The Ministry of Justice has launched its “Choice not Chance” campaign. The aim is to encourage people to make a Will, execute a Lasting power of Attorney and also to join the Organ Donor Register.
The latter is not so much a legal issue as it’s a purely personal choice. However, there is still a need to ensure people close to you know your wishes so that there is no delay and can make fully informed decisions if they ever have to make the difficult choices regarding the use of your organs. Such a choice can result in the saving of one or possibly many peoples' lives and sight.
In relation to wills, we have blogged about the reasons for making a will previously. The Government’s own reason for encouraging everyone to plan ahead is that firstly it “will make sure that you and your family are protected if something happens to you in the future”. This encapsulates both the reasons for having a Will but also a Living Will and Lasting Powers of Attorney, often shortened to LPAs in a nutshell.
In relation to Wills, The Ministry of Justice point out that your Will:
“...lets you decide what happens to your money, property and possessions after your death.
Without a Will:
• unmarried partners don’t automatically inherit
• spouses take the first £250,000 before children can inherit anything
• the local authority could decide who will look after your children”
This has all sorts of implications for your children, particularly those from previous relationships and your partner. It is also important to re-visit your will every 2 years or so to ensure that changes to your life, for example retirement, a marked rise in the price of your house, the arrival of a new child or grandchild is reflected in your arrangements.
Another implication for example that many people do not know, is that on marriage a previous Will is normally invalidated. Also, if you separate but do not divorce until the decree absolute comes through your spouse remains as a beneficiary. On divorce he or she will be treated as if they had died at the date of the decree absolute but even then it is possible for them to come back.
Wills seem, but rarely are, as simple as people might imagine and so as your circumstances change it is important your Will changes or you make your first Will to ensure those you love benefit in the way you would want them to.
A few other things to think about from our previous blogs are below:
• In the year 2009, 46% of the people who died did have a Will. This means 54% did not have a Will. A further statistic is that 75% of the qualifying population either do not have Wills or need to review existing Wills.
• There is no legal obligation to make a Will. It is easy to put off making a Will. If you do not make a Will the Government will decide who inherits your money, property, and possessions.
• Anybody can make a Will provided they are at least 18 years of age and of sound mind. There is no maximum age limit for making a Will. Additionally if a person is a serving soldier or sailor on active service, a lower age limit of 14 applies.
• There are a number of reasons why you should make a Will. Some of these reasons are as follows:
i. You can decide exactly who gets what.
ii. You can decide who should be responsible for winding up your estate.
iii. You can make attempts to mitigate your inheritance tax bill.
iv. You can appoint guardians for your children.
v. You can make attempts to reduce possible care home fee charges.
vi. You can create a Will Trust to protect your assets.
vii. You can set out your funeral arrangements.
• You should start thinking about making a Will when you enjoy new found wealth, get married, are in a civil partnership or when you have a baby. The need to review arises on divorce, when you have another child; there is a death in the family or your estate changes. There are many other examples.
• When a Will is made you can store the Will for safekeeping with us, for your lifetime free of charge. We can also register it in a National Will Register with Certainty.co.uk. It allows a Will to be found instantly on death.
If you have any queries about making a Will, an existing estate or you are an executor or administrator with a query about carrying out your role then please contact our Private Client team who will be able to help.
For more information, visit The Ministry of Justice for their view on why you should have a Will.
