Is this the best way to go?

Serendipity539

I recently had a "free" visit from an Estate Planner, and her advice was firstly for us both to appoint 2 Lasting Power of Attorneys each.
This seems good advice as my husband is 85 and in good health, whilst I am 73 and suffering from Parkinson's Disease.
She looked at the mirror wills we have already had written by a solicitor in which we leave everything to each other, failing which everything goes to our son,except a cash amount to my stepdaughter. She said we need to rewrite them, after changing our home from joint tenants to tenants in common and then both put our half share into trust for my son,in case either of us need to go into care, but in my previous post "Power of Attorney - how much!" the opinion was that the trust would not protect our home if I had to go into care?
At this point I lost confidence in her advice as she whipped out a laptop and showed us DVD for the utility workshop and tried to get me to sign for them to take over all my utilities so I could get some "free" lightbulbs and a cash back card and I assume a referrer fee for herself! Very unprofessional.
What is the opinion of the advice she gave?

Mojisola

Serendipity539 wrote: »

This seems good advice as my husband is 85 and in good health, whilst I am 73 and suffering from Parkinson's Disease.

She said we need to rewrite them, after changing our home from joint tenants to tenants in common and then both put our half share into trust for my son,in case either of us need to go into care

If one of you needs residential care and the other stays in the house, the value of the house is not counted in the assessment regardless of whether the house is owned as joint tenants or TIC.

If you go for 50/50 tenants in common ownership and you both leave your half to your son (with the usual arrangements so that the survivor can stay in the house, etc), the survivor will own only their half of the property and only that half of the value of the home will be counted if they need to go into care.

Yorkshireman99

Serendipity539 wrote: »

I recently had a "free" visit from an Estate Planner, and her advice was firstly for us both to appoint 2 Lasting Power of Attorneys each.
This seems good advice as my husband is 85 and in good health, whilst I am 73 and suffering from Parkinson's Disease.
She looked at the mirror wills we have already had written by a solicitor in which we leave everything to each other, failing which everything goes to our son,except a cash amount to my stepdaughter. She said we need to rewrite them, after changing our home from joint tenants to tenants in common and then both put our half share into trust for my son,in case either of us need to go into care, but in my previous post "Power of Attorney - how much!" the opinion was that the trust would not protect our home if I had to go into care?
At this point I lost confidence in her advice as she whipped out a laptop and showed us DVD for the utility workshop and tried to get me to sign for them to take over all my utilities so I could get some "free" lightbulbs and a cash back card and I assume a referrer fee for herself! Very unprofessional.
What is the opinion of the advice she gave?

Have nothing more to do with her! Follow Mosijola’s advice. Go to a local solicitor to have wills changed.