I take the complication out of protective Trusts that can be added to your Will to give you peace of mind.
I help families to ensure their children's inheritance is protected, against threats from any future unforeseen care costs, divorce settlements, creditors, bankruptcy, taxation or complicated family scenarios.
I show parents of vulnerable children how they can protect their children's inheritance if they have disabilities, addictions (drug, alcohol, gambling) or rely on means tested benefits.
I help families to put Lasting Powers of Attorney in place.
Of course you do.....
Because any parent wants the best for their children and to continue to protect them even when they are gone...
I'm here to make the process of protecting your families inheritance easy.
In the past Trusts may have only been relevant to the rich and famous, but with the average house value in the UK being nearly £300,000 everyone can benefit. In my experience most people don't understand the benefits of Trusts or how they work. Solicitors charge highly and so for many Trusts are just not accessible.
Making Trusts accessible
I believe it's important for families to be empowered with knowledge so they can make an informed decision about what happens to their home and savings, after all they have worked all their life to acquire them.
I don't have the overheads like Solicitors so I can provide Trusts at more affordable prices, I also offer payment plans to spread the cost.
Read the Top Ten Benefits Of Trusts Below
Protect Your Home From Care Fees
With care fees often costing thousands of pounds per month, many feel that it is unfair to work all their life only to have their home and savings taken away in the last few years.
Provided that at the time the assets were protected it was not reasonably foreseeable that you would need to go into care.
Ensure Your Children Inherit If Your Spouse Re-marries When You're Gone
Including a Trust in your Will protects your half of the estate, ensuring this is inherited by your children, even if your partner gets remarried.
A marriage over-rights a Will, you can't control what happens in your partners relationships when your gone. You can ensure that your half of the inheritance goes to your children.
Legally Ring-Fence Your Children's Inheritance From Any Future Divorce Settlements
Including a Trust in your Will can protect your child's inheritance against divorce by legally ring-fencing it outside of your child's estate which is taken into consideration for division.
You can ensure your child's inheritance stays with them, whatever happens in their future relationships. After all 42% of marriages in the UK end in divorce!
Legally Ring-Fence Your Children's Inheritance From Creditor or Bankruptcy
Including a Trust in your Will provides a firewall of protection for family wealth. The Trust contents are protected from claims by creditors.
No one can control what happens in the future but you can plan for the worst and put protection in place. A Trust in your Will means if your children come into future financial difficulty their inheritance cannot be accessed.
Reduce Unnecessary & Generational Inheritance Tax Bills
Including a Trust in your Will helps to alleviate potential inheritance tax liabilities, as wealth is passed down the generations.
Protect Children With Disabilities
By leaving a disabled child's inheritance in a Trust you can ring-fence it, ensuring it is excluded when financial assessments are made for their benefits. This means their disability benefits will remain even when they do inherit.
Trusts for disabled beneficiaries benefit from special tax treatment and you can choose Trustees to manage the funds for the disabled persons benefit.
Protect Children Reliant on Means Tested Benefits
If your child is financially reliant on means tested benefits by leaving their inheritance in a Trust you can ring-fence it, ensuring it is excluded when financial assessments are made for their benefits.
This means their income benefits will remain even when they do inherit.
Protect Vulnerable Children With Addictions (Drug, Alcohol, Gambling)
Including a Trust in your Will ensures that Trustees manage how the inheritance is spent.
You choose Trustees to take responsibility for money set aside in the Trust for your child. They'll manage the money in your child's best interests, guided by your wishes on how the funds should be used.
Provide For Your Spouse, But Have The Peace of Mind You Have Ensured Your Children Inherit When You're Gone
Including a Trust in your Will means you can ensure your spouse is provided for until they die, but it protects the assets for your children to inherit later.
Your spouse can still live in the family home and assets are later protected from 3rd party claims or sideways disinheritance.
Exclude Someone From Benefiting From Your Estate
A lifetime Trust cannot be challenged after 6 years of being set up, so even if a claim is brought against your estate, this will only apply to any asset outside of the Trust.
Potentially saving tens of thousands of pounds.
Includes registration on the National Will Register (Usually £30).
Protects your Will from destruction by fire or flooding.
Protects your Will from malicious damage.
Protects your Will from loss, theft or accidental damage.
The original copy of your Will with your signature on is the ONLY copy that is legally binding, it's important to protect it.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don't make a Will, then your property, money and belongings at the date of your death will be dealt with by a set of rules, known as the intestacy rules.
If you are married but have children of grandchildren, then your partner will only inherit your property, the first £322,000 of your estate and then the rest will be split equally between your partner and your children. If you jointly own your property your partner will automatically inherit the property, and this will not be included in the £322,000.
If you have no children or an estate worth less than £322,000 they your partner will inherit everything.
If you have no surviving spouse or civil partner at the date of your death, then your estate will be left to your children (if any) in equal shares.
If you have no spouse or children/grandchildren, it will pass to your parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.
This may not be in line with your wishes and if it isn't then you need to make a Will to ensure your wishes are followed.
Witnesses do not need to read the Will or know its contents, although they should be told what it is. They are simply witnessing your signature and acknowledging that you have signed the Will freely, and on the basis that the contents of the Will have been understood and approved by you.
Witnesses must be over 18 years old.
Witnesses need to be independent and should not be related to you or anyone mentioned in your Will, either by blood, marriage or civil partnership, however your witnesses may be related to each other.
DO NOT ask a beneficiary, nor the spouse/registered civil partner of a beneficiary to witness the Will, as any benefit or interest to which they are entitled within the Will, will be lost.
Do I Need A Solicitor To Set Up A Lasting Power of Attorney?
No, you don't need a solicitor to set up your Lasting Power of Attorney.
Lasting Powers of Attorney documents are standard 20 page documents. So whether you use an independent Estate Planner like myself or a Solicitor, the outcome will be exactly the same.
A Lasting Power of Attorney is useful in a whole range of situations, for example if you had an accident, lost mental capacity, or became seriously unwell and unable