Wills and Probate | Certainty UK Will Register Blog

A leading law firm says business owners are risking substantial problems for their business partners and family by failing to make a will.

Mace & Jones made its warning, after finding that a large number of male business owners in their 30s and 40s have not made wills. This anecdotal experience is reinforced by research from Lawpack which has revealed that almost two thirds of Britons have not made arrangements for their will. (more…)

CHANCES are you haven’t even thought of writing a will yet.
The very thought of it can often seem macabre, while some people think it’s only the rich that need to bother. If so then you’re not alone, as two-thirds of the UK population has no written will at all.

Most of us still seem to think that writing a will is something to shelve until you’re older, as the study showed that people over the age of 55 are most likely to have a will. In contrast, younger adults are dramatically failing to prepare for the future, as the findings show that 97 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds have not prepared a will.

The report from Barclays Wealth, the asset management division of Barclays Bank, shows that 63 per cent of us have yet to write a wil. Further, more Britons are failing to act on factors that make us more liable to inheritance tax, such as rising house prices, and reviewing their wills accordingly.

You might think those with children would be well advised to make some kind of provision, but the study shows that, worryingly, 64 per cent of us with children have yet to even write a will. This means any assets left to their children will be liable to a six per cent charge.

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G.D. writes: My partner’s brother died on his way to New Zealand to visit another brother.  Their younger sister claims there is a will saying she is to inherit the house and contents.  She says she has a document naming her as his next of kin.  No will has been produced and we know it is not at the bank or with a solicitor. To sum up, the brother who died has left two surviving brothers and a sister.  Can she inherit the estate without a will? (more…)

During their 15 years together, elderly businessman Jimmy Swanston always assured his younger lover that she would be looked after when he had gone. So when the multi-millionaire died leaving her nothing, Pat Powell immediately suspected she had been cheated out of her inheritance. Those suspicions unfolded in a courtroom as the businessman’s son denied forging his father’s will and depriving Miss Powell of any money from the estate. (more…)

‘Genteel’ spinster leaves museum £2m in her will

An unassuming pensioner who spent much of her life browsing at Scotland’s National Museum has surprised officials by leaving the institution £2m in her will. Adele Stewart, a spinster who lived a modest life in a terrace house in Edinburgh, died aged 79 in 2006. (more…)

4-Feb-2008
Paul Hirst, Halliwells 

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Recent changes to the inheritance tax threshold have the potential to make wills an easier sell than ever before.

The Government’s proposed changes to the inheritance tax threshold are seen by many as detrimental to the profession’s efforts to encourage people to make wills.The savings offered by the changes will affect the practice of including nil-rate band discretionary trusts in wills, on the basis that these are no longer required to give the inheritance tax savings previously only available by using this device.

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The government should consider regulating the will-writing industry which is a “hunting ground for the incompetent”, says an MP.Lorely Burt, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, said fraudsters had been able to rip off customers. She called for stricter rules in the industry and possible regulation.No qualification is needed to write up the document, prompting warnings from charities about bogus will-writers.Ms Burt, MP for Solihull, told a debate at Westminster Hall that there were a number of ethical businesses in the industry, but fraudsters had taken advantage of a lack of statutory regulation. (more…)

People in the Taunton and Wellington area are being warned to avoid bogus will writers preying on the elderly and vulnerable.Taunton and District Citizens Advice Bureau has received information about cold calls and adverts promising cut-price wills that turn out to be anything but. Liz Fothergill, manager of the bureau in Station Road, Taunton, said many people are lured into paying £24 through hard sell tactics and then never receive a will. In other cases, they do receive a document, but it turns out to be worthless.Mrs Fothergill said: “Bureaux around the country are seeing the public being conned into parting with their cash by people offering cheap will-writing.

“Often costs mount up, their wishes are not expressed or the will may not even be legally valid. (more…)

Money Talk
By Ian Burman
Probate lawyer at national law firm Laytons

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Half of all Britons have not made a will. A legal expert looks at the risks these people are running.

The law sets out clear rules for what happens to your estate – property, personal possessions and cash – if you die without a will.Passing away without a will is known in legal parlance as dying intestate and the rules that govern the distribution of the estate in such circumstances is known as the law of intestacy.

Under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 the spouse and children do not automatically receive everything in the deceased’s estate. (more…)