Services

Will

At some point most of us have thought about making a Will - despite this 70% of people still die without one. None of us know just how much time we have, so putting off making a Will may not be the best decision. For many thousands of people each year their bereavement is made much worse due to the fact that their loved one left no clear instructions as to how their Estate should be dealt with in the event of their death.

Many people wrongly assume who will get their money if they die without a Will. It is not the case that a married spouse will automatically inherit after their partner’s death and, worse still, if they are not actually married (or a civil partner) then they will inherit nothing.

It makes no sense to leave such important things to chance. The Will Writing Company Limited represents one of the most affordable means of guaranteeing peace of mind for you and the people you care for most.

Please call me on 0118 9018858 or email me at to arrange a private consultation in your own home or place of work. You will be offered a fixed and guaranteed cost and will always be provided with a helpful, courteous and above all knowledgeable service. I always strive to make writing a Will a dauntless experience.

Lasting Power of Attorney

If you can no longer manage your financial affairs a Lasting Power of Attorney can give you a helping hand. A person can lose mental capacity for a variety of reasons, e.g. the onset of mental illness or possibly an accident. Whatever the reason, if you are no longer able to look after your affairs by paying bills, managing a budget and making financial decisions then coping can be difficult, if not impossible. If you have a Lasting Power of Attorney you can ensure that should this ever happen to you then a person chosen by you to be your Attorney, will be able to look after your affairs.

An LPA is a legal document granting a named person, or people, the authority to act on your behalf and, unlike a normal Power of Attorney, it does not cease if you lose mental capacity.

Without an LPA, your spouse/partner, family or friends will not have the ability to take over for you, and the Court of Protection will appoint a Receiver to act on your behalf. This process will take a long time and is expensive. With an LPA in place there would be no Court of Protection charges or Solicitors fees payable and no annual fees charged by the Court. Minimal fees apply to register the LPA.

There is no fear that the document could be used illegally as your closest relatives will be informed if an attempt is made to register the document, allowing you to intervene.

The LPA does not restrict your rights to go on looking after your own affairs for as long as you feel capable, but simply means that there is someone of your choosing to take over if, or when, you can no longer cope.

Care Home Fees

When we make a Will we usually leave everything to our surviving partner and then to our children. It may come as a surprise to know that your children could end up with very little or even nothing at all. One of the reasons this may happen is if one or both of you need residential care. If you have assets over a certain limit you will have to fully fund your own care; this could easily be around £30,000 a year. If you own a house you may be forced to sell it to pay the care home fees.

Should a person need to go into a care home they are “means tested” by their Local Authority, which will take all of their assets into account (including the house). If the person is deemed to have to pay for their own care (and they will be if they own a house) then the Local Authority can take everything down to their last few thousand pounds!

You can, however, protect a large part of your home by taking action now. It is important to act while you are still fit and well as if you leave it until care becomes imminent then the authorities may well decide that you have deliberately deprived yourself of assets to avoid paying for your care. Under these circumstances they have the power to render any such actions null and void.

Severance of Tenancy

Couples typically own a house jointly as “Tenants in Common”. If one person dies, therefore, the survivor would own the whole house, irrespective of whatever is written into a Will, and the entire value of the property will then fall into the scope of the means test. In order to protect the Estate it is necessary to change the way in which the house is owned such that both partners own a share (normally half each). This way, in the event of care only that person’s share of the house could be taken into account; hence the other half of the property is protected and the children are guaranteed to, as an absolute minimum, inherit that much.

Remarriage

The same arrangement would also protect your share of the home should your partner remarry after your death.

Update your Will

A Property Trust in your Will would guarantee your partner’s right to continue to live there but would not allow your share of the home to be passed to anyone other than your children!