make sure your wishes are followed

It is important to review your Will regularly to account for changes in personal and financial circumstances, as well as changes in the law.

As part of our service we offer:

  • Complimentary safekeeping of your Will
  • The option of having us act as an executor and/or trustee
  • Referral to specialist advice on estate planning and Inheritance Tax (IHT) mitigation

Retrieving Wills

If you need to retrieve a Will, we have put together an easy-to-follow, comprehensive guide for you to request this from us.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

A deeper dive for those who have more questions

  • Clear and unambiguous instructions
    The most important reason to create a Will is that it provides your loved ones with clear and definitive instructions on how you would like your last wishes to be undertaken. This is important as it avoids any unnecessary disagreements occurring at an already difficult time.
  • Appointing the people you trust to administer your estate
    A Will enables you to appoint only those people you consider the most capable and trusted to administer your estate as your executor and/or trustee. This does not have to be a relative; it can be your closest friend or a professional, whichever you feel is more capable and/or appropriate.
  • Legacies
    A Will is an appropriate way of remembering a person or organisation close to you through leaving a legacy. If you do not make a Will, it is unlikely this person or organisation will be remembered as your estate will be distributed according to the rules which apply when someone dies without leaving a Will.
  • Tax efficiency
    Inheritance tax (IHT) is a great concern for many people. Creating a Will is an effective method to ease these concerns and gain vital advice on how to reduce your liability regarding IHT.
  • Protection for unmarried cohabitants
    If you do not already have a Will and you are not married your partner may not inherit from your estate and therefore could end up homeless and in financial trouble. Making a Will is an effective way to ensure they are successfully provided for.
  • Life interests
    Life interests can be included in your Will to ensure family members such as young children or elderly parents are provided for and remain in a home, instead of it being sold.
  • Marriage, divorces and re-marriage
    Wills are automatically revoked if you marry or re-marry and are altered if you divorce, unless specifically addressed in your Will.  It is essential to create or update your Will so your loved ones are provided for.
  • Funeral arrangements
    A will is the best way of informing your loved ones of your funeral wishes. This can include any personal preference, be it cremation, burial or even having your body used for medical education purposes.

If you die without a valid Will, the intestacy rules will apply:

The intestacy rules vary depending on the date of death, and it is important to consider that they may change again in the future.

If you have no living beneficiary, your entire estate will pass to the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall.

Unmarried partners do not benefit under the intestacy rules, although certain individuals who are financially dependent on you can make a claim for financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision of Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

We recommend that you seek independent legal advice about the current intestacy rules and the effect they have on who would inherit your estate. The result of an intestacy will depend on various factors, including:

  • Whether the deceased was married or in a civil partnership
  • Whether the deceased had any living children or grandchildren
  • The residency of the deceased at date of death

Karen Starkey and Jack Haskew of our Wills, Lastings Powers of Attorney and Probate team, field some key questions about life interest trusts and how they work.

Q: What exactly is a life interest trust?

Karen Starkey: A life interest trust is an arrangement whereby your Will provides for one beneficiary during their lifetime but, once that person dies, your assets are transferred to someone of your choosing rather than in accordance with your lifetime beneficiary’s wishes. A life interest trust can be created in respect of your entire estate, or in relation to only one (or several) specific assets. For example, if you have children from an earlier relationship and a property you purchased before meeting your current partner, you might be keen to ensure your children ultimately benefit from your home while being happy for your partner to receive the rest of your estate.

Q: Who typically might want to look at a life interest trust?

Jack Haskew: Life interest trust Wills are particularly popular with couples who have children from previous relationships, such as those in second (or third) marriages. They can also be useful to couples who have married later in life, having already established independent lifestyles, and those with dependent siblings or elderly parents. The reasoning always comes down to protecting assets for loved ones.

Q: Can you set a timeframe for a life interest trust?

