Best simplest WILL

sebastianj

Can any one suggest the wording of a simplest Will.
Husband &wife with three grown up children, ' 600k assets.

Situation is that assets to transfers to surviving partner and then the children in a TAX efficient manner. Any suggestion?
sebastian

SailorSam

Go somewhere like the Post Office and get a pre-printed form with instructions to fill it in, or a book from the library to show how to make one.
Better still lots of places like your local Hospice or Age Concern will often get in partnership with solicitors to write Wills for the cost of a donation.

CLAPTON

If your total assets are less than 625,000 then there is no IHT to pay so 'tax efficiency' is not a factor.

Pennywise

I don't think there'd be IHT anyway on an estate of £600k between H&W so I don't think IHT is your main problem here.

Each spouse will leave their estate split between the children but the surviving spouse will have a life interest until they die, so you may be setting up a life interest trust on first death, which isn't really something for an amateur. You have to match the ultimate protection of the estate passing to the children against the surviving spouse's living requirements whilst they are alive.

Why not use a solicitor to draft the wills properly so as to avoid potential future stress if it's been done badly by an amateur. We had ours done last year by a local solicitor who provided various "what if's" i.e. if child dies before parent, or if all die together, etc so it got quite complicated but they still charged only £150 or so which was worth it for us for peace of mind of having the job done properly.

CLAPTON

Pennywise wrote: »

I don't think there'd be IHT anyway on an estate of £600k between H&W so I don't think IHT is your main problem here.

Each spouse will leave their estate split between the children but the surviving spouse will have a life interest until they die, so you may be setting up a life interest trust on first death, which isn't really something for an amateur. You have to match the ultimate protection of the estate passing to the children against the surviving spouse's living requirements whilst they are alive.

Why not use a solicitor to draft the wills properly so as to avoid potential future stress if it's been done badly by an amateur. We had ours done last year by a local solicitor who provided various "what if's" i.e. if child dies before parent, or if all die together, etc so it got quite complicated but they still charged only £150 or so which was worth it for us for peace of mind of having the job done properly.

out of interest, given there is no IHT involved why would anyone use a trust?

each person leaves all there possessions to the other unless there are dead in which case the children inherit in equal shares

simple (need a few extra words of course)

sebastianj

Many thanks, Pennywise/clapton/sailorsam,
So IHT is not a concern this is a relief, surviving partner protection is an issue. Protecting this legally is perhaps not an option, hopefully commonsense will prevail.

Having said that 'there is always a doubt'.

The Will is still important to be in place else probate may want to decide how to divide the estate.
I have tried solicitor but they tend to complicate every thing, hence a lack of confidence.

sebastian

CLAPTON

how much is your house worth?
is it jointly owned and if so the is it joint tenants or tenant in common?
are savings and current a/cs jointly owned

xylophone

Never rely on "hopefully" where money and property are concerned.
See a solicitor and get it done properly.

Mikeyorks

CLAPTON wrote: »

out of interest, given there is no IHT involved why would anyone use a trust?

To protect at least 50% of the assets (those from the 1st death) from potential care costs?

Mikeyorks

sebastianj wrote: »

hopefully commonsense will prevail.

Whose commonsense? With £600k of assets it's essential to ensure that your wishes are both clear and fulfilled. That's what the Will does. The Solicitor explains the options - you choose. For just around £100 - £150 ..... it's both foolproof and cheap.

I read another thread a couple of weeks ago where someone was patting their own back on saving a few £pounds on a DIY Will. There was a property involved. And she finished to the effect 'that saves it going to Probate'! With that lack of knowledge - I hate to think how waterproof the Will wasn't.

dzug1

sebastianj wrote: »

Many thanks, Pennywise/clapton/sailorsam,
So IHT is not a concern this is a relief, surviving partner protection is an issue. Protecting this legally is perhaps not an option, hopefully commonsense will prevail.

Having said that 'there is always a doubt'.

The Will is still important to be in place else probate may want to decide how to divide the estate.
I have tried solicitor but they tend to complicate every thing, hence a lack of confidence.

sebastian

You need a solicitor or at least a 'proper' will writer. From what you are writing you clearly don't understand the situation or what you are doing. And they don't 'tend to complicate everything' - it IS complicated when you take different scenarios into account.

And Probate do not 'want to decide how to divide the estate'. It's nothing to do with them - the law of intestacy prescribes exactly how things are divided. All probate does is appoint whoever it is that does the division.