Wills and Estate Planning
We offer simply Wills for clients who require straightforward estate planning and a bespoke Wills service for those with more complex needs.
It is important to make a Will. Significant difficulties may face the next of kin of a person who dies without one and property may not end up as the deceased would have wished. It is equally important to review a Will so that it keeps pace with changes in personal circumstances or to the law.
At present it is possible to change a person’s Will after their death by agreement of the executors and all those beneficiaries affected by the change, but they have to be able to consent, that is, they have to be adult, and have mental capacity. It is not possible to bring a Will into existence or to create a new gift to charity, but the statutory provisions for those without a Will can themselves be varied by agreement. Problems arise if a beneficiary is a child or a mentally incapable adult, or if the family need to vary the Will or statutory provisions. A well drafted Will, following a discussion of all the relevant details will go a long way to avoiding these problems.
Wills can be used to establish trusts that outlast the duration of the administration of the deceased’s estate, and we advise on the opportunity for tax and estate planning.
Have you registered your Will?
We can now register your Will for you and there may be a small registration charge.
Why should I register my Will?
If your Will is deemed lost or indeed never written your loved ones and benefactors are exposed to potential financial loss and obviously additional stress.
We hold your Will safely, but we digitally record its location on the Wills register so that benefactors can always locate it when the time comes.
It is a fact that the majority of people (67% in a recent survey) would not know where to locate parents Wills. The passage of time, house moves, and new relationships are all contributing factors to this statistic.
How Do I Register?
Simply call, write or email us law@tassells-solicitors.co.uk
to request that we register your Will today.
For further information on Wills, Trusts and Tax contact:
Alexandra Gordon
Sophie Wallace
Can a Will prepared by a Solicitor be challenged?
Any Will can be challenged, generally in the following ways: It was improperly executed and therefore invalid. The Testator did not have mental capacity allowing him/her to understand what they were doing. The Will although valid does not provide adequately for...
‘My wife and I have 4 grown up children and we haven’t made Wills, what will happen to our property and finances if we both tragically pass away together’?
A person who dies without leaving a Will or who has a Will but it is not legally binding, is called an intestate person. Their property (estate) must be shared out according to the rules of intestacy. In the above case, the estate will be divided equally between the...
Challenges to wills
In 2017 we wrote about the Ilott v Mitson case, where the Supreme Court upheld a claim against an estate brought by the long-estranged daughter of the deceased. It was widely predicted that the number of such cases would increase, and this has come about. Today came...