Guardianship...
One of the reasons that parents do not make a will is because of the uncertainty around "Guardianship", guardians are people chosen to look after your offspring (under the age of 18) in the event of your death. Very often when we discuss this with clients they disagree as to who should look after the children, usually both favouring their own parents!
Whilst this may be fine, very often parents are aged, and the question you should be asking yourself is will they be able to deal with the day to day commitments of looking after young children. If you do not have an up to date will then it is likely that the family courts will become involved in the appointment! This could lead to problems after your death, the court may not choose the person or people you would ideally like to look after your children, plus of course the intended guardian/s would not be aware that this is your wish, which ultimately could lead to disputes in the family.
So what is the solution? Simple you just need to appoint suitable guardians in your will, you can also leave a letter of wishes stipulating how you would like the appointed guardians to deal with various issues, for instance schooling, financial decisions etc.
If you would like to discuss this in more detail please call us on 0845 200 2981
Wednesday 21 November 2012
Thursday 8 November 2012
Lasting Power of Attorney
What's a Power of Attorney?
You can arrange a Power of Attorney whilst you have the mental capacity to decide who you would like to look after your financial affairs in the event that you were unable to through disability or illness. There are two types of Power of Attorney, they are Personal Welfare and Property and Financial Affairs, Personal Welfare would allow for decisions to be made in respect of healthcare arrangements and personal welfare, whilst Property and Financial Affairs will allow for decisions to be made in respect of your money and property.
It is a common misconception that it is only the older generation who needs to effect a Power of Attorney, have you ever wondered who would deal with your affairs in the event that you were involved in a car accident, or you suddenly had a stroke or some form of dementia? The person/s you appoint to be your attorney should be trustworthy, you should believe that they will deal with your interests with your best interests at heart. An attorney's role carries a lot of responsibility and power and this should be borne in mind when thinking about who you would like to choose.
To discuss this in more detail please call 0845 200 2981, or click here to leave your contact details.
You can arrange a Power of Attorney whilst you have the mental capacity to decide who you would like to look after your financial affairs in the event that you were unable to through disability or illness. There are two types of Power of Attorney, they are Personal Welfare and Property and Financial Affairs, Personal Welfare would allow for decisions to be made in respect of healthcare arrangements and personal welfare, whilst Property and Financial Affairs will allow for decisions to be made in respect of your money and property.
It is a common misconception that it is only the older generation who needs to effect a Power of Attorney, have you ever wondered who would deal with your affairs in the event that you were involved in a car accident, or you suddenly had a stroke or some form of dementia? The person/s you appoint to be your attorney should be trustworthy, you should believe that they will deal with your interests with your best interests at heart. An attorney's role carries a lot of responsibility and power and this should be borne in mind when thinking about who you would like to choose.
To discuss this in more detail please call 0845 200 2981, or click here to leave your contact details.
Thursday 1 November 2012
According to a leading professional advice website*, 57% of the adult UK population (28 million adults) have not made a Will! With "National Will Week" just finishing don't let that be an excuse for not making yours. Click here http://hip-notic.co.uk/wills.html to get a online Will for as little as £33.95
*source = unbiased.co.uk
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Unclaimed Assets Register
Today, I have been with a client discussing probate in respect of his late father's estate, whilst he believes his father has little assets it has raised a couple of issues worth noting. They are as follows;
- Unclaimed Assets
- The detection of Life Insurance Policies
Unclaimed Assets
If you are unsure as to whether the deceased has any unclaimed benefits which should be added to the estate you can check quickly by checking the Unclaimed Assets Register, the website address is http://www.uar.co.uk For a small cost (£25 inc Vat) you can register and search for any unclaimed assets in the deceased name. The register was set up by Experian (http://www.experian.co.uk/) and to date boasts four million records with a value of around £500 million, these include life policies, pensions, dividends and unit trusts.
The Detection of Life Policies
Whilst my client was aware of where his father's paperwork is, he said that he wasn't sure whether or not any of the pieces of paper were policies or relating to policies, my advice in this scenario is for you to contact an Independent Financial Adviser, who, following you signing an authority and providing relevant documents will be able to write out to the relevant providers.
