| Your Will | |
| 1. | Are the beneficiaries to inherit absolutely for them to deal with as they please or should their entitlement be placed in trust to ensure that the capital passes to their children (or other designated beneficiaries) on their death? |
| 2. | At what age should minor beneficiaries become entitled to capital – 18 or older? |
| 3. | Does your will make adequate provision for the distribution of your jewellery, furniture and effects? |
| 4. | Should beneficiaries receive fixed cash sums or percentage shares of your estate? |
| 5. | Is it necessary to protect the inheritance of a beneficiary because of their own disability or the risk of claims by creditors or a divorcing spouse? |
| 6. | Who are to act as your Executors to carry out the terms of your Will? |
| 7. | Do you want to be buried or cremated? |
| Inheritance Tax Planning | |
| 1 | Lifetime Gifts: |
| (a) Are you
utilising all available exemptions?
(b) Have you arranged for life polices, pension plans and death in service benefits to pass outside of your estate? (c) If you are faced with a prospective charge to Inheritance Tax, and can afford to make a gift, that gift will escape any charge to Inheritance Tax under current legislation provided you survive that gift by 7 years. You can determine whether or not the gifts are to be absolute or in trust for the donees. |
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| 2. | Will. |
| You can state in your Will whether or not legacies are to bear their share of any Inheritance Tax liability or if the tax is to be paid out of the residue of your estate. | |
| In your Will you can give assets to the children of an intended beneficiary (ie "skip a generation") to assist with Inheritance Tax planning for that beneficiary. | |
| 3. | Post Death Variations. |
| Within 2 years of death a beneficiary can redirect an inheritance to a third party and elect to have the redirected inheritance treated as though it came direct from the Deceased, thereby avoiding the usual requirement for a donor to survive such a gift by 7 years in order for it to escape any charge to Inheritance Tax. | |
| 4. | Gifts to UK Charities by way of lifetime gifts or under Wills or post death variations are completely exempt from Inheritance Tax without limit. |
| 5. | Properly structured gifts/legacies of farmland, business interests and shares in unquoted trading companies can qualify for generous reliefs from Inheritance Tax. |
| Living Wills/Advance Directives | |
| In what circumstances, if any, would you not want to receive any further medical treatment? | |
| Enduring Power of Attorney | |
| Who would you want to manage your affairs should you become physically or mentally incapable of managing them yourself during your lifetime? | |
| Would you want to place any restriction on what the attorney can deal with or when the attorney's powers should come into operation? | |
| Further Advice | |
| The system is changing from 1st October 2007 so we strongly recommend clients put in place one before then. This is only a brief summary of the more important areas to consider. It is not intended as a full statement of the law. | |
| Home visits can be arranged and we are
happy to give a quotation for fees following an initial
consultation. For more information contact Fiona Bailey fiona.bailey@godwins-law.co.uk |
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