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Making a Will is something that most people do not give much consideration to or put off indefinitely. However the consequences of not having a Will in place on your death can be severe and we look at the top 5 reasons to put a Will in place below;
1. Control – Having a Will allows you to control how your estate will be administered and distributed, who will have control over your affairs, who will your trustees be, who will act as the guardians of any minor children. In some cases if you do not have a Will the rules of intestacy will result in a distribution of your estate which deviates significantly from your wishes.
2. Capacity – As the law currently stand in the event that you lose capacity or fail to meet the test for testamentary capacity you will be unable to put a Will in place so it cannot always be presumed that you will be in a position to put a Will at some point in the future.
3. Tax – A properly drafted Will can allow the tax bill for your estate to be reduced significantly by utilizing tax thresholds and in some cases availing of exemptions/reliefs from Inheritance tax (CAT). A badly drafted Will or an estate passing by way of intestacy will mean that no such tax benefits can be availed of.
4. Protection – Provision can be made for minor and/or disabled/incapacitated children within a Will using a proper trust structure. Without such a structure any benefit will pass automatically to a child once they reach 18 leaving them unprotected from a financial and taxation standpoint.
5. Clarity – A Will (sometimes in conjunction a letter of wishes) is theonly definitive way that your family members will beaware of what yourwishes arein relation to both the distribution of your assets but for other matters such as funeral/burial arrangement & charitable bequests.
If you have any questions in relation to making a Will please feel free to contact us
Download our free guide to making a Will here