Saturday 9 October 2010
The importance of making a will
I have just come across a blog site from "The Will Lady" where she has commented on the Panorama programme shown recently on pensions and how some of the company's are taking massive charges away from the funds.
I am also a financial adviser and have been in the industry nearly 23 years, I am forever frustrated that people do not seem to realise that they have to start making provision for retirement themselves and that the government coffers are shrinking as we all live longer.
The Will Lady made a very good point in her post when she drew a parallel with how the government may get their hands on your money and belongings if you don't make a will!
For the sake of a little bit of your time and money you can ensure that your beneficiaries will get what you want them to have, don't delay any longer, click here for more information.
I am also a financial adviser and have been in the industry nearly 23 years, I am forever frustrated that people do not seem to realise that they have to start making provision for retirement themselves and that the government coffers are shrinking as we all live longer.
The Will Lady made a very good point in her post when she drew a parallel with how the government may get their hands on your money and belongings if you don't make a will!
For the sake of a little bit of your time and money you can ensure that your beneficiaries will get what you want them to have, don't delay any longer, click here for more information.
Monday 4 October 2010
Competitively priced will service where the adviser will call you to discuss your requirements
Hipnotic Homebuyer Solutions
Following on from my earlier post, we can now offer you a will service where the will adviser will call you at your convenience to discuss your requirements. Whilst we appreciate that some people are happy to do their own instruction, we also appreciate that some may prefer to discuss their wishes with a will adviser. So what's on offer?
Benefits
The standard cost of the will is £66 single and £99 for a joint will, on top of this there are various options available under the willplus service, for instance for an annual payment of £26 and £39, you can obtain access to the willplus service, this cost can be greatly reduced if you secure the lifetime single or monthly payment option, to find out more please contact us with the reference "willplus".
Your options are as follows;
Following on from my earlier post, we can now offer you a will service where the will adviser will call you at your convenience to discuss your requirements. Whilst we appreciate that some people are happy to do their own instruction, we also appreciate that some may prefer to discuss their wishes with a will adviser. So what's on offer?
Benefits
The standard cost of the will is £66 single and £99 for a joint will, on top of this there are various options available under the willplus service, for instance for an annual payment of £26 and £39, you can obtain access to the willplus service, this cost can be greatly reduced if you secure the lifetime single or monthly payment option, to find out more please contact us with the reference "willplus".
Your options are as follows;
- Use of various Trust arrangements to effectively use tax allowances, as well as protect your assets if you need to go into care.
- Have your will held in a secure, fireproof vault
- Have you executors, friends and family informed of the whereabouts of your will
- Updates for life, free if you subscribe to the willplus service
- Free technical phone help for your executors from a Probate adviser in the event of your death
- 20% discount against an already low cost Probate service, you could save thousands
Trust arrangements
For an additional cost you can use various Trust arrangements to ensure you are using your available tax allowances to help reduce any potential Inheritance Tax Liability, as well as help to protect your property should you need to go into care.
Secure holding service
You will benefit from having your will held in a secure fireproof vault, if a will can't be found at death then it is assumed there is no will, this could be very costly.
Notification service
Your executor/s and friends and family will be informed where your will is secured, this will ensure that in the event of your death your will can be produced easily. Want to know more click here
Free will updates for life
When you subscribe to the willplus service you pay a little more to ensure that as life events happen you can update your will for free.
Free technical phone help
You will also have access to a probate adviser over the telephone free of charge, this will enable your executor/s to access technical help to assist with dealing with your estate.
Discount on Probate Service
You will get a 20% discount against the already very competitively priced probate service, you may recall in my last post I covered how much banks and solicitors could charge for dealing with your probate requirements.
As I said earlier, this service is more suited to those who would prefer to receive advice in respect of their will and are willing to invest a little more for a comprehensive willwriting service, both now and in the future.
Please contact us for more details
Saturday 2 October 2010
Hip-notic Homebuyer Solutions
In this publication I am going to give you 5 compelling reasons why you should make a will.
