A Guide To Wills

Executors are responsible for distributing your estate according to your Will and it is a very responsible role. If you appoint a family member or a friend make sure that they are happy to accept the role. Are they used to accepting such responsibility and are they confident to handle large sums of money or deal with the sale of property?

If your Will is more complex than the norm; or if there is ‘family history’ then you may wish to consider whether it would be more appropriate to appoint an experienced solicitor to fulfil this role.

If you leave children under the age of 18 and there is no other living parent there may be no one who will automatically be appointed the child’s Guardian so you should deal with this issue in your Will.

Do you have any specific items of value whether financial or sentimental? Do you have any family heirlooms that have been passed down the generations? If so make a specific gift in your Will to a named individual otherwise these items will form part of your residuary estate or may be disposed of during the administration of your estate.

Your residuary estate is everything that is left after your debts have been paid and specific gifts accounted for. Consider carefully how you wish this to be divided. If the proposed beneficiary has died before you, do you wish to make arrangements for it to pass to their children? Do you wish to leave a share to a charity or other type of organisation?

• Unmarried Couples – as there is no entitlement under the Intestacy Rules
• Estates over £325,000.00– as there may be Inheritance Tax implications
• Children from previous relationships– there is a risk they may not inherit from your estate
• Disabled Beneficiaries– to ensure their interest is protected
• If your intended beneficiaries are in difficult financial circumstances; may divorce; predecease you; be declared bankrupt or suffer a mental capacity, to ensure they receive as much of their inheritance as possible
• If you have minor children– to ensure their money is looked after by the right people and guardians are appointed
• If your family members do not get along– to ensure your Will is drafted to avoid foreseeable problems
• If you have foreign assets

If you have an existing Will, you can update this to include a charitable gift either by preparing a new Will or a Codicil. A Codicil is a document used to make changes to an existing Will, which refers to and is read in conjunction with a Will.

A Codicil is only recommended for minor changes such as adding or removing a legacy or changing a choice of Executors, so if any additional changes need making to an existing Will it would be advisable to prepare a new Will.

When making a new Will (or adding a Codicil), you will need to provide details of the charity that you would like to benefit. These details should include the charity name, contact address and registered charity number, which can all be obtained from the Charity Commission and more often than not, on the charity’s website

This is to ensure that you are naming the correct charity. If there is a local branch of the charity, it is important that you consider whether you wish your gift to be used for the benefit of that local branch or nationally.

Sometimes, a local branch of a charity will have a separate registered charity number. Check out the full list of charities here 

Consider what you would want to happen in the event that your chosen charity had a change of name or changed its charitable objectives. You should also think about how you wish a particular charity to use the funds that you will be leaving them.

When leaving charitable gifts in your Will or Codicil there may also be tax benefits meaning that you will pay less Inheritance Tax. Any gifts to registered UK charities will qualify for an exemption for Inheritance Tax and if you are leaving more than 10% of your Residuary Estate to charity, your estate will benefit from a reduced rate of Inheritance Tax.

If you are considering leaving a charitable gift in your Will, always consult an experienced and suitably qualified Solicitor to ensure your wishes remain your wishes.

The Wills & Trusts team at Wilson Browne Solicitors are highly regarded professionals, recognised by the Legal 500 (a guide to “Who’s Who” in the legal world) who have written over 2,500 Wills this year alone and facilitated over £3.3 million worth of gifts from clients choosing to leave a legacy to Cancer Research UK.

f you marry or enter into a Civil Partnership after the date of your Will then the Will is automatically cancelled.  A new Will should be made.  This does not apply if your original Will states that it is made in contemplation of marriage or civil partnership.

This does not cancel your Will but any appointment of the former spouse or civil partner as an Executor or Trustee becomes void.  Any form of gift in the Will to the former spouse or civil partner lapses.  This may leave you without an Executor or may leave part of your Estate undisposed of, or both.  In certain circumstances the result can be not what you expected or not what you required.

Either the gift that you have left to that beneficiary will fail or it may mean that part of your estate needs to be distributed as if you had not made a Will.  This could result in someone benefiting against your wishes.  In some cases substitute beneficiaries may have already been named. It is important that you seek advice and update your will if necessary.

There is a default rule set out in legislation that states that if your child dies in your lifetime but has children of their own, those children will receive their parents share, in equal shares, by way of substitution.

If this is not your wishes it is important that your Will is drafted to take out this default position and is drafted in accordance with your instructions.

We would recommend that you review your will at each significant circumstance in your life time such as a death; birth; or change in relationship and least every 5 years (even if nothing has changed it is important to ensure your will still meet your wishes).

A change in circumstances (particularly financial) might affect the content of your Will.

A significant variation in the value of your estate might give rise to the need for advice about Inheritance Tax.

Your Will may need to be altered as a tax planning document.

We recommend that you obtain professional advice to seek if any action is necessary.

A change of address will not invalidate your will and you will not need to update your Will formally.  However it would be useful to advise the company holding your original will to ensure that their database is up to date.

Yes. It is ok to have the same people named as both beneficiaries and Executors, but sometimes, depending on your circumstances it is not advisable e.g. complex estates; conflict of interest; the beneficiaries don’t all get on.  If you are not sure if your executors are suitable you should seek professional advice.

No. Funeral wishes are simply wishes and it is the role of the executor to organise your funeral as they see fit.  Including wishes in your Will however is very important as these can often be difficult conversations and the majority of the time the executors you have chosen will use their best endeavours to carry out your wishes.

You could consider taking out a pre-paid funeral plan if you have specific requests that you want followed through.