DO I NEED TO CHANGE MY WILL?

March 3, 2022

You should review your estate planning upon any of the following events:

1. Marriage

If you marry your existing will is automatically revoked unless it was written in contemplation of that marriage and an appropriate clause included in the will to state this. If you are engaged and planning on marrying make sure you tell your Will Writer so they can help you plan your will accordingly.

2. Divorce

If you divorce any gifts in your will to your former spouse or civil partner are made void. As are any appointments of them as an executor, trustee, or guardian. Even though gifts to former spouses will fail after your divorce has been finalised it is still a good idea to review your will planning. After the divorce your financial circumstances may have changed, or you may want to reconsider how other beneficiaries will be provided for now you aren’t providing for your spouse.

You should also review your will planning if a beneficiary of yours divorces or is in the process of going through a divorce. This avoids disputes. There is also planning you could put in place to avoid a beneficiary’s share of your estate passing to their spouse in a divorce.

3. Change in law

It is important to keep abreast of changes in law that may affect your estate planning. This is especially important if you have a large estate that will be liable to inheritance tax (IHT) as if tax law changes and your will isn’t kept up to date your estate may end up paying more IHT on your death. In 2017 there as a large change to tax law that introduced the residence nil rate band – a special IHT allowance where your home is gifted to your children (or other direct descendants). If you haven’t updated your will to take advantage of this new allowance you ought to contact a Will Writer for a review as soon as possible.

4. General change in circumstances

It is also advised to review your will after other general changes in circumstances, such as when a beneficiary dies, or has children of their own. Relationships change over the years and unfortunately friends and family we were once close to may drift away so it is important to make sure your will always reflects your wishes; you probably don’t want to make that gift to the friend you fell out with! You may even wish to change your will to exclude a person who you previously inherited, but make sure you seek professional advice on this first.

On a happier note perhaps you have repaired a relationship with a formerly distant child and now want to change your will to benefit them.

If it’s been a while since you’ve reviewed your will or if any of your circumstances have changed then maybe it’s time to break it out of the safe and check you’re still happy with the contents. For a full review and to make sure your will is up to date with current law, please contact us on 0800 0747 642 or 01206 544919.

source: Society of Will Writers

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General Powers of Attorney

By Julia Newlove • November 22, 2023

Normally when we think of powers of attorney we think of Lasting Power of Attorney (LPAs). These documents allow a donor to appoint attorneys to make decisions on their behalf should they lose capacity to make their own decisions. They can be made to appoint someone to make decisions about health and welfare as well as property and financial affairs. In the case of managing financial affairs an LPA can also be used while the donor still has capacity to make their own decisions, making them useful for someone who has mental capacity but maybe still needs a bit of extra support. General Powers of Attorney (GPAs) are very different. This type of document can only be used by a donor wishing to appoint an attorney to manage their financial affairs and is only valid while the donor has mental capacity. As soon as capacity is lost the GPA is no longer useable and the attorney can’t make any more decisions for the donor. So why choose a General Power of Attorney right now? At the moment LPA applications are progressing quite slowly. The Office of the Public Guardian is doing it’s best to process applications within their target of 40 days, but like many companies right now they are running on reduced staff. This means that it’s taking longer to get an LPA registered, and if there are any issues with it it’s currently difficult to contact the OPG by phone. The more pressing issue though are the barriers to getting the LPA completed in the first place. Completing an LPA requires a donor, a certificate provider, at least one attorney, and a witness to witness the donor and all attorney’s signatures. In an ideal world the certificate provider could act as the witness to all people involved limiting the amount of people who need to be involved in the signing, but even without the current social distancing rules managing to gather the donor and all of their attorneys together is a rare occurrence, with attorneys often living far away from the donor. For a person who needs someone to make decisions for them right away a GPA can be a great alternative currently. There is no registration requirement, so the document is ready to use as soon as it has been properly signed. There are also less people involved in the creation of a GPA. The only people who need to sign are the donor themselves and a witness. There is no need for a certificate provider, and no need for the attorney to sign. The GPA is executed as a deed poll by the donor, so the rules on who can act as a witness for them are not strict. The witness must be over 18, have capacity, and can’t themselves be a party to the deed. The attorney isn’t strictly a party to the deed as they aren’t a signatory, but it is still best to avoid them acting as a witness. What this does mean though is that someone else in the household could act as the witness, allowing the document to be made without placing anyone at any risk. What this doesn’t mean… This doesn’t mean that LPAs should be forgotten about altogether. Since a GPA ends if the donor loses capacity it is still best to make sure that steps are being taken to get an LPA put in place as soon as it’s possible to do so. The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source. source SWW