Posts tagged “Wills”

Two out of three people in the UK risk having strangers make decisions about who benefits from their estate after they die. 
 
A survey by Remember a Charity has found that 68% of UK adults haven’t made a Will
 
Many people put off writing their Will because the have made assumptions about when they should do it and who will inherit.  
 
Here are just some of the reasons. 
As the summer comes to an end, you might start dreaming about moving somewhere warmer, where you can enjoy year-round sunshine. 
 
If this is something on your wish-list, then you should consider making your Will before you move to your dream home in the sun. 
Whether it’s your first purchase, or one of many, buying a property is a big investment that will be included in your estate. 
 
Although you aren’t required to have a Will in place when you buy a property, it’s important to be clear about what you want to happen to it when you die. 
A recent survey showed that the average of age a person making a Will in the UK has risen to 57 in 2019. 
 
This is despite attempts to encourage younger generations to include a Will as part of their plan for life. 
Here are some things you might not know about death in medieval times. 
 
Death and taxes 
 
Today we understand that coroners are responsible for examining the cause of death when the circumstances are unknown or unusual. They also investigate and confirm the identity of the person who has died. 
 
However, when the coroner’s role was first introduced in in England in 1194, their main job was to collect taxes, although they also recorded deaths that occurred in unusual or suspicious circumstances. Looking back at their records tells us a lot about how people once lived and died. 
 
Here are five causes of medieval death from the coroner’s records of the time. 
Inheritance tax (IHT), normally at 40%, affects estates worth more than £325,000. The value of your estate is made up of property, money and possessions, after any debts have been settled. 
 
A study by the financial services company, Canada Life, says Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) collected £5.4billion of IHT in the financial that ended in April. 
 
This is an increase of £200million on the previous year and £600million more than in 2017. The study predicts that the amount collected is likely to rise to £10billion by 2030. 
Older hand writing the word tax
The answer could be ‘yes’.  
 
Many people are unaware that local Councils can investigate your finances if they think your cash and other assets have been deliberately reduced to avoid paying for your care. 
 
The average cost of a care home in 2017 to18 was £750 a week. With the average length of a stay being around 30 months, a typical bill could be £90,000. 
 
If Councils believe that someone has deliberately given away assets to avoid paying for their care, they can use ‘deliberate deprivation of assets’ rules to claw back the cost of care. 
The nine-year-old who got nothing – the parents of a young child divorced, and both later remarried. Just a year after remarrying, the mother died, leaving her nine-year-old child behind.  
 
Of course, losing a young woman in her forties was a shock for all the family. However, what hadn’t been realised is that marriage cancels existing wills
 
Strictly, the mother’s new husband could claim her entire estate, and he did. Although attempts were made to secure some of the mother’s estate for the child, they were unsuccessful. The child grew up to be a lawyer, but never forgot the impact this experience had on her. 
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