Wills and Probate | Certainty UK Will Register Blog

In a recent poll of 200 solicitors 98% said that they held Wills where the testator has died but had not had the opportunity to administer the Will because the family could not find them.

Searching for a Will has never been so simple. Certainty’s Will Search service replaces the haphazard system under which a family has to ³guess² which law firm might have custody of a loved one’s Will. All too often Wills are deemed lost or presumed never written and are difficult to trace, near impossible some would say.

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Published: 1st November 2009  Source: Julian Knight, Independent

It’s a difficult one Should people who are cohabiting have the right to claim the estates of their loved ones when they die in the same way bereaved spouses or civil partners do? The UK Law Commission says yes. But others say that if the cohabitees had meant their partners to have a share of their wealth they would have either got married or written a will. Dig deeper and the argument becomes one about protecting the “specialness” of marriage.

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Published: 31st October 2009  Source: Stephen Womack, Mail on Sunday Personal Finance Correspondent

Pensioners are being urged to draft ‘living wills’ in case they become incapacitated. As The Mail on Sunday reported last week, thousands of families each year have to apply to the Court of Protection if a relative is struck down with dementia or other long-term illnesses.

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Published: 4 October 2009 Source: Julian Knight and Chiara Cavaglieri, Independent

Enticing offers of discount or even free will-writing services may sound harmless enough, but many families who take this route risk paying dearly when it comes to sorting out the eventual estate. Will-writing companies, banks and solicitors may be taking consumers for a ride by appointing themselves as executors in the will and charging over the odds for taking an estate through probate.

Some banks and will-writers can offer their services as a loss leader; they can recoup their money tenfold by ensuring they are included in the will as executors, then levying bumper fees when the testator passes away. After death, it is difficult to remove executors from a will; as a result, estates can be hit with unspecified charges of as much as 4.5 per cent, or £22,500 on a £500,000 estate.

“Wills are now also being written by unqualified people who have no professional ethics whatsoever,” says Adam Walker, the director of Final Duties, an independent probate broker.

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Published: Oct 19 2009 Source: Madeleine Brindley, South Wales Echo

CARDIFF residents have left £2.4m to Cancer Research UK in their wills over the last year, figures reveal.

The charity said that local supporters are playing a vital role in Cancer Research UK’s vision to beat cancer by helping to fund its life-saving research.

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Published: Sep 26 2009 Source: Stephen Womack, Daily Mail

Families are being urged to take prompt action to cut potential inheritance tax bills amid fears that the precarious state of the country’s public finances could mean an end to generous thresholds. Inheritance tax (IHT) is charged at 40 per cent on legacies, though bequests to a spouse or charity are free of tax and the first £325,000 of any other bequest is tax-free.

Growing public resentment over the increasing number of people forced to pay inheritance tax has pushed the tax up the political agenda. In October 2007, the Conservative party pledged to raise the threshold at which the tax kicks in to £1million, allowing a couple to pass on £2million of wealth between them.

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Published: Oct 14 2009 Source: Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post

A Midland lawyer who specialises in services for the elderly has warned that some unqualified will writing services are the equivalent of cowboy operators in the building trade.

Fiona Barnes, a partner at Shropshire-based MFG Solicitors and head of the firm’s private client division, warns that dying without a will is bad enough but a badly written or out of date will could be just as dangerous.

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Source: Money Talk, BBC
By Edward Chivers
Buss Murton solicitors

Last week Christine Gill successfully challenged her mother’s Will which had left more than £2m to the RSPCA.

This court challenge is likely to result in an appeal by the animal charity.

But it is just the latest in a long line of high profile, and often bitter, disputes surrounding the estates of deceased family members.

Challenging a Will is an expensive undertaking, both in terms of time, money and emotional effort.

Accusations fly, families squabble, charities huff and puff, and someone has to pick up the tab.

Yet it does not seem to deter an increasing number of individuals from challenging the Wills of deceased family members.

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Published: 1st July 2009 Source: Kristen Houghton, www.examiner.com

The media circus over Michael Jackson’s estate, his final wishes, and guardianship of his three children has brought the subject of wills to the forefront of the news. If, as some claim, Michael Jackson died intestate, it would be a disaster as far as his children are concerned.
It reminds us that everyone should have a will, especially married couples.

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Published: 3rd June 2009 Source: Harriet Mayer, www.guardian.co.uk

Power of attorney is being simplified and the cost is falling, so there’s no excuse to put it off any longer, says Harriet Meyer

Given that many of us will develop health problems as we get older, and may even be struck down in the prime of life by accident or illness, arranging for someone to have legal control over our finances and health decisions can be invaluable. This is known as lasting power of attorney (LPA).

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