Wills & Estate Planning

We know that having a professional write your Will can seem costly and the lure of the cheaper Do-it-Yourself Will packs can be appealing, but will you be saving money in the long run? We all try to save some money by doing the odd jobs ourselves instead of hiring a professional however, there are some things that are worth paying a bit extra for. D.I.Y Will packs may seem like a great option but that may not necessarily be the case for everyone. Problems that could arise wit

What would your reply be if we asked you what an LPA is? Do you know what one is? An LPA, or Lasting Power of Attorney to give it it's full name, is a legal document that allows you to choose someone (your attorneys) to act in your best interests should you lose capacity, be that mentally or physically. There are two types of LPA available; Property & Financial Health & Welfare A Property & Financial LPA enables your chosen attorneys to make decisions on your behalf about you

A typical situation; A couple have two children together. They have Wills written stating that upon both of their deaths everything is to be split equally between the children. Unfortunately it doesn't work out and they separate. One of them remarries but does not rewrite their Will. If they were to die their new husband/wife stands to inherit most, if not all, of the Estate potentially leaving the children with nothing (Subject to the rules of intestacy the surviving spouse

As parents our children are the most important part of our lives. We take care of them as babies and watch them grow to teenagers, then adults. It's hard to think that we won't be around to watch them grow up, and it's equally hard to imagine someone else raising our children as well as we do. However, we should be prepared for the unthinkable. Ideally, this would be by ensuring that we  have chosen who we  believe are the right people to take care of our children should the

So you have been chosen to be someone's executor, now you are probably wondering what this means. As an executor your job is to carry out the instructions set out in the Will. This may sound simple enough but this doesn't actually explain what needs to be done. Let's look at some of your duties; Secure all of the deceased assets and insure them Find the Will - could be in the house, storage or at a relatives Inform everyone of their death - this could be utility providers, fi

As Estate Planners we tend to hear this a lot. So, here are some of the reasons why we recommend that everyone has a Will written. We all want to make sure that our loved ones are taken care of when we die, but if you don't have any money in the bank, investments or a house to leave them it's easy to miss the point of writing your Will. However, having a Will in place does more than just leave money to your family! What about your Material Possessions? Over our lifetime we ca