Drawing up a Will .. cost / advice etc ..

[NoddY]

...is there a scheme whereby u "check in" every year to let them know u are still alive so if you don't it raises the alarm and they go on a search to see whether or not you are dead ?...

This reminded me of a story I read the other day which was very sad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4564166.stm

Let's hope it doesn't come to that for anyone.

[Sapper]

Spin & More Spin

Firstly, Inheritance TAX is daylight robbery and you should do EVERYTHING you can to make sure you are not caught. The first way is to give away as much of your wealth to your children before you die (actually, it needs to be given 7 years before you die),..so as long as your children are not scumbags,..this should not be a problem.

Secondly, if you are married,..make sure you USE BOTH allowances. Again, this means when you die, do not leave everything to your wife/husband. Since anything you leave to your legal partner is TAX Free, you should use your allowance of I believe £270k and give that to your children and give the remainder to your surviving partner. Your surviving partner can then pass on the rest when they die, and you will have both used the full £540k or so,..and no IHT.

Unless you can avoid it, do not leave all of it to your surviving partner. What with house prices etc these days, that will invariably lead to a tax bill for the children on the death of the surviving partner on anything above £270k at 40%!!!!!!!!!!!!!

40%!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry,..a little rant here,....DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS POXY LABOUR PARTY AGAIN!!! THEY ARE BAD FOR SMALL BUSINESSES AND BAD FOR THE MIDDLE CLASSES.

40% on money that was hard earned, TAXED, hard saved, and the fruits of that are that for your virtue, you are taxed 40%!!!!!! Unfeckinbelieveable.

GET ADVICE. THEN MAKE A WILL. DO NOT MAKE ONE WITHOUT ADVICE. IT COULD COST YOU DEARLY.

[Rebecca Loos]

You are right Sapper but I have a suspicion that when the Tories get back into power, they will be slow and reluctant to reduce the rates. They'll probably remove a few obvious stealth taxes that will make them look good, but when their Treasury men look at how much GB is getting, they'll find ways to keep it too!

[expat]

Do remember that it depends on which country you live in, i.e. which legal system applies.

Since you don't mention it, I suppose that you live in England (which English people seem to take as the default), and I suppose that most of the replies are also from people living in England and assuming English law.

The law in Scotland (for example) is different from that in England, and some of the things that people have said here are definitely false in Scotland.

[messiah]

Firstly, Inheritance TAX is daylight robbery and you should do EVERYTHING you can to make sure you are not caught. The first way is to give away as much of your wealth to your children before you die (actually, it needs to be given 7 years before you die),..so as long as your children are not scumbags,..this should not be a problem.

Secondly, if you are married,..make sure you USE BOTH allowances. Again, this means when you die, do not leave everything to your wife/husband. Since anything you leave to your legal partner is TAX Free, you should use your allowance of I believe £270k and give that to your children and give the remainder to your surviving partner. Your surviving partner can then pass on the rest when they die, and you will have both used the full £540k or so,..and no IHT.

Unless you can avoid it, do not leave all of it to your surviving partner. What with house prices etc these days, that will invariably lead to a tax bill for the children on the death of the surviving partner on anything above £270k at 40%!!!!!!!!!!!!!

40%!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry,..a little rant here,....DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS POXY LABOUR PARTY AGAIN!!! THEY ARE BAD FOR SMALL BUSINESSES AND BAD FOR THE MIDDLE CLASSES.

40% on money that was hard earned, TAXED, hard saved, and the fruits of that are that for your virtue, you are taxed 40%!!!!!! Unfeckinbelieveable.

GET ADVICE. THEN MAKE A WILL. DO NOT MAKE ONE WITHOUT ADVICE. IT COULD COST YOU DEARLY.

The government takes 40% of what you put in a will (ie actual money handed over to your loved ones) ????

I think I'll have a lie down.

[Lucifer Box]

The government takes 40% of what you put in a will (ie actual money handed over to your loved ones) ????

I think I'll have a lie down.

Not quite. It's 40% of everything over the inheritance tax threshold (which is approx £260k or something like that).

[Fungus]

Not quite. It's 40% of everything over the inheritance tax threshold (which is approx £260k or something like that).

Yeah, so you are punished for working hard and not blowing all your money on whores, alcohol and gambling.

Fungus

[Alf W]

Get a Barclays Additions account (cost = under a tenner a month). This includes a facility whereby they will write you a free will (incl a Mirror Will for your partner).

Then close the account. Very cheap way to get a professional Will.

The Will kits you can buy are very basic and if there's anything remotely off-standard that you want, they won't cover it.

Otherwise it's going to cost about £80 for a pair of Wills from a Solicitor. More if you need some advice to 'mitigate' IHT

[ASB]

Mitigating IHT. All depends upon individual circumstances, but a couple of pointers that may be relevant for most people.

As has been mentioned bequests to a spouse are tax free, but when they die they are still part of their estate. If you can give away the IHT threshold direct to children etc then that gets this amount (approx 270k) out of their estate when they die, so if you can do this do so.

Use of trusts can also be helpful. For example write your life insurance in trust. If you do this correctly then it is never part of your estate. This can provide a useful saving, same is true for any benefits that only become payable on death.

A deed of variation can be useful too. So you have, say, a simple will which gives everything to your spouse. On your death they decide they don't need it all for whatever reason. Using a deed of variation to give, say 200k, to somebody else means that is never part of the estate. This prevents them having to survive the 7 years if the surviving spouse simply made a gift. Deeds of variation are on the radar for closure though.

Also try and ensure the will covers everybody dying at the same time, often overlooked and can lead to complications if not handled correctly.

Somebody once said that IHT is only payable by those who trust the IR more than their heirs. Sadly it's not as easy to get round these days, but there are a bunch of tricks that can help. Anybody with a sizeable estate can benefit from proper advice. But it ain't cheap.