Single or Mirror Wills:
A Will is an expression of individuals’ wishes and allows people to state how they wish their estate to be distributed after death. However, a Will in itself does not protect assets but makes allowance for the formation of Trusts which can then be used to protect the family’s assets.
To die without a Will is to die Intestate.
A Will is one of the most important documents that a person ever prepares. A correctly drafted Will can help avoid/mitigate Inheritance Tax and/or protect your property from Long-Term care costs.
Lasting Powers of Attorney:
Allows you to choose someone you trust to handle your affairs should you ever become incapacitated through illness or accident.
Who will manage your affairs should you become incapable due to a stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s? Who will sign cheques, documents, withdraw money from your account to pay the bills? Unless you have a Power of Attorney in place you may end up with your partner or family going to court for permission to handle your affairs. All of these problems can be resolved through putting a Power of Attorney in place.
Protective Property Wills:
As reported in The Independent, 31st Jan 2006, over 200 homes are taken by councils every day to recover long term care costs. Protect your home from long term care fees. Last year 70,000 homes were sold to pay for the costs of Long Term Care.
Should a person with assets in excess of around £20,000 go into care, that person is liable for their care costs. Having exhausted any cash available, the Council would then look to recover its costs by selling the home. (See attached link) /Documents/Long Term Care Article.doc
Severance of Tenancy:
Most couples own their home as 'Joint Tenants'. This means that if one joint owner dies the survivor would own the total value outright irrespective of what might be written in a Will. This means that the whole value would be means tested.
The alternative is a 'Tenancy in Common'. This means that each party owns a share of the property and can deal with it as they wish. If one partner needed residential care, only their share of the property could be taken into account, therefore, preserving the share of the other partner. The difference with this arrangement is that your children would be guaranteed to inherit at least some of the value of your home.
Discretionary Trusts:
A Discretionary Trust enables assets to be given away without actually giving to any individual.
They have been a feature of UK Trust Law for very many years, and much of the aristocratic wealth in the UK is held in such Trusts.
This is not really for tax reasons but to enable Estates to be protected from spendthrift beneficiaries.
The assets are held by Trustees who have discretion to give the assets or the income from the assets to any one of a class of people named in the Trust Document.
These people are called the beneficiaries and the class described in the Settlement Deed is normally very wide - often expressed as the descendants of grandparents, but a spouse cannot be included while the donor is alive. It is in order to have a widow as a beneficiary.
The Trustees have complete discretion on how the assets and the income is to be dealt with amongst the named class of beneficiaries.
It is, therefore, important to choose the Trustees with care, although it is perfectly in order for the donor, i.e. the person putting the assets into the Trust, to be one of the Trustees.
Children/Grand Children's Trusts:
Allows your nominated trustees to take care of your children’s or grandchildren’s needs until they have reached maturity! You can decide at which age they inherit, although when they become aged 25 they can legally access any funds available.
Trustees have access to the Trust Funds and apply them to assist the beneficiaries, for example; to pay for education costs, a car, a deposit for their first property etc, etc. In other words, to do what the parents would have done, had they still been alive.
Disabled Person’s Trust:
This is similar to a children's trust in that it allows Trustees to attend to the needs and handle matters on account of a disabled person.
Any Statutory Disability Benefits due to the person concerned are not affected by any monies held within the trust for the disabled person.
Pre Paid Funeral Plans:
Funeral costs continue to rise every year. Don’t leave your spouse or family with a problem. Save future expenses by prepaying your own funeral with the only national funeral planning company that is approved by the Society of Will Writers. Helps you leave less worries for your loved ones, both financially and morally.
The Plan GUARANTEES that the services of the funeral director will be provided as specified and there will never be more to pay for those services. The Funeral Plan fixes the price at today’s cost.
Probate Services:
Estate administration can be an extremely daunting task for someone who has recently lost a loved one.
Dealing with the Courts, the Banks and the Inland Revenue is time consuming and emotionally draining.
Legal Services Probate can take care of everything on your behalf. From ingathering the Estate to finalising tax matters.
Document Storage:
Gives you “peace of mind” knowing their most important documents are safe. A lost Will is the same as dying Intestate. Why take the risk of the documents being lost or destroyed? Imagine trying to prove the contents of a lost will especially when any copies could be easily disputed.
Clients and their executors receive document I.D. cards and a FREE Will updating service
It is advisable for clients, particularly in cases where there is trust work to be carried out on first death, that they store their documents with LSUK. We are the in a position to advise the surviving spouse as to the best way forward and arrange to have put in place whatever trusts are required.
Payment.
Payments can be made by Cash, Cheque or Credit or Debit card.