Wills

If you want to be absolutely sure that your assets go where you intend them to on your death, it is essential to make a will.

If you die intestate – without a will – your money, property and possessions will be divided up according a strict set of rules that could see a partner with whom you have lived for many years, but to whom you are not married or are in a civil partnership, inherit nothing. In these circumstances, if you have no close family, your assets could go instead to distant relatives or even the state, if you have no family at all.

It is also important to remember that a will is about more than deciding who inherits what. For example, if you have young children, a will is an essential tool for making arrangements for their future care if one or both parents die.

We have a expert team of accountants and legal experts that can help, by assisting you in drafting a will that sets out clearly your wishes on your death, saving your loved ones a great deal of distress and difficulty at what will already be a stressful time.

 

We will also use your will as a valuable tool to reduce your tax liability on your death, by reviewing your inheritance tax liability and making use of options including trusts.

Where a death occurs and an existing will was not as tax-effective or flexible as it could have been, we can also advise on the use of a deed of variation.

This deed allows the estate to be distributed tax-effectively, with new gifts being treated for inheritance tax purposes as if they had been made in the will. The deed must be put in place within two years of a death, and be agreed to by the relevant beneficiaries.