General Advice on Wills and Financial Planning »

Ensuring that children and other rightful beneficiaries will inherit the wealth you have created, regardless of what the future may hold, is essential. So is making sure that the value of the family home is protected from hostile creditors or unnecessary Inheritance Tax.

Without professional guidance, much of your hard-earned money might end up in the wrong hands or be lost to the State. Taking professional advice on the drafting of your Will, and updating it regularly as your circumstances change, is the only way to be sure that your wishes will be known and your family fully safeguarded.

Also, by drawing up a Lasting Power of Attorney, you will be providing a lifeline by appointing someone you trust to help you if, through sickness or accident, you cannot handle your own affairs.

For more information contact:
Georgina James - gj@deanwilson.co.uk

Wills

If you die without a Will, you are said to have died “Intestate”. The consequence of this is that it is the law who decides who will inherit your estate, not you.

Only 3 out of 10 people in the UK have made a Will.
Should you have no close family your property may pass to relatives you may not have seen for years or if there are no relatives, to the state. Intestacy can cause great heartache and badly planned Wills can lead to disputed Wills.
Preparing your Will to provide for your family and loved ones is of vital importance, not only to ensure that they receive what you wish them to, but also to ensure maximum use is taken of tax planning.

For more information contact:
Georgina James - gj@deanwilson.co.uk

back to top

Living Wills

Many people are concerned about receiving medical treatment in a situation where they are unable to make their own decisions and/or give consent to treatment. For such people, a “Living Will” may be of comfort. In essence, it is a written expression of wishes made by someone of sound mind indicating the circumstances in which they do or do not wish to continue with medical treatment.

Valid advance refusals of treatment are recognised by medical professionals. This advance refusal forms the first part of the Living Will.

The second part of the Living Will provides the opportunity of appointing a health care proxy to make decisions on your behalf. Whilst a health care proxy has no legal status, medical professionals will often defer to the decisions of the health care proxy where they are not unreasonable.

An alternative to a Living Will is a Lasting Power of Attorney which relates to health and welfare decisions. For more information on this, please refer to our “LPA – Health and Welfare” leaflet.

For more information contact:
Georgina James - gj@deanwilson.co.uk

back to top

Lasting Powers of Attorney – Property and Affairs

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a document wherein you can appoint one or more Attorneys to make decisions on your behalf and they will be able to sign such documents as are required to carry out those decisions.

The Lasting Power of Attorney is only effective once it is registered with the Court of Protection but it is not necessary for the donor to lose mental capacity before the LPA is registered. Therefore the LPA may be registered in such circumstances where the donor requires the Attorney to have immediate control of their affairs, for instance if the donor is going abroad.

You may give your Attorney power to deal with all of your property and affairs or restrict the power to a specific property for a particular purpose.

If the donor becomes unable to deal with his or her own financial affairs, then the Attorney under the LPA will be able to continue dealing with the donor’s affairs without the need to apply to the Court of Protection for a Court appointed deputy. This therefore makes matters much simpler in what is often already a very difficult time.

back to top

Lasting Powers of Attorney– Health and Welfare decisions

On the 1st October 2007, a new type of Power of Attorney was introduced being the Lasting Power of Attorney, Health and Welfare document. Prior to this time, donors could appoint Attorneys under an Enduring Power of Attorney but they were only able to make decisions in relation to property and affairs. Now there are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorney, one in relation to property and affairs and the other in relation to health and welfare decisions. The Attorneys appointed under each document do not need to be the same people.

Many people are concerned about medical treatment they may receive in such circumstances when they are unable to make their own decisions. They are often comforted by having put in place a Health and Welfare LPA or a Living Will.

An LPA needs to be registered with the Court of Protection before it can be used by the Attorney and registration can be made immediately or at any time in the future.

The LPA also gives you the opportunity of making advance refusals with regards to certain types of medical treatments.

back to top

Disputing a Will

We can advise on a wide range of issues including:

• Claims enabling some relatives (in particular a surviving or a former spouse and children), cohabitees and all dependants to apply for provision from the deceased’s estate where a Will or intestacy does not make adequate financial provision.

• Challenges to the validity of a Will.

• Disputes involving personal representatives, beneficiaries and creditors

• The interpretation of trust documentation.

Disputes of this nature can be emotionally taxing. But we will provide a sympathetic and realistic approach designed to achieve a successful outcome.

For more information contact:
Georgina James - gj@deanwilson.co.uk

back to top

Specialist Trusts

Sometimes you may wish to protect your assets against known or as yet unknown circumstances. We are able to advise on a series of measures that may remove or at least mitigate their effects. Amongst these are:

• Lifetime Asset Trusts

• Life Policy trusts

• Accumulation and Maintenance Trusts

• Life Interest Trusts

• Loan Trusts

• Fully Flexible Tax Trusts

• Discretionary Trusts

• Will Trusts

Every situation is different. Call us and see if we can help.

For more information contact:
Georgina James - gj@deanwilson.co.uk

back to top

Caring for the Elderly

We offer an elderly client service encompassing such issues as:

• Wills – these can be useful tax planning tools

• Lasting powers of attorney

• Probate and administration service

• Deeds of variation of Wills

• Inheritance Tax planning

• Gifts

• Placing insurance policies in trust

• Dealing with the family home

• Capital Gains Tax planning

• Nursing home fee planning

• Independent financial advice

• Personal income tax

• Trust problems/administration

• Court of Protection work

For more information contact:
Rebecca Miles - rml@deanwilson.co.uk

back to top

Estate Administration

At a time of emotional stress, it is vital that you should be able to rely upon your professional advisers not only to provide calm and considered advice but also to assist in distributing the pecuniary and other bequests under the Will.

We have long experience in the administration of estates, whether passing by will or under intestacy. Our senior Probate practitioners are experienced members of The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. You will find them sympathetic, practical and focused on helping you through a difficult time.

For more information contact:
Georgina James - gj@deanwilson.co.uk

back to top