Wills
This story is exactly why you need a professional trustee
was placed into a trust until they reached the age of 25. The bequest was supposed to give them a head-start in life, to help them onto the property ladder or pay for their education. But when one of the Thomas sisters asked to access the money early in order to purchase a property with her boyfrie....
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Why we’re proud to have a Lifetime Lawyer on our team
The Association of Lifetime Lawyers (previously Solicitors for the Elderly, or SFE) is a community of legal professionals who specialise in working with older or more vulnerable clients to resolve some of the common legal issues experienced by these groups of people. Our Partner and Head of Cour....
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Could the end of Inheritance Tax be imminent?
Inheritance Tax (IHT) is a tax levied on the estates of people who have died, normally at a rate of 40%. Whilst just one in 20 estates are subject to IHT, this number actually used to be far lower. The threshold for the tax has been frozen at £325,000 since the 2009/10 financial year; in the subse....
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How to stay on the right side of IHT
Inheritance Tax (IHT) – the British public’s most hated tax – is levied on the value of a deceased person’s estate. From April 2022 to December 2022, the amount raised by IHT was £5.3 billion, £700 million higher than a year previously. As the frozen threshold forces more and more people ....
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Leaving cryptocurrency in your Will
In our previous blog, we wrote about digital assets and their importance in estate planning. One such asset is cryptocurrency – a type of digital currency which is controlled independently from a central bank – which has taken the investment world by storm in recent years. You may have heard of....
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What are digital assets and why should you include them in your Will?
If you have a social media account, use an online banking app, or are subscribed to a music service like Spotify, then you are the proud owner of a digital asset. What are digital assets? A digital asset is anything that is stored digitally (i.e. in binary format) that you either own or h....
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Kate Garraway stuck in a ‘legal rabbit hole’ without LPA
Over the past year, we have watched the figures mount to shocking levels as increasing numbers of people have lost their lives to the COVID-19 virus. We have previously spoken about the importance of making a Will, to ensure your loved ones are protected should the worst happen. However, television....
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How making an LPA can save your loved ones time, money and stress
Many people believe that if a family member was unable to manage their affairs, they would automatically be allowed to step in and make decisions in their loved one’s place. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This misconception can mean that families are faced with time-consuming and expensive ....
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LPAs – a lifeline in uncertain times
The coronavirus pandemic has shown us that unexpected events can have a serious and lasting impact on our lives. In particular, it has left thousands of people stranded at home and unable to manage their affairs. Yet, just 5% of specialist legal practitioners have seen a marked increase in clients ....
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How to make a Will while social distancing
According to financial advisory organisation deVere Group, Will enquiries surged by 76% in the first few weeks of coronavirus lockdown[1]. Meanwhile, the Office of Public Guardian, which deals with the registration of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), is also struggling with high demand. As the co....
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How to bequeath your personal possessions
The chances are that you will have personal possessions that you’d like to be handed on to your family and friends when you die. For example, you may want family jewellery to go to your daughter, a piece of furniture to a cousin, or a particular book or picture to be given to a close friend. If t....
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Will your digital legacy live on? Tips on dealing with your virtual assets
Writing a Will has traditionally been about who will inherit your tangible assets - your money, property and personal possessions. Today, the chances are you’ll also need to consider what should happen to your digital legacy. Many of us now rely heavily on technology to maintain our day-to-day af....
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Lasting Power of Attorney – making the right choices for your future
Last summer retired judge Denzil Lush caused consternation amongst many people and much publicity by saying that he had concerns about the creation of a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). His view was that LPAs could be open to abuse. He preferred the alternative of Deputyship, a process that requires....
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Making a Will – how you can prevent it being challenged on the grounds of mental capacity
It’s estimated that over 850,000 people are currently living with dementia in the UK, and this figure is expected to rise to over a million by 2025. As you’d expect, the Alzheimer’s Society* website contains a lot of useful information about the disease and other forms of dementia. It expla....
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How to protect vulnerable and disabled beneficiaries
Thinking about how you would like your estate to be distributed on your death and how best to provide for your loved ones can sometimes be hard. This can be especially true if you have disabled or vulnerable family members you wish to protect. For instance, you may want to provide for a family me....
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Learning from others to help prevent mistakes in wills
Most solicitors have seen a thing or two that’s gone wrong in a Will, and may also have heard horror stories from colleagues about the mistakes they’ve encountered too. Some of these errors arise from the continuing popular belief that simply filling out a Will form from the stationers will do t....
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Top 10 mistakes clients make about wills, and how we can put them right
Of course, one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make is dying without a Will, and it’s a sad fact of modern life that more than two-thirds of people in the UK don’t have one. However, even where there’s a Will in place, mistakes or oversights can be made, and it’s more important than ever ....
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Ashes to ashes… and where you can scatter them
While many of us grew up thinking of burial as the way in which we say farewell to the deceased, statistics from the Cremation Society of Great Britain show that around 75 per cent of people are now choosing cremation rather than burial. Deciding what to do with the ashes In the 1970s, onl....
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Making mirror wills – will your wishes be fully reflected?
If you and your partner share the same plan for what happens to your estate after each of you has passed away, then mirror wills can work for you. Basically, mirror wills are two separate wills made at the same time, naming the same beneficiaries. Often, the only difference between them is the name ....
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The Skripal case – unravelling the unusual and challenging mental capacity issues
Over recent weeks, the twists and turns in this high-profile case have made daily media headlines. The events that unfolded on a bench in a park in Salisbury rapidly became first a national and then an international political issue, as Colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were hospitalise....
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