The great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness no one rejects dislikes avoids pleasure itself because it is pleasure but because know who do not those how to pursue pleasures rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful desires to obtain.
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Making a will gives you maximum control over how your property, money and personal belongings will be distributed after your death, giving you peace of mind that your loved ones will be taken care of.
By making a will you ensure:
- You will avoid unnecessary delay trying to establish if you made a will or not.
- Your assets are divided how you want them to be, leaving the best provision for your family.
- Your unmarried partner (or anyone else you choose including charities) are beneficiaries.
- Guardians of your choice will care for your children until they are 18, and Trustees can be appointed to look after your children’s interests.
- You can create default positions to provide for the unexpected.
- Tax payable by beneficiaries can be reduced to a minimum.
Labrums' have an expert team of solicitors specialising in wills and trusts in St Abans that provide a straightforward and value for money wills service, including advice and help with preparing and updating your will.
From wills for a single beneficiary with few assets to wills involving a larger estate with an investment property, a property abroad or other family complications – Labrums will ensure you get a will which is thorough and robust, giving you the peace of mind you and your family deserve.
Thank you to all the team for all your help and patience at the time of mum's passing. You have all been wonderful.
A trust is a relationship where property is held by one party for the benefit of another. A trust is created by the owner, also called a "settlor", "trustor" or "grantor" who transfers property to a trustee. The trustee holds that property for the trust's beneficiaries.
What are some of the benefits of a Trust?
- They will enable you to exercise control over how and when your assets are distributed.
- They will enable you to protect your hard-won assets from mistakes that some beneficiaries could make, divorce lawyers, creditors and unscrupulous people who may try to take advantage.
- They can be used for effective tax planning.
- They will ensure that assets are available for your loved ones immediately after you pass on rather than waiting for probate.
- Reduce the risk of a contested probate or claim against your assets.
- Avoid family disputes about the provisions of your will.
- Maintain privacy.
- Reduce or avoid probate costs.
If you die without a will, your estate will be dealt with according to the rules of intestacy. These are a set of legal rules that determine who should inherit your assets. Leaving the division of your estate to these default instructions often means your estate is distributed in a way that you would not have intended. In particular, unmarried partners and close friends have no right to inherit under the intestacy rules.
In addition, if you die without a will, you will miss the opportunity to shield your hard-earned assets from the taxman and local authority care costs for generations to come, through ‘bloodline planning’. This also protects you from the risk of your surviving spouse or children forming relationships with people you would not wish your estate to pass to, or getting divorced or having creditors.
Making a will gives you maximum control over how your property, money and personal belongings will be distributed after your death, giving you peace of mind that your loved ones will be taken care of.
It can also save considerable time and cost. If you have not made a will, enquiries will have to be made to ensure that one was not in fact made. It also increases the possibility that some relatives and friends will claim that they were promised something leading to disputes and upset when you least need it.
Your wills and trusts solicitor will ensure your will is legally valid, avoiding the situation where after your death your will is found to have no effect. Further, a wills lawyer can inform you about how tax, property and trusts law apply to your circumstances, and draft terms that account for this. What is more, your lawyer will ensure clear language is used to set out your wishes to avoid your family having any uncertainties about your intentions, reducing the risk of disputes.
The advice of an expert wills and trusts solicitor is especially advantageous where your will is complex, for example where you own assets overseas or if you are a business owner.
We are seeing many more cases where wills are prepared by people who are not fully qualified or experienced that leads to the deceased’s needs not being fully understood or provided for. Often what seems the cheapest solution is not the best value.
To update your will, contact your dedicated wills and trusts solicitor on a regular basis to ensure the terms continue to reflect your intentions. At Labrums we ensure any alterations to your will are prepared in accordance with the legal requirements that apply.
It is important to review your will at least every five years and after any significant changes occur in your life, for example when you get married, divorced or separated, have a baby or buy a property. Marriage automatically makes an earlier will (unless expressed to be made specifically in contemplation of that marriage) invalid. If you get divorced, an earlier will takes effect as if your spouse had died. Official alterations to your will are made by documents called codicils, and there is no limit to the number of these you can create.
Will disputes are often complex, involve multiple parties and have to be handled with the greatest of care, expertise and sensitivity.
Our specialist contested wills and probate solicitors can help you with challenging a will, dealing with potentially upsetting and emotional matters in a sensitive and straightforward way.
There are many circumstances in which a will might be challenged. They include:
- Concerns over whether the person making a will had the necessary capacity to make the will
- Whether the person making the will has been influenced
- Forgery of the will or a signature
- The will has not been correctly executed
- The person making the will did not have the necessary knowledge and approval to make the will
- Mistakes in the will
Inheritance claims can include wider issues concerning the estate. For example:
Find out more about our specialist probate and estates services.
You should set up a trust if you wish young children or grandchildren or vulnerable family members to benefit from your estate. They can also be used if you want to protect your hard-earned income or assets in the future. Unwise or unwelcome marriages are always a possibility and children can have issues.
A trust is a legal arrangement that gives control to an individual, group of people or an organisation over your assets for the benefit of another person or people. A trust deed will set out instructions for how you wish your assets to be managed, for example you may direct that money, property or other assets be given to the beneficiaries once they reach a certain age. Trusts have many benefits, one of the biggest being that they allow you to reduce your inheritance tax liabilities.
In addition, you can give your trustees guidance even after you have passed on by means of a Letter of Wishes, which can be provided for your trustees’ eyes only. A Letter of Wishes cannot bind your trustees but will make your preferences and views known to them.
Our team can advise you on all matters relating to setting up a trust, from choosing the most appropriate type of trust and trustees to drafting clear and precise wording for your trust deed.
Contact Us Today
Our wills and trusts solicitors have been helping clients with matters such as wills in St Albans and the surrounding areas with effective future planning for over 25 years. Our clients value our advice and support with matters that are most important to them. We can advise you on all matters relating to setting up a trust, from choosing the most appropriate type of trust and trustees to drafting clear and precise wording for your trust deed. Get in touch today.
