Ltd Company in will??

wymondham

Hi All

not sure if this is the right forum..... I'm off to get my will done next week and it occurred to me it would be an idea to mention my company (single person Limited company - I'm the 100% shareholder director)...

I presume this is classed as an asset but no idea really... is this something I can 'will' to someone else or is it not that simple????

I'm aware my solicitor wont be able to give any financial advice so looking for pointers really if anyone knows??

thanks

p00hsticks

When I was a similar position I think I simply willed the shares in the company to relatives, expecting them to immediately take steps to wind up the company (as they wouldn't realistically have been in a position to actually fulfil any contracts I had at the time of my death).

Savvy_Sue

Yes, you definitely SHOULD do something about the limited company, starting by mentioning it to the solicitor and as p00hsticks says giving thought to whether it will survive your death.

00ec25

you own the share(s) in the company. The company has assets (even if that is only some cash in the bank) so the shares have a value and will form part of your estate.

failure to deal with the company's future as part of your will could leave your estate having to deal with extra admin. Much easier to plan for it now whilst you still can

bear in mind the company will outlive your death for a time and could rack up costs if it fails to file its returns etc, costs which will fall on your estate... read:

https://www.gov.uk/closing-a-limited-company
You must appoint a new director if your company doesn’t have one, for example if a sole director has died.

Companies House will eventually strike off a company that doesn’t have a director but this can make it more difficult to manage any company assets. Shareholders must agree to appoint a new director and may need to vote on it.

If a sole director has died and there aren’t any shareholders the executor of the estate can appoint a new director, as long as the company’s articles allow it. The new director can close the company.

Your company still needs to pay corporation tax and file a tax return even if there’s no director.

Pennywise

I'd suggest you appoint a second director who is also a bank signatory now - either your executor or a beneficiary would be an obvious choice.

That way, they'd be able to carry on "running" the company if you die or are incapacitated. If you don't have anyone else already signed up to run it, then it will be unable to do anything in the short term. Your executor or beneficiary may have to wait for probate/administration which could take months to come through. If the company can't pay bills or file returns, etc., it could be running up fines, court judgements against it etc and may even be struck off with all assets (including bank account) being forfeited. You have to remember the company is a separate legal entity and continues in existence, possibly without anyone who can legally control it, regardless of what happens to you.

I've just had a client suffer quite severe problems. Luckily he didn't die, but he was severely incapacitated by a series of potentially fatal incidents, i.e. blood clot, stroke, heart attack, then finally sepsis. He spent a few weeks in ITU on a life support machine and will be some months before he is capable of working again. He was the sole director/shareholder/signatory of his company. His wife, who was already going through hell due to his condition, had no end of trouble trying to get herself put down as a bank signatory so she could pay the staff wages and draw out some money for herself to cover living costs. It was about 7 weeks before she got control of the company bank account. Luckily, the business office manageress was "on board" and paid some urgent bills personally, despite not being paid herself. The manageress was quite capable of running it (she was doing that anyway for years), but has now been made a director and signatory so she can actually run it properly & legally pending the guy's recovery.

Whilst the will does should mention the company and provide for what happens to it upon death, what's far more important is for the director/shareholder to have a contingency plan in place outside the will to deal with it properly in case of his death or incapacity - the will isn't the place for the short term implications as it is likely to take too long to administer the will, obtain probate etc for the will provisions to come into effect.

wymondham

thank you for all the very helpful replies... I think getting my wife as a director might be a good idea for the reasons mentioned above... thanks so much!