Contact Us

Wills, Trusts, Probate

Mental Incapacity

For a will to be valid the person making it must have sufficient mental capacity. Determining whether a person has the necessary level of capacity may be difficult and legal challenges in respect of a testator's lack of mental capacity are becoming more common. The Law Society and the British Medical Association have issued joint guidance for lawyers and doctors to help assess mental capacity. The guide may be obtained from the Law Society or booksellers. Some information is also available from the Department of Health. This information shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal... Read more

Valuing Personal and Household Items

The probate process requires all of the Deceased's assets to be valued. Chattels are generally assets such as furniture and personal possessions. Houses, Investments, bank accounts etc.  are usually straightforward to value as professional valuers such as estate agents or stockbrokers may be employed. Where the value of the estate is well below £325000, the current Inheritance Tax threshold for 2010/11 the value of chattels unlikely to be problematic. However, if IHT may be payable a value based on the open market sale price of the chattels is required. The 'open market value' - is... Read more

Changing Wills After Death

The terms of a Will may be changed after then testator has died if all the beneficiaries affected by the change agree to it. The change should be made by a deed (commonly called a Deed of Variation) and if it is made within 2 years of the testator's death it is treated, for Inheritance Tax purposes, as if the testator had changed their Will. This useful provision may be used to reduce the Inheritance Tax liability of the estate of the testator or, possibly, the estate of a beneficiary by redirecting assets to their family etc.   This information shall not be deemed to be, or... Read more

Cohabitees

When a Cohabitee dies, the survivor may receive nothing if the deceased did not have a Will. If this happens expensive and lengthy court proceedings may be required and the outcome may not be guaranteed. Cohabitees should consider their position carefully. Anything which is owned jointly will usually, though not necessarily always, pass by survivorship to the other owner. Anything which has been formally nominated or assigned to another person will usually go to them. Anything which is not owned jointly, or been nominated or assigned, will be death with under the 'intestacy'... Read more

The Intestacy Provisions

If there is a husband, wife or civil partner, and children: The spouse/civil partner gets the personal chattels, the first £250,000 and the income form half of the residue  The children of the deceased, including illegitimate and adopted children, share between them half of the residue immediately and other half when the spouse dies. If there is a husband, wife or civil partner, and relatives but no children: The spouse/civil partner gets the personal chattels, the first £450,000 and half of the residue. The parents of the deceased, or if they have died, the... Read more

« Previous 1 2 Next »