THE APPOINTMENT OF EXECUTORS AND TRUSTEES
Your Will allows you to appoint people who will distribute your estate after your death. These people are known as Executors or Trustees. You do not need to appoint professional Executors or Trustees: in many cases it would be sufficient to appoint your spouse or partner together with a member of your family or a friend. Our consultant will be able to discuss your wishes at the instruction taking meeting.
2. APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIANS
If you have minor children (under the age of 18 years) you will need to appoint guardians in your Will to ensure that if something happened to you, your children would be brought up in accordance with your wishes, and by those you would want to care for them. Not appointing guardians would mean that this decision would be made by the courts.
If you have disabled children who are likely to require specialist care either at home or in the care of the Local Authority, a Trust will be required to ensure that adequate funds are available for their future. Our consultant will advise you on the details of these specialist Trusts.
3. PROPERTY
How you hold your property will determine how it passes on your death. If you are ‘Joint Tenants’, your share will pass to the survivor automatically and cannot pass by your Will.
This typically affects your family home, which can be a very significant element of many people’s estate.
If you wish to pass your ‘interest’ in the property to your children or others, you should hold your property as ‘Tenants in Common’.
Our consultant will advise you on how this can be done: by holding your property as tenants in common, you are free to dispose of your individual shares via your Will and to whom you wish.
This severing of a joint tenancy can protect what is often a sizeable portion of your estate from unforeseen circumstances. For example, should your spouse or partner marry or remarry after your death, your share of the property will be disposed of in line with your wishes. It can also protect against third party creditors, should the survivor become bankrupt or should you or your spouse require full time residential care.
4. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
A Will also allows you to make the following:
- Specific Gifts – Special gifts to any other members of your family or friends.
- Pecuniary Legacies – This is the term for a gift of money. In advance of your meeting, it can be helpful to give some thought as to anyone (other than your spouse, partner or children) to whom you wish to leave a legacy. This can include gifts to your favourite charity.
- Residuary Legacy – This covers all the remainder of your estate, and in the case of a married couple passes ‘each to each other’ and then on to any children in equal shares upon the death of the survivor. The residue of your estate can be significant and it is important to consider whom you would wish to receive that, to avoid it falling into intestacy.
- ‘Calamity Clause’ – While this can be an especially difficult clause for you as the testator, it is essential to consider how you would wish your estate to be distributed in the event of ‘total calamity’ (i.e. all of your named beneficiaries pre-deceasing you).
- Funeral Wishes – For those who wish to leave specific instructions, such as whether you wish to be cremated or buried, and whether flowers or donations are to be given, you can do this in your Will, which can be helpful and comforting to your loved ones. It must be pointed out that whatever your requests, these are only wishes and not binding on your executors.