There is a commonly held belief that if you are a couple with children, not married but live together and one of you dies, everything you own will pass to the survivor. If you don’t have a valid Will in place then this is incorrect.
If you have not made a Will or your Will fails (perhaps because it wasn’t drafted properly) then government rules will determine who inherits everything you own. In the above example your partner won’t be entitled to anything and your children will inherit everything!
If you are married or in a civil partnership but don’t have a valid Will then the rules state that only the first £250,000 of what you own and half of what’s left passes to your surviving spouse/civil partner. The other half of what’s left over passes to your children if you have any. If not the wife gets everything.
For single people without children it can get really tricky as it will depend on whether you have parents, brothers, sisters or aunts and uncles alive. Here is a useful document that explains who inherits what when you have no Will.
The main point to note here is that the people you want to inherit may not get what you wanted them to have.
Here are some of the benefits of making a Will:
- You can state who you want to administer your affairs once you have died. This can avoid different next of kins fighting over who’s in charge.
- It can save your loved ones massive amounts of time applying for probate and sorting out your affairs. Without a Will your next of kin are going to have to apply for special permissions which could take a lot longer and be more expensive.
- You decide who inherits what.
- Vital if you have children as you can decide who looks after them when you have gone.
- Reduces the burden on your loved ones you leave behind as they can be confident knowing they have done the right thing.
So why do some people put off making a will?
Well some people think they are too young, it’s too complicated or that it is too expensive.
This is where we can help! It usually only takes around an hour to meet and go through your wishes. We can then usually prepare a draft of your Will within 5 days. For a simple Will we only charge £225.60 and for two simple mirror Wills we only charge a total of £255.60.
If you opt for our secure storage service priced at £20 each per year then you will be entitled to up to 3 free rewrites per year. So you don’t need to worry if things change after you have drafted your Will.
If you are keen on doing the right thing for your family why not download our help sheet ‘Before making a Will, 10 things you need to decide…’
Please contact us on 01908 592544 or info@rtsfinancialplanning for a free consultation.
Risk warning:
Stock market linked investments and any income from them, can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. Any figures quoted are for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as a forecast or guarantee. Past performance should not be seen as an indication of future returns and clients may get back less than they have invested.