Whilst of course there are many reasons to make a will, a lot of the information available in other publications is in depth and I believe goes over the heads of most and only serves to confuse them more.
5 Reasons
Dealing with your will
In your will you state who your executor/s is/are, you can just have one but it would be better to have two, especially where the upkeep of young children would be involved. Your executors will adminster your will after your death, very often they wouild call upon the services of professionals to assist them, care should be taken as banks will often want to charge a percentage of the estate in the region of 4% - 6%, whilst solicitors are around 2% - 3%. For a fixed fee for your Probate requirements click here
Funeral Arrangements
You can state how you would like your funeral arrangements to be dealt with, for instance burial or cremation, music, post funeral arrangements and many many more of your personal preferences. Just take a moment to consider how you would feel if you had to make this decision for somebody!
Organ Donation
You can state whether or not you would like to donate any of your organs after your death, or indeed your whole body for medical research purposes, again a decision you would not want to make for another.
Inheritance Tax Planning
It is not uncommon for peoples estates to attract Inheritance Tax liabilities, decisions you make now could help to avoid these taxes being paid to the government. With the use of allowances and Trusts you can mitigate or minimise any liability that may arise.
Distribution of your estate
In your will you will state who will receive your property, this will include property with a real value, houses, cars, investments as well as items with a sentimental value like wedding rings, jewellery etc.
So, as I said in the beginning I wanted to offer 5 compelling reasons to make your will, I do hope you agree that the 5 reasons chosen, the majority will relate to? If you can think of others then please let me know.
Don't let cost be a barrier, you can get your will here for £29.95 (single) or £49.95 (joint), if you don't feel comfortable doing your own will online and would prefer somebody to discuss your wishes with then click here and request a callback to arrange an appointment with a willwriter over the telephone.
Photo Credit studentofrhythm
In this publication I am going to give you 5 compelling reasons why you should make a will.
Whilst of course there are many reasons to make a will, a lot of the information available in other publications is in depth and I believe goes over the heads of most and only serves to confuse them more.
5 Reasons
- State who you would like to deal with your will after your demise
- State how you would like you funeral conducted ie burial/cremation
- Advise of your wishes in respect of organ donation
- Put in place provisions to help with Inheritance Tax planning
- State who will receive what after your death, ie property, investments, chattels (personal belongings) etc
Dealing with your will
In your will you state who your executor/s is/are, you can just have one but it would be better to have two, especially where the upkeep of young children would be involved. Your executors will adminster your will after your death, very often they wouild call upon the services of professionals to assist them, care should be taken as banks will often want to charge a percentage of the estate in the region of 4% - 6%, whilst solicitors are around 2% - 3%. For a fixed fee for your Probate requirements click here
Funeral Arrangements
You can state how you would like your funeral arrangements to be dealt with, for instance burial or cremation, music, post funeral arrangements and many many more of your personal preferences. Just take a moment to consider how you would feel if you had to make this decision for somebody!
Organ Donation
You can state whether or not you would like to donate any of your organs after your death, or indeed your whole body for medical research purposes, again a decision you would not want to make for another.
Inheritance Tax Planning
It is not uncommon for peoples estates to attract Inheritance Tax liabilities, decisions you make now could help to avoid these taxes being paid to the government. With the use of allowances and Trusts you can mitigate or minimise any liability that may arise.
Distribution of your estate
In your will you will state who will receive your property, this will include property with a real value, houses, cars, investments as well as items with a sentimental value like wedding rings, jewellery etc.
So, as I said in the beginning I wanted to offer 5 compelling reasons to make your will, I do hope you agree that the 5 reasons chosen, the majority will relate to? If you can think of others then please let me know.
Don't let cost be a barrier, you can get your will here for £29.95 (single) or £49.95 (joint), if you don't feel comfortable doing your own will online and would prefer somebody to discuss your wishes with then click here and request a callback to arrange an appointment with a willwriter over the telephone.
Photo Credit studentofrhythm
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