Changes in legislation regarding wills

Katykat

I’ve had a letter from the company who wrote my will about 10 yrs ago. It tells me that there are changes coming in this year that may effect many clients estates. It says that the cost of passing on assets to your family is increasing. My personal circumstances have not changed. My estate is under inheritance tax threshold. I don’t pay tax, I haven’t changed any wishes or my family dynamic hasn’t changed. Basically, I have no wish to change my will So, what are these legislative changes? Are they likely to affect me? And do I need to do anything at all?

Flugelhorn

Suspect they are hoping you will re-write and they can charge you a huge fee for doing so.

If anything I think that the cost of passing on assets to near rellies is decreasing with the larger allowances under IHT for property

Mojisola

Katykat wrote: »

I’ve had a letter from the company who wrote my will about 10 yrs ago.

It would be worth reviewing your will to make sure it fits in with your wishes now but no need to write a new one if it does.

They are probably using the changes in Probate fees to con you into paying for a new will.

Are they charging you an annual fee for storage?

pphillips

I think they might be talking about changes to probate fees, see:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/proposed-change-to-probate-fees

The probate fee used to be a standard fee of £215, but when the changes come in the fee will be based on the value of your estate as follows:

Here's a full breakdown of how much more you could pay after the rules change:

Estates worth from £50,000 up to £300,000 will pay £250, a rise of £35.
Estates worth from £300,000 up to £500,000 will pay £750, a rise of £535.
Estates worth from £500,000 up to £1 million will pay £2,500, a rise of £2,285.
Estates worth from £1 million up to £1.6 million will pay £4,000, a rise of £3,785.
Estates worth from £1.6 million up to £2 million will pay £5,000, a rise of £4,785.
Estates worth more than £2 million will pay £6,000, a rise of £5,785.

However, probate is not always a requirement. For example, you don't need probate if all your property is held in joint names.

Katykat

Mojisola wrote: »

It would be worth reviewing your will to make sure it fits in with your wishes now but no need to write a new one if it does.

They are probably using the changes in Probate fees to con you into paying for a new will.

Are they charging you an annual fee for storage?

No, we store our wilsl in our own safe

Keep_pedalling

Mojisola wrote: »

It would be worth reviewing your will to make sure it fits in with your wishes now but no need to write a new one if it does.

They are probably using the changes in Probate fees to con you into paying for a new will.

Are they charging you an annual fee for storage?

A new will can’t do anything about probate charges, but they might suggest sticking all your assets in a trust for a fat fee which could avoid probate, but would almost certainly be a dumb thing to do.