If you don’t draw up a will, then who determines who acquires what? Things wont turn out the way you would have liked. To ensure your preferences are followed, you need to build a will.
If you die without without writing your last will and testament it’s the courts that dictates how your estate is distributed. The intestacy guidelines will be applied and it could not be how you’d have hoped or wished.
If you are legally married or have a civil partner but no offspring and your property is worth a set amount or less then your partner would get the total of the property including any life insurance . If the estate is valued greater than this amount and you have existing relatives, your partner would still get this amount, in addition to 50% of the excess. There exists an priority in which relatives would inherit, with surviving parents positioned at the start of the list, followed by brothers and sisters and so on.
Should you have a civil partner and children then your partner will receive the specific amount as above and 50% of the excess. The offspring would inherit 50% of the sum over the threshold immediately and the remaining half on the passing of your partner.
Should you have children but no lawful spouse, then your children would divide the estate. This could not be at all what you’d have hoped. You could have a companion who relies on you and who you might have wished to inherit at least part of your belongings, who would get nothing.
To avoid all possible worry about your assets, however simple it may appear, it would be wise to construct a last will and testament. There are several ways to do this. You may construct it on your own or use a professional will agent or a solicitor.
Many people draw up their own will, mostly using a template which can acquire from stationers. Be wary if you proceed along this path – it’s deceptively easy to make a mistake and you could potentially make it void. The price of having a will made, particularly a somewhat straightforward one, is not exorbitant and you can be confident that your intentions will be fulfilled.
A skilled will agent or a solicitor will be used to handling all forms of queries and will be able to aid you. There could be queries about starting trusts and maybe inheritance tax.
Having made your will, it’s a sensible idea to reassess it on occasion, as your situation changes. If you decide to amend it, then it is sensible to revoke your existing one and have it redone. If the amendments are minor, it could be easier to construct a codicil to form a section of the last will and testament and to be used in partnership with it. Any codicil will have to be made in the same method as the will in relevance signatures and witnesses.
Please be aware that any medical insurance will terminate on the death of the will holder and no value will be attributed to It in the will.