Wills Direct Northampton | Will Writing Services | Will Drafting

New HMRC Trust Registration Service (TRS)

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 06:10:51 -0800

New rules were introduced on 6 October 2020, which extend the scope of the trust register to all UK express trusts and some non-UK trusts, regardless of whether the trust has to pay any tax.

Introduced as part of the UK’simplementation of the Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5MLD), these new rules ensure the UK has an up-to-date anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing regime that is effective and proportionate, as well as providing improved transparency about the ownership of assets held in trusts. For trusts set up on or after 6th April 2021, they must register by the later of 1 September 2022 and 90 days after the trust first becomes registrable. Failing to comply within the deadlines will run the risk of receiving penalties.

CARE FEES

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 06:40:15 -0700

We receive many queries daily on care fees assessment and how a home can be protected from care fees and whether it counts towards the means test carried out by the local authority, so we thought we would put together some information for you.

Say you are a couple and live in a home worth £850,000 and as you grow older you are worrying more about ensuring it is protected from care fees so it can be passed to your children. Is there anything you can do? Let’s look at how care fees are assessed and some scenarios.

Care fees Assessment

When someone goes into care, the local authority will carry out a financial assessment. As part of their assessment, the local authority will calculate the cost of the care and how much the individual can contribute from their own resources.

When carrying out a means test, the local authority may consider the value of the property as well as any income, savings or pension.

It is worth noting that The Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014, Schedule 2, Regulation 4 states that “A local authority may disregard the value of any premises which is occupied in whole or in part by a qualifying relative of the adult as their main or only home where the qualifying relative occupied the premises after the date on which the adult was first provided with accommodation in a care home under the Act.” A qualifying relative is defined as a spouse/civil partner, partner, former partner, the person’s minor...Read More

The Society of Will Writers

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 04:24:07 -0700

The Society of Will Writers is a non-profit making self regulatory organisation which seeks to protect the public and serve the interests of those men and women who are active professionals in the field.

The Society of Will Writers was founded in 1994 by former Director General, Brian McMillan and 4 other business owners. The Society has since grown to become not only the largest but also the leading self-regulatory body governing Will Writers and Estate Planners alike. We have over 1,700 members across the UK, Central Europe and further afield in places such as Asia and Africa.

The Society has set itself two main tasks:

To promote to the public at large the real need and sense in having a valid Will;
To act as a self-regulatory body by vetting practitioners through stringent membership requirements, proficiency standards and ongoing training.

The designatory letters of the Society’s membership grades:

Aff.SWW
MSWW
ASWW
FSWW
Cmpn.SWW

When Read More

I already have an EPA do I need and LPA?

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 05:59:18 -0800

You may have an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) in which you have appointed people you know and trust, or a professional, to act as your attorney. This may be to help you manage your affairs now or limited to allow your attorneys to make decisions for you in future if you lose capacity to make decisions yourself. EPAs were replaced by Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) from 1^st October 2007, so it has not been possible to create new EPAs since then.

If you have an EPA in place already you may be wondering whether or not you need an LPA. Often the answer to this question is no, there’s no need to replace your existing EPA if it was drafted and signed correctly and if your wishes remain the same. That’s not to say there aren’t good reasons for considering an LPA though.

1. EPAs only cover financial affairs

At the time you made your EPA it wasn’t possible to appoint attorneys to make decisions about your personal welfare. An EPA only deals with your finances and allows attorneys to make decisions about selling your home, making gifts, and managing your bank accounts and bills. To give someone legal authority to make decisions about your health, care, and life sustaining treatment you need a Health & Welfare LPA in place.

2. Creation of LPAs is more secure

The process of making an LPA is a bit more involved as there are more safeguards in place. For an LPA to be valid it must be signed by a certificate provider; this is a person who can confirm that you have capacity to make...Read More

Weird Wills: Having the last laugh

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 05:01:04 -0700

Writing a will is an important task and one that shouldn’t be neglected. Obviously a will is there to distribute your estate to the people you want to inherit it and to appoint people you trust to make sure your wishes are carried out, but it’s also an opportunity to pass on items of sentiment or make small gestures to the people who mean the most to you. That said, sometimes wills can get downright bizarre. Here’s a look at some odd bequests drawn both from our own personal experience and famous people’s well-known wishes.

