Drafting Wills & Codicils
One of the most important decisions you can make in life is what
happens to your assets once you have died. By making a Will you
can decide who looks after your estate and what happens to your
property and belongings.
If you have children this is a good opportunity to decide who
would look after them should something happen to you. You can
use your Will to appoint a guardian to look after them, and also
to make financial provision for them.
A codicil is an addition to a Will which makes small changes,
it is often used if you change your mind about a clause in your
Will and want to change it.
An Enduring Power of Attorney deed (EPA) appoints a person
or more than one, to deal with your financial affairs if you are
not able to.
If you have made an EPA and you lose the ability to deal with
your own affairs, either through accident or illness or any other
circumstances, you have the peace of mind that someone you trust
will be able to look after things for you.
We all want to make the most of what we have and, by
planning what will happen to your estate, that is exactly what
you can do.
By carefully deciding where you want your assets to go you can
make sure that you make gifts to the people that need it, or will
appreciate your gift after you have gone.
When you make a Will it is a good idea to try to minimise the
amount of tax that will be payable on your death.
We can help you make a Will that makes the best use of the tax
allowances and exemptions that are available to you. This leaves
more money to the people you want to benefit.
When a friend or loved one dies it feels like there are
a million and one things to think about. We can help you through
the process of dealing with an estate after someone has died.
Whether there is a Will or not we will help you to sort out the
financial affairs and will help you through the process of dividing
the estate between the people who are entitled to it.
Trusts can be created on their own or can come about
after someone has died if they created a trust in their Will.
The Wills Trusts and Probate team can help you create and manage
trusts.
Trusts can be set up either before you die or in your Will. Trusts
can be very flexible and we can help you to decide which trust
is best for you.
If someone has died and has left you a gift that you
think someone else would make more use of, we can help you redirect
the gift. This can have the advantage of reducing the amount of
tax payable after the death and can prevent losing out on some
tax allowances.
If someone is not able to look after their own affairs and they
have not made an EPA it may be necessary to apply to the court
of protection to appoint a receiver who can look after their affairs.
We can act as a receiver or help you through the process of becoming
and acting as a receiver.
In conjunction with our Litigation team we specialise in contested
probate, inheritance matters and disputed wills. We can provide
expert advice in respect of contested inheritances, disputes over
validity of wills, claims for beneficiaries and children, claims
under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act
1975, and disputes over Powers of Attorney. Top
About Us The Wills Trusts and Probate team is headed by Wendy
Randall who specialises in estate and tax planning. In addition
to drafting Wills and EPA’s and dealing with Probate matters
other members of the team have years of experience in dealing
with estate and trust property.
For more information about any of our services or to arrange
an appointment please call us on 0151 6660 9164 or e-mail us
at wtp@phrsols.co.uk
