Page 9 - link magazine

Advertising Feature
And to my grieving family, I leave

..... a pile of problems!!

Irrespective of your age or the value of your estate, making a will and putting your affairs in order is one of the most important
tasks you are likely to undertake. To die Intestate (without a will) can produce untold problems for those le ft behind.

What if I die without making a will? It is illegal to deliberately transfer your own property away to relatives or
Married Couples: Without a will, if you have children, your spouse may not trusts if the prime motive is to avoid paying for Long Term Care costs.
inherit all ofyour estate. Even ifyou have no children, some ofyour assets may However, it is not illegal for your spouse/partner to make provision in his or
go to members of your family other than your spouse. her will that upon death their own half share of the family assets, including
your home, are placed in trust for your children (or other beneficiary) instead
Unmarried Couples: UNLESS YOU HAVE MADE A WILL, YOUR of passing directly to you. The difference is that you don't own your spouse's,
PARTNER WILL GET NOTHING. Your entire estate would pass to your partner's or joint owner's half share in the property, so you cannot be said
children, or if you had none, shared between your brothers, sisters and to be reducing your estate illegally.
parents.
Parents ofyoung children: An ex-spouse could be given full parental rights Inheritance Tax
over his/her children even if the original separation agreement said differ- Surprising as it may seem, many people pay 40%
ently. Even if your ex-spouse cannot make a claim, your children's trust fund Tax on their family's future inheritance. The ^- o
may fall under your ex-spouse's control, good news is that you don't have to!
You don't have to be "rich" to fall into the
Protect your home before it is too late Inheritance Tax trap! For example, if you own a
modest home say £ 150,000, have insurance poli-
If you are a home owner and through no fault of your own find that you
cies with a sum insured of £75,000, death in
require residential or nursing care, you can lose your home. Under the
service benefits at work, say 3 x £30,000, your
Community Care Act (1990), your local authority has the right to use a large
assets on death could be £315,000. This easily Local area consultant Phil
proportion of your savings and sell your home and use the proceeds for your
exceeds the Inheritance Tax threshold currently Lewis from Taw Hill
care costs. This can happen if you have as little as £12,000 in assets. Yet
£263,000.
someone who has no savings and does not own a property is eligible for the
In this example, of the £52,000 excess, the taxman will take a whopping
same level of care for nothing.
£20,800. Are you happy to lose this amount in taxwhen there are legallyvalid
Over the whole of the UK, nearly half a million people are living in
ways to reduce it or even avoid paying it altogether?
residential care, and the cost of caring for the growing army of pensioners is
predicted to soar to £30 billion by the year 2030. At least 70,000 homes were
Where to go and what to do - NOW!!
sold last year (that's 200 a day) with £4.3 Billion's worth of inheritances being
used to pay care costs. If you have ever had a will or other legal document prepared, you will know
how daunting it can be sitting in the solicitor's office giving your instructions
whilst at the same time knowing that you only have a half hour appointment
If We Go Into Care in which to do it all. Plus you're probably in a hurry to get back to work as
they only work 9 till 5 and you've had to take time off. Very often the solicitor
Our Home Will will deal exclusively with the matter at hand — your will — and not take time
to discuss other related estate planning issues with you.
Automatically Go To NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES realised this dilemma and a new way was
created. Their mission is to offer a personal home visit to each client by a fully
Our Children - Right? trained local consultant, and to take time to discuss a wide range of issues
associated with estate planning in order to help the clients secure a tailor-made
package to suit their needs both today and for the rest of their lives.
The local consultant for this area is Phil Lewis of Taw Hill. This was a
change of direction for Phil a few years ago after a 30 year career in Worldwide
IT. "Having a will for me was not just because I was travelling round the world
all the time "said Phil. "There was a reason why Ifelt that way and why Idecided
to make this my new profession"
`My grandfather was a miner and brought up his 4 sons in the family home.
Some years after my grandmother died, he remarrieda very nice lady, who was also
69,000 Homes were SOLD last year to pay for
a widow. After many happy years together my grandfather died followed a few
long term care. 11 you act early, you can save months later by his second wife. No wills were made. The whole of my grandfa-
yours. Simply and cost effectively. 1 ^ ther's estate passed to his second wife, which on her death passed to......... her son
from her previous marriage. My father and his 3 brothers were devastated when
For a free info pack call today,
her son sold every belonging and pocketed all the money. It wasn't so much the
quote reference number 8291 N•uo.wLe^S^ g
money that upset all the brothers, but they didn't have one single item from the
0800 328 23" house that they all were brought up in to remind them of their father':
So you see Ifeel strongly about people putting their affairs in order BEFORE
The National Specialists for: it is too late. "
Wtlls Enduring Power of Attorney Executor Help•
•
•
Advanced Din' t ive • Conveyancing • Document Stonig' For a full information pack, National Legal Services can be
contacted on 0800 328 2364. Please quote ref no. 8291