If you don’t construct a will, then who determines who receives what? It wont turn out the way you would have intended. To make sure your desires are followed, you should to draw up a last will and testament.
If you pass away without creating a will it’s the state that dictates how your estate is distributed. The intestacy laws are applied and it will not be how you’d have hoped or wished.
If your currently married or have a civil partner but are without children and your belongings is worth a specific amount or under then your legal partner will get the whole of the property including any life insurance . If the property is valued at more than this threshold and you have surviving relatives, your partner would still get this figure, plus 50% of the excess. There is an priority in which relatives will inherit, with surviving parents situated at the start of the list, followed by brothers and sisters and so on.
Should you have a civil partner and offspring then your spouse would receive the specific amount as above and half of the remainder. The children will receive 50% of the total over the threshold right away and the other 50% on the death of your partner.
If you have offspring but no lawful spouse, then your offspring would share the inheritance. This might not be as you’d have wished. You could have a companion who depends on you and who you would have wanted to obtain at least part of your assets, who’d get nothing.
To avoid all possible anxiety about your assets, regardless of how simple it may appear, it would be prudent to make a last will and testament. There are various options for this. You could build it yourself or hire a trained will writer or a solicitor.
Often people make their own last will and testament, generally using a template which can buy from the post office. Caution is advised if you proceed along this path – it’s very easy to make a mistake and you could potentially find it invalid. The cost of having a will made, especially a somewhat basic one, is not restrictive and you can be definite that your wishes will be fulfilled.
A skilled will service or a solicitor will be used to dealing with all types of queries and will be able to aid you. There could be questions to do with starting trusts and perhaps inheritance tax.
Now you’ve made your will, it’s a wise decision to inspect it from time to time, as your situation changes. If you decide to change it, then it’s prudent to revoke your previous one and have it re-written. If the changes are small, it may be simpler to draw up a codicil to form a section of the will and to be used in conjunction with it. Any codicil will have to be drawn up in the same way as the will in regards to signatures and witnesses.
Please be aware that any medical insurance cover will terminate on the death of the will holder and no value will be attributed to It in the will.