Future Finances: Time vs Money

lessonlearned wrote: »

S&R.

I agree with Thriftytracy........as well as wills ideally you also need to to do Lasting Power of Attorneys.....for both Wealth and Property and also Health and Welfare.

They are not the nicest things to think about, but when they're done, they're done and then you can then get on with your lives.

Yes, thanks for this ... you're both right, this is something we do need to deal with.Thanks to the good advice on here, I'll be adding the LPA element to our lines of enquiry too.

As you know I'm a widow now....I have everything in place, including a letter of wishes so that my family know exactly what's what. I keep everything together including insurance policies etc so they know where everything is.

One little snippet that might be of interest to you. And this is something which always astonishes me that financial institutions and solicitors don't advise people on this.

When you buy life insurance make sure that is written in trust for your beneficiaries. Writing it in trust means it bypasses the estate.

This has two advantages.......

1. It is quick. The money goes straight where it is intended, even if the remainder of the estate goes to probate. When my husband died I claimed on the Monday and received a cheque on the Friday.

2. It can reduce your inheritence tax bill (if you have one). because the proceeds of the policy are outwith the estate.

Because the money is paid direct it will mean that there are funds there to pay for your funeral, debts, any expenses or tax bills. This could prove invaluable for your family.

I have known families who have had to take out loans for expenses and tax bills because everything was tied up in the estate. Probate can be a lengthy process. With a little bit of forethought and advance planning you could be saving your loved ones both stress and money.

You will need to pay a small fee to set up the policy in trust. I paid £25 two years ago. It used to be free but now they do charge.

And.......Even if you purchased your life insurance some time ago, you can still put it in trust. It's not just for new policies.

I worked in life insurance at one stage and I always advised my clients to put policies in trust. It still shocks me that solicitors, accountants etc do not always advise their clients better on this.

I'm afraid that some insurance companies don't volunteer this information either. The last time I purchased life cover I had to ask them to do it. I find that pretty poor.

That's real food for thought, thanks LL ... shocking that they don't really share this kind of information. We no longer have life insurance as we don't have a mortgage, we've got a kind of pot for funeral funds but OH would rather spend this on living. Hmmm, something for the next Bored Meeting right there I think.

Whether or not you make your own wills and LPAs is entirely up to you. However, do be careful, especially if you have children from previous marriages or if your wills are likely to be complex. DIY wills are really best only for very simple mirror wills.

And if people are not married......then definitely get a solicitor to do the will.

Yes, you're right there too LL. We got a DIY will from a stationery shop but in the end decided we'll use that to write down actual wishes (bequests, songs, places to scatter ashes etc) and will get a mirror Will officially done. We've got several children between us and OH has some artwork and furniture he specifically wants his daughters to have as these items have always been in his family. It makes sense to me that these wishes should be written down and honoured.

We had to redo our wills when my husband got sick. I had to write him out of my will because, as he was in a nursing home, if I had died before him the State would have seized my portion and my children would have received nothing.

(The fact that he should have been in receipt of Continuing Health Care by this time and wasn't is another story. I did eventually manage to get them to cough up in the end but it was a long battle).

Anyway, The solicitor came out to his nursing home twice. She also had to bring another member of the law firm to ensure that my husband was competent because by this time he couldn't speak and he couldn't write. We also had to have two further independent witnesses.....two nurses were kind enough to do the honours.

We did two wills, two Health and Welfare LPAs, and two Wealth and Property LPAs. Obviously we had to pay for the two visits, including travelling time to compensate for time spent away from their office when they could have been seeing other clients. The total bill came to around £1500.

I think, given the service we received, this was very fair.

At the same time my husband completed an Advanced Directive (instructions for medical care). She also ran her eye over that and countersigned and stamped it so there could be no doubts about my husband's mental capacity. This meant that his instructions could not be countermandered.. She didn't charge for that.

These things are never pleasant to deal with but ...having been placed in a position of being in charge of my husbands care and welfare I soon came to realise the importance of not leaving anything to chance. I needed to ensure that everything I did was absolutely bullet proof so my husbands wishes were respected. Who would protect him if I wasn't there.

After spending 4 months in hospital at one stage my husband begged me not to let him be hospitalised again, not to make him endure any invasive treatments purely to extend his life, and not to make him die in hospital.

I had several battles with medical staff, with one especially memorable occasion with an over zealous nurse in the nursing home who tried to have him hospitalised. This was despite it being stated quite clearly in his file that he did not want to be readmitted to hospital.

However, because I had a full Health and Welfare POA and also his Advance Directive countersigned and stamped by his solicitor I was able to ensure that my husbands wishes were adhered to.

It wasn't much but it was the least I could do.

Oh LL ... you say "it wasn't much" but it was as much as you could possibly do, and far more than many would have been able to do if they weren't as well prepared and willing to stand up so dilligently for their OH's rights and wishes. It sounds like you were amazing, and how great that the solicitors came through in what sounds like a very professional but also sensitive way. You're absolutely right that the real take-away advice here is to not leave anything to chance.
I'm a tad embarrassed that we've been chancing it for so long.

So my advice is to think very carefully about going down the DIY route for Wills and POAs. You need them to be cast iron and bullet proof.

Unfortunately life can throw a curved ball, bad things can happen and you need to protect both yourselves and your loved ones.

bugslet wrote: »

Been at home for a few days, internet free zone there, so catching up here. Can just imagine the ungainly heron:D

Yes, it was marvellous!

Another one that will mention PoA - very handy should you ever require it, it's like having magic keys that open otherwise shut doors!
Appreciate that, it's on the list!

I think my last update was that I had told my customer that I was winding up the business:j, after nearly two months they have come back and said if they take out all the corporate rubbish, will I stay. Pretty please. I'm dithering.

Ooooh, the plot thickens! Is taking out the corporate rubbish something that could make continuing tolerable for you?And are they likely to follow through and actually do it if they've promised you things will improve? Big decisions there, even on top of the time vs money questions of retirement! If you agree to stay, would you want to set a time limit on it, do you think? [ /QUOTE]