Perhaps the most famous example of an odd bequest was Shakespeare’s gift of his ‘second best bed’ to Anne Hathaway, his wife of 34 years. Though today this may look like a snub it was actually common to specifically gift a bed in a will in the 1600 as they were a representation of wealth. As a wife you’d at least expect the best one though!

Don’t worry, this wasn’t done out of spite! We’re sure that there was an in-joke here between the brothers involved.

Polish composer Tchaíkowsky died in 1982. In his will he made a gift of his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company with the wish that it was one day used as the skull of Yorick in Hamlet. As desired, his skull was eventually used on stage in 2008 by David Tennant portraying Hamlet.

At first glance this doesn’t look too unusual. However, the jewellery in question was actually made from the ashes of the testator’s parents. She herself had no wishes to have her own ashes converted into jewellery to continue this legacy.

Harry Houdini, the famous escape artist, was known to be obsessed with spiritualism and contacting the dead, though he dedicated a part of his career to uncovering fraud mediums. To that end, in his will he left his wife a 10-digit code and instructions to hold a séance on every anniversary of his death. He promised that he would try to contact her from beyond the grave and she would know it was him from the secret code.

A testator left a...Read More

Second Marriages

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 02:33:32 -0700

Estate Administration

Mon, 13 Aug 2018 06:24:14 -0700

Estate administration can often be extremely complex, time-consuming and stressful at an already difficult time.

To put it simply, estate administration is the process of handling a person’s legal and tax affairs after they’ve died. This means dealing with all of their assets (e.g. property, personal possessions, shares and bank accounts), paying any Inheritance Tax and Income Tax and distributing inheritance to the estate’s beneficiaries.

So what is the difference between probate and estate administration?

To conveniently sum up the difference between probate and estate administration; probate is just one part of the wider estate administration process. Probate provides you with the legal right to carry out the estate administration, including dealing with property, money and personal possessions

If you have any questions about applying for probate or the estate administration process, get free guidance and advice by calling 01604 505170 or email willsdirectbusiness@gmail.com

Provision For Pets

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 03:44:52 -0800

When it comes to planning for the future, you may have decided what you want to happen with your personal effects i.e your jewellery, art collection & guitar, but what about your pet?

Under UK law pets are considered to be ‘chattels’ (definition: cars, books, pictures, furniture, jewellery, musical instruments, wines… and domestic animals). As such, pet owners should address the issue of what happens should their pet outlive them.

Provide for them in your will by either appointing a guardian, or, if you do not have anyone in your life that is able to care for your pet then you can leave your pet to a charity for example the RSPCA’s ‘Home For Life’ service, which last year recovered 65,000 pets whose owners had died. They will do all they can to find a new, loving home for your pet if you should pass away. A simple clause in your Will would ensure this happens.

Making provisions for your pet in your will, will provide you with peace of mind.

New Tax Free Allowance

Tue, 07 Nov 2017 10:42:05 -0800

From April 2017 the Government is introducing a new, additional tax-free allowance for people who own a home. This is called the “family home allowance”.

It will eventually be worth an additional £175,000 per person. Added to the £325,000 allowance that everyone gets, this means a new allowance for property owners of £500,000 – or £1m for couples.

This additional perk will also be transferable between married couples and civil partners, even if one partner dies before its introduction in 2017.

It will be introduced gradually over four years, with the allowance worth £100,000 in 2017-18, £125,000 in 2018-19, £150,000 in 2019-20 and £175,000 in 2020-21.

Estate Administration Service

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 12:52:56 -0700

We understand that dealing with the estate of a loved one can be a daunting experience which is why the team of experts at Kings Court Trust do all of the hard work for our clients, removing the time, effort and stress of a potentially complicated legal process.

Kings Court will tell you the charge up front and their guaranteed fixed pricing comes with peace of mind. So if you ever want to ask a question, call them. They'll never be watching the clock.