If you choose not to write a will, then who determines who acquires what? It may not proceed how you would have intended. To make sure your wishes are adhered to, you should to build a last will and testament.
If you perish without making a will it’s the courts that dictates how your estate is distributed. The intestacy guidelines will be used and it could not be how you will have hoped or wanted.
If your legally married or have a civil partner but no offspring and your assets is worth a set amount or less then your civil partner will get the whole of the assets including any life insurance . If the estate is worth greater than this figure and you have surviving family, your partner will still receive this figure, in addition to 50% of the surplus. There exists an order in which family would inherit, with surviving parents situated at the start of the list, followed by siblings and so on.
Should you have a lawful partner and offspring then your partner will receive the specific amount as above and 50% of the remainder. The children will receive half of the total over the threshold immediately and the remaining 50% on the death of your spouse.
If you have offspring but no legal partner, then your children would divide the estate. This could not be at all what you would have wished. You could have a partner who relies on you and who you would have wanted to obtain at least part of your property, who’d get nothing.
To avoid all potential anxiety about your assets, regardless of how basic it may appear, it would be wise to write a will. There are several ways to do this. You could construct it on your own or hire a professional will writer or a solicitor.
Many people construct their own will, mostly using a form which can buy from the post office. Be wary should you go down this route – it’s surprisingly easy to make an error and you could even find it void. The cost of having a will constructed, especially a comparatively basic one, is not prohibitive and you can be definite that your wishes will be realised.
A trained will service or a solicitor will be experienced with processing all forms of questions and will be able to aid you. There could be questions about starting trust funds and maybe inheritance tax.
Having made your last will and testament, it’s a sensible idea to review it on occasion, as circumstances change. If you resolve to change it, then it is prudent to revoke your earlier one and have it redone. If the amendments are minimal, it may be more straight forward to draw up a codicil to form a part of the will and to be read in conjunction with it. Any codicil will have to be made in the same way as the will in regards to signatures and witnesses.
Please be aware that any health insurance will terminate on the death of the will holder and no value will be attributed to It in the will.