KS: As the name suggests, a life interest trust typically remains in place for the remaining life of your initial beneficiary. You can, however, create one for a set period, such as five years, or until a certain event occurs. If your children and your partner are a similar age, you might not want your children to have to wait a long time before receiving their inheritance, or risk them predeceasing your partner and missing out altogether. In such a case, a set period could be sufficient to ensure your partner does not feel rushed out of their home without your children’s inheritance become tied up for too long.

Q: What are the main benefits of a life interest trust?

JH: Life interest trusts afford you greater control over the distribution of your estate. If you want to ensure your partner has access to your assets during their lifetime, you could simply leave your estate to them absolutely. However, in doing so, you also give away total control of those assets. When your partner dies, they could leave their estate, including whatever assets they inherited from you, to someone else entirely.

KS: Life interest trusts are also a useful tool in protecting your assets from the bankruptcy or divorce of beneficiaries. If you leave assets directly to someone who later becomes bankrupt, or who later divorces, those assets would be deemed their own for the purpose of bankruptcy or divorce proceedings. For example, if one of your children is going through a divorce, any assets held for their benefit in a life interest trust cannot be considered as part of the proceedings and will, therefore, be safe from that child’s former spouse.

Some life interest trusts are created not to save assets for children, or other loved ones, but to protect vulnerable beneficiaries. You might want to leave your estate to a sibling who is unable to manage their own finances independently, or who is in receipt of means tested benefits. Placing your estate in a life interest trust, with that person as the lifetime beneficiary, allows the trustees to provide for their needs, without that person having to manage the money or risk losing their benefits.

Q: And what are the disadvantages?

JH: Any trust arrangement requires a greater level of administration. Trusts can also attract complex tax rules. A life interest trust over an entire estate which receives a regular income and potential capital gains, as well as requiring frequent capital payments to be made for the lifetime beneficiary, are usually more costly to manage than a life interest trust over a family home in which the lifetime beneficiary lives. However, it is important your trustees ensure they are complying with all the legal and tax requirements of your trust arrangement. With this in mind, it is equally important you appoint suitable trustees. Before making a Will with a life interest trust, you should always seek professional advice. Similarly, if you are the trustee of a life interest trust, you should seek advice to ensure you are always acting within your remit.

OUR CHARGES

Wills can be straightforward or they can be complex.

The simpler a Will is, the less you can expect to pay. Although it should be noted that given the importance of this document, we would always suggest focusing on getting it exactly right to reflect your wishes.

Fees for Will drafting start at:

  • £375 for a reasonably straightforward Will for an individual 
  • £495 for ‘mirror’ Wills for a married couple or civil partners
  • More complex Wills may be in the region of £600 to £900 for an individual, and in the region of £1,000 to £1,800 for married couples and civil partners
  • Revisions or codicils to existing Wills are priced according to the revisions required, and start from £300 +VAT.
  • We also cater to clients who require home visits, and can draft Wills on an expedited basis as your needs require.

Prices exclude VAT.

To book an appointment, please ask for a member of our Private Client team on 0208 979 1131.

To arrange a chat with one of our team of specialists, contact us

Jack Haskew

Partner / Head of Private Client

Jack, who hails from the great American city of Boston, qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and has since honed his expertise in immigration, tax and private client services.

A 1997 graduate of the University of Southern California law school, Jack began his legal practice working on the Navajo Nation in Utah as the managing attorney of a rural legal aid office.

Jack has played a key role in helping us embrace a range of technology-based solutions to client administration, making the firm more efficient and speeding up matters for clients. He was appointed a partner at KWW in November 2022.

A father to three sons, Jack says he lives in a world of baseballs, Nerf bullets and the persistent crackle and thud of heavy weapons fire from what was once the family television.

Contact Us

Please complete the form for a call or email from one of our Wills drafting experts:

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KWW Form Notes

Replaces Elementor Pop-up contact form template for GENERAL pages. NB: Notifications may require regular updates per staff changes; notices default to relevant partners. Willsnotifications to Jack, cc to Karen only. Page-specific contact forms based on this one, labelled accordingly. 07/2022 JH
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Contact us

Please call us on 0208 979 1131, or complete the form for a call or email from one of our Wills drafting experts:
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