There are lots of reasons why making a Will is a good idea. Here are fifteen commonly asked questions surrounding Making A Will.  Please contact us on 01634 299210 if we can help with a more specific inquiry or to book an appointment.

1. Why make a Will?

The purpose of making a will is for you to decide:
How you would like your Estate to be dealt with?
Who is to receive your Estate?
If any conditions are to be attached?

2. What happens if I don't make a Will?

If you die without having made a will, you die intestate and the Rules of Intestacy apply and might dictate how your Estate is to be divided. By not making a will your Estate will be administered in accordance with the law. Ultimately, this means that your Estate may pass to persons who you would not wish to benefit from your Estate. By not making a will you lose the opportunity to specify who you would like to benefit from your Estate.In particular, if you die whilst unmarried, your partner will not automatically receive anything.

3. Why should I use a solicitor to make my Will?

We can advise you on structuring your will in a way to reduce or in some cases even avoid liability to Inheritance Tax. To avoid common mistakes including:
Incorrectly signing a will
Making alterations without a witness
Not appointing an individual to handle your Estate

4. Do I have to use a solicitor to make a Will?

No you don’t have to use a solicitor, you can buy a home made will pack. If a will is made or signed incorrectly it would not be valid and could prove expensive to sort out after your death.

5. What are Martin Tolhurst's charges for making a Will?

If it is a standard Will, essentially leaving everything to each other and then to children, our fees are £150 + VAT for a single Will and £250 + VAT for two Wills (you and your partner). If it is a more complex Will, for example, there are a large number of beneficiaries, where we need to include Trust provisions or where Inheritance Tax advice is needed, our fees are likely to be more but would not exceed £250 + VAT for a single Will and £450 + VAT for two Wills (you and your partner).

6. I only want to make a small change to an existing Will.

If you have an existing will and only want to make a small change to it this is known as making a codicil. Our fee for this is £75 + VAT for a single codicil or £125 + VAT for two codicils (you and your partner). Sometimes though it may be necessary to prepare a new will if more than a few changes are required. If so we will advise you about this at our initial meeting with you.

7. Home visits?

We appreciate that it is sometimes necessary to visit clients at home or in a Care Home or Hospital if you are unable to come to our offices. Such visits will obviously take longer for us to do and when we visit you to have the will signed we may need to bring a second witness from our offices. Our fees for home visits are £25 + VAT for each home visit within a ten mile radius of one of our offices.

8. I own property abroad.

Your will made in this country will probably not be effective to pass property located outside England and Wales. It is likely that you would need to instruct a lawyer in the country where the property is located. We do not offer advice on foreign assets as part of our service as we are only qualified to advise on the law in England and Wales.

9. What are executors??

These are the people who are responsible for ensuring that the instructions laid down in your will are carried out. Most people appoint members of their family or close friends to act as executors. You will need to consider in advance of making a will who you would wish to appoint as Executors. If you would prefer a solicitor to act as your Executor, we offer the facility for one or more of the partners in this firm to act as your Executor(s). There is no charge for appointing the partners here to act as Executor(s) in your will, although we obviously charge for our services for dealing with the administration of your Estate upon death.

10. Do I need to appoint guardians of my children?

If you died having young children then you would need to consider who you would want to look after your children until they were grown up. These people would then be appointed as Guardians of your children in the will. It is important that Guardians are people that the children know and get on well with. This may or may not be relatives. It may be worthwhile asking your children for their views on who they would be happiest living with if anything happened to you. Speak to your intended Guardians before you make a decision, they may not wish to take on the responsibility. It is possible/advisable to put a provision in the will that any Guardian(s) are entitled to have money advanced from your Estate to assist with the expenditure that would be involved in looking after your children until they are grown up.

11. Where should I keep my Will?

After it has been signed we normally suggest that we retain the original will at our offices. We do not make any charge for this facility. If we keep the will at our offices we supply copies for you and your Executors at no extra charge. You can keep your will with your Bank, but beware as many Banks make a charge, in some cases, an annual charge, if your will is left with them. You can keep your will at home but we do not recommend that. If it cannot be found after you die, it is likely that it would be assumed from a legal viewpoint that you had destroyed the will. This would mean that you would die without leaving a will and the Intestacy Rules would apply (See Question 2)

12. What if I make a Will and then get divorced?

The quick answer is make a new will! When the Decree Absolute is through the appointment of your former spouse as an Executor is no longer effective and any gift to your former spouse would not be effective. A divorce in some circumstances can take many months to go through. Remember that right up until the Decree Absolute is through the appointment of a spouse as an Executor and any gift to a spouse is still valid.

13. What if I remarry after my divorce?

Any existing will is revoked i.e. no longer valid if you subsequently get married. The only exception to this is if a will is specifically made and worded to state that it is in contemplation of marriage to the person you marry.

14. What if I have entered into a civil partnership?

The position on divorce for a Civil Partnership is similar to that of divorced spouses in relation to any existing will at the time of that divorce. Once a Civil Partnership is registered and the Civil Partnership has ended in 'divorce' the same situation will apply to the wills of those civil partners as if they had been married.

15. Inheritance Tax (IHT)

IHT is tax that is potentially payable on your estate. The nil rate band is the maximum sum that can be passed on death to persons other than the surviving spouse or civil partner, without that sum becoming liable to IHT. The nil rate band for the following tax years is set out below: ‐
6th April 2007 to 5th April 2008 ‐ £300,000.00
6th April 2008 to 5th April 2009 ‐ £312,000.00
6th April 2009 to 5th April 2010 ‐ £325,000.00

Any sum over and above the nil rate band is chargeable to IHT at a rate of 40%. There is no IHT to pay on transfers between spouses or civil partners, therefore if one spouse or civil partner dies and passes everything to the survivor of them, there will be no liability to IHT. The government announced that for deaths on or after 9th October 2007 the unused proportion of the nil rate band can be transferred to the surviving spouse or civil partner.

Examples: ‐ If one spouse or civil partner dies and passes everything to the surviving spouse or civil partner, then the whole of the nil rate band is transferable to the survivor. The effect of this is that on the death of the surviving spouse or civil partner, the nil rate band is effectively doubled.

In cases where the first spouse or civil partner dies and passes half of their assets to the surviving spouse or civil partner and the other half of their assets to someone else, then only half of the nil rate band could be transferred to the surviving spouse or civil partner. This means that the surviving spouse’s or civil partner’s nil rate band would be increased by 50%.

This is a very simplified explanation of the rules and we would give more detailed advice in specific cases. For more information or to book an appointment please contact Rachel Smith on 01634 299210