Inheritance Tax Article MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

klondyke

toepazz wrote:

Please, has anyone had experience of Online Will Writers to cover any/all these eventualities. I made a tentative enquiry and now they keep ringing to ask if I'm ready to draw up a document over the phone - seems an odd way of producing a legal document to me, or is that just because I'm an old pharttt?

Don't touch them with a bargepole!! Very few, if any, of these people are legally qualified. If your will is absolutely straightforward and simple, you can do it yourself - if not, get a solicitor experienced in this field.

We did our will during a promotion - National Will Week or summat, where some solicitors offer their will services for free, and fees, if any, go to charity. Keep a look out for such promotions!

Tiggs_2

klondyke wrote:

Don't touch them with a bargepole!! Very few, if any, of these people are legally qualified. If your will is absolutely straightforward and simple, you can do it yourself - if not, get a solicitor experienced in this field.

so whats your point? dont use an online firm because they arent leagly qualified but do it yourself instead????

there are plenty of will writters that will pass the instructions on to qualifed persons and have a far greater experience of writing wills that your average solicitor.

like any proffesion there are good and bad and to dismiss the entire will writing industry because it doesnt have certian qualifications which arent required is a little narrow minded.

Jake'sGran

Really interesting reply. I had not realised that I could arrange an enduring power of attorney while I was still able to take care of my own affairs. Today I went to a solicitor to discuss IHT and to ask if what I propose to do is a satisfactory alternative to setting up a discretionary trust. Solicitors allow about 30 minutes free of charge. One of my problems is that my husband is not interested in financial matters and it is more or less impossible to have a sensible discussion with him about these matters. I have always been an investor and, like Topsy, it just grew and grew. This is how I have come to be in a position where, if I dies tomorrow there would be IHT to pay and I can't bear the thought. after working for so long, that the goverment would get 40% of the amount over £265.
I propose to leave my half share of the property (about £90,000/tenants in common) plus a lump son to my daughter. The solicitor seemed to suggest there were dangers in this in that my daughter could one day tell her Pa that she wanted her share of the house. I say this simply would not happen. Don't you think a mother knows her own daughter well enough for that?

klondyke

Tiggs wrote:

so whats your point? dont use an online firm because they arent leagly qualified but do it yourself instead????

there are plenty of will writters that will pass the instructions on to qualifed persons and have a far greater experience of writing wills that your average solicitor.

like any proffesion there are good and bad and to dismiss the entire will writing industry because it doesnt have certian qualifications which arent required is a little narrow minded.

Doesn't matter whether they are online, offline or in my lady's chamber. OK, so just possibly, some of them, maybe, just might be ok - but in order to write a will properly (unless it is extremely simple and straightforward, in which case, you can do it yourself) - it needs a level of knowledge about the pitfalls of wills not properly written. Possibly, one might have that knowledge without a qualification - but I would have thought a potential client would prefer to see some proof of knowledge - ie a qualification. If the potential client doesn't care whether a 'will writer' knows what he/she is doing - ok, they won't know that their worldly goods may not have gone where they were intended, because they will be dead by the time that happens.

If, as you say, will writers pass instructions on to qualified persons, ok, but then why call themselves will writers?

And, if you read my post, I didn't suggest going to your 'average solicitor', but to one experienced in this field.

margaretclare

Jake'sGran wrote:

I propose to leave my half share of the property (about £90,000/tenants in common) plus a lump son to my daughter. The solicitor seemed to suggest there were dangers in this in that my daughter could one day tell her Pa that she wanted her share of the house. I say this simply would not happen. Don't you think a mother knows her own daughter well enough for that?

I can only quote to you what a very experienced family solicitor once said to me. She said: 'You only have to sit in this chair in this office for half a day to see the very worst of human nature'. She went on to explain that she'd seen loving, trusting fathers/daughters, sisters/brothers, mothers/sons, almost start firing rockets at each other when the pound signs started whizzing around in their eyes. Anything to do with money, inheritance, property etc is a recipe for World War Three at the level of family.

I've heard of people's wills been applied to be 'varied' - apparently this can be done within 2 years of the death. That's if the legatees don't agree with what the deceased person wanted! Don't be too sure that something 'simply wouldn't happen' - you won't be around to see it!

Margaret Clare

Chrismaths

A more commonly used device in wills is leaving your half of the house to a trust. your hubby would have a life interest in the trust, but on his death the trust would benefit the beneficiaries of the will. The key is to select trustee your er.. trust, as they have the control of the assets. These could include your husband, ad maybe a trusted third party.

The one caveat with this is, as always, Gordon Brown screwing around with things, which he is presently doing - so get professional advice.

Tiggs_2

Jake'sGran wrote:

I say this simply would not happen. Don't you think a mother knows her own daughter well enough for that?

How well do you know her x husband she hasnt even met yet?

Tiggs_2

klondyke wrote:

but I would have thought a potential client would prefer to see some proof of knowledge - ie a qualification.

Not as simple as that though...whats the qualification you would want to see for will writing? a Law degree? is that better than someone who provides more wills (and willw riting advice) than most solicitors have had hot dinners?

I have passed too many clients to solicitors who did not grasp the basics....its the reason i now offer a will writing service alongside my IFA practice. I have even written Wills for solicitors who werent clued up on the IHT side of things!

Jake'sGran

exil wrote:

For a start I can't really understand the motivation to leave or gift lots of money to one's children. Of course if they get into financial trouble when I'm still alive, I'll help them. However I'm not going to give them the impression that they're not going to have to work for a living and pay for their house, car etc like we did - in other words, my name is not "Bank of Mum and Dad". Also, with normal luck, my offspring will be approaching retirement themselves by the time I "shuffle off", long past the time when they will be buying a house and raising a family.

In other words - I can't see the point in scrimping and saving in order to leave a large legacy. Spend the inheritance!

---

I tend to agree with you but I have turned out to be quite good at investing and my savings have grown considerably without the help of an adviser. I would love to spend a lot of it but what on? I have a serious heart problem so travelling the world is out. We don't fancy a cruise or the idea of having a large extension to our property which would only add to it's value anyway. We could buy a Mercedes (I like big cars) but our present car is lovely, a limited edition, and we don't go anywhere much. Long plane journeys are out and our favourite place is Majorca anyway. I've thought of diamond rings but am not really interested and when would I wear them?. So, I will have to come up with a good scheme so that my kids don't have to pay back the equivalent of a number of years salary earned when I was working for some horrible bosses.

Tiggs_2

Theres a number of issues here though, a lot depends on your wealth and age. If you own a house then you have benifited from property vaule increases that your kids may not have. In the south east any people will clear their mortgage with their inheritance which they only get because the parents house went up in value so much......without passing that gain down the family the children will be priced out of the area.

Also...." spend the money"...nice idea, but why? Sure...enjoy it but why waste it on stuff you wouldnt want when you can leave it for others?
In reality if you can "spend it" as a means of solving your IHT issues then you dont have much of a problem...........however, if you have accrued true wealth from a lifetime of sensible living it will be very hard to change habbits of a lifetime and start blowing the cash - the reality is you will procrastinate on it until you are dead and blow 40% to he IR instead!