Kinslay Wills & Estate Planning

13/11/2023

Making a Will really is speedy!

The whole process often only takes an hour and it really is incredibly simple. We’ll take care of you every step of the way, ask you a few simple questions to find out about your estate and wishes.

Kinslaywills.co.uk

13/11/2023

In this article, we will discuss some of the common mistakes that people make with their estate planning.

07/11/2023

Did you know that these can affect your Will?

New Home
If you have bought a new home, congratulations! Does your current Will include your previous home address? If so, please get in touch with your will writer to have your Will updated to ensure your new property is covered in your Will.

What if this is not done? If for example your current Will gifts a property to your son and this property does not exist at the date of your death, the gift will fail.

Marriage
Did you know that marriage automatically revokes a Will? If your intention is for all your assets to go to your new spouse this is fine but at times, if you have children from a past relationship that you want to provide for, they can be disinherited. This would have the effect that on your death, your children receive nothing, everything passes to your new spouse and then to their loved ones.

Of course, your children could challenge the will under the 1975 Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act, but this is costly and time-consuming.

To prevent the above, it is best to review your existing Will before you get married and either re-write it or include a contemplation of marriage clause in it. This is where you express a contrary intention to the ‘automatic revocation’ of your Will upon getting married. Specifically, this clause is a declaration within your Will that your intended marriage to your potential future spouse shall not have the effect of revoking your Will.

Divorce
Whilst divorce does not automatically revoke your Will, the reality is that you probably will not want your ex-spouse to benefit from your Will or any part of your estate.

The good news is that the ex-spouse is treated as if they died when the divorce was finalised (decree absolute) and therefore cannot inherit from you. If there are any gifts to them in your Will, they will fail. However, if you did want your ex-spouse to benefit from your estate or receive something in your Will, you would need to have a provision in your will to state Section 18a Wills Act 1837 will not apply.

Did you know an ex-spouse can try and claim from your estate on your death if they feel as if they should “have been given a piece of the pie” and had reasonable financial provision made for them? The best way to get around this is to exclude them from your Will and have the letter of wishes set out the reasons for this exclusion so if it ever is challenged, the Courts can look at what you have stated and consider it when reaching their verdict.

Children
Your current Will may state “children” or alternatively specifically name your children.

If your Will states “children” this provides for any children that are living at the date of your death. However, if your current Will specifically names your children and you have had more children since, you will need to update your Will to include them also.

With marriage could come step-children so let’s take a look at this now. Apart from legislation relating to the residence nil rate band, did you know step-children are not included in the automatic definition of “children, issue or descendants” when it comes to your Will?

You may class them as your own children as you have looked after them for many years but even if this is the case, they will not benefit if your Will gives your estate to your children. Of course, they can challenge the Will on your death but to prevent costly and time-consuming litigation, if you wish for them to benefit under the terms of the Will, either specifically name them or have “children and step-children” written in the Will. Your estate planner will advise on this during your meeting.

Property Abroad
If you own a property abroad i.e. Dubai? We would advise you to have a Will in place in the country where the property is held. It is important to ensure the Will is restricted to assets in that country only.

Why is this? If you write a Will in 2019 and then see a will writer in Dubai in 2022 and this specific Will is not restricted to assets in Dubai only, your 2019 will be revoked.

If you wish to make amendments to your Will, have a new Will written or any supporting documentation, simply contact your Will Writer who will be able to assist with putting these changes in place or draft any new documentation for you. Remember, if you have a new Will written, it will revoke any previous Wills

04/11/2023

If your Will can’t be located after your death then your estate may end up being distributed totally differently to how you wanted.

04/11/2023

Protect your loved today for just £149!

Our no fuss, efficient and plain English approach means you pay a lot less than you might think.
Wills don’t need to be expensive and this is one of the many benefit using a professional Will Writer and Estate planner.

Contact us today, we never charge for giving advice.

kinslaywills.co.uk

02/11/2023

As a member of The Society of Will Writers we adhere to their code of conduct to ensure we provide the best possible service to our customers.

The Society of Will Writers (SWW) is a professional trade association for Will Writers and Estate Planning professionals which was created in April 1994. It started with 5 founding members and has grown to become the largest organisation of its type today.

The two primary purposes of the SWW are to promote to the public at large the real need and sense in having a valid Will; and to act as a self-regulatory body by vetting practitioners through stringent membership requirements, proficiency standards and on-going training.

That all sounds great, but what does it mean?

The profession is largely unregulated and anyone can write a Will but to do so could cause all sorts of problems which may not come to the surface until after the testator dies. As an organisation we ensure that those practicing under the banner of the SWW are ‘safe to do business with’.

How are SWW members ‘Safe to do business with’ and who can use the logo?

The SWW logo is a membership benefit for all members of the SWW. We supported this by adding the ‘Safe to do business with’ logo in 2015. Members are free to use this alongside the SWW logo. All members of the SWW must adhere to three mandatory requirements:

Providing us proof of Professional Indemnity Insurance (meeting the SWW’s minimum requirements of £2m level of indemnity).
Adherence to the SWW Code of Practice (our rule book by which all members are judged and audited)
Completion of 24 hours CPD (continuous professional development) on an annual basis and be able to provide proof of 16 structured hours for the annual audit. Unstructured hours constitutes self-development or learning.
These safeguards are in place so that the SWW can confidently state that members are safe to do business with and as such can use these logos to help market their business.

01/11/2023

Will Wednesday, did you know…

“30 million adults in Britain do not have a Will
New research shows that 61 % of British adults do not have a Will. This equates to 30 million people.

Populus conducted the research in June this year with a sample of 2,078 adults. The new figures show a small increase from the 2016 research by Prudential which found that 59% of British adults did not have a Will.

Some of the reasons given during the recent research about why people have not made a Will include:

Nothing worth Inheriting (38%)
Hadn’t considered writing a Will (20%)
Too busy to write a Will (16%)”

Source Oratto

31/10/2023

Happy Halloween 🎃
kinslaywills.co.uk

28/10/2023

Making a Will and protecting your loved ones really is easy!

The whole process takes no more than an hour and can be done over the phone, via a video call or in the comfort of your own home.

Get in touch today and protect your family for just £149 for a single Will or £249 for mirror Wills (for you and your partner).

kinslaywills.co.uk

26/10/2023

kinslaywills.co.uk

26/10/2023

Have you created your will? It’s easy, inexpensive and faster than you might think. Get in touch today

kinslaywills.co.uk

25/10/2023