Wills Articles

A third of marriages in England and Wales involve someone who’s been married before—often with children from previous relationships. Blended families bring complex financial dynamics, so how do you provide for your new spouse while ensuring all your children inherit fairly? Here's how to balance love, legacy, and lifelong commitments.

Choosing music for a goodbye is a personal reflection of our identities, whether it's Sinatra, Beyoncé, or "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." A Lloyds Bank study shows 80% of adults have selected their final songs, but only 59% have written a will, prioritizing funeral playlists over financial planning.

A codicil is a legal document used to make amendments to an existing will without the need to draft a completely new will. Codicils can be used to add, alter, or revoke specific provisions in a will, and there is no statutory limit to the number of codicils a testator may execute. However, using codicils requires careful consideration due to the risks and complexities involved.

Let's delve into the intriguing stories of celebrities who, despite their immense wealth, either passed away without a will or left behind ambiguous and contentious legal documents. Their legacies often sparked disputes and raised questions about how their fortunes would be handled after their deaths.

Most people accumulate a great deal of ‘stuff’ throughout their lives. Some items are valuable in real monetary terms, while others hold sentimental value. Much of this personal property falls under the definition of ‘personal chattels’.

Wills are special in that it is the original document that must be produced for probate (apart from in some extenuating circumstances discussed later).

Inheritance tax can cost loved ones £100,000s when you die, with it generating £7 billion for HM Revenue & Customs in one recent tax year alone. But in reality the vast majority of people (around 96%) don't have to pay a penny, while the few who do can legally avoid huge swathes of it. This guide runs through five inheritance tax need-to-knows.

2024 has been a pivotal year in the landscape of wills and estate planning. We can reflect on the changes made throughout the year and there have been a number of key developments. This article delves into these developments and their implications.

A survivorship clause is exactly what it sounds like: a clause in a will that makes a gift to a beneficiary conditional upon them surviving the testator by a set period. While these clauses are commonly used in modern wills, it’s clear that many people don’t appreciate the adverse effects they can have on an estate.

There are two ways that a person can make a claim against a deceased’s estate, the first being a claim under the Inheritance Provision for Family and Dependants (IPFD) Act 1975. The second is on grounds of validity.

I had just left my chair, and Murphy jumped straight into my spot. I casually said, "Jump in my grave, why don't you? "An innocent phrase used by many of us. It reminded me of current plans for reopening closed burial grounds to address the issue of limited space in urban areas.

These are common questions regarding Wills, Trusts and Powers Of Attorney. All answers are simplified for the article; please get in touch with us directly for a fuller and personalised answer. No content on this website is advice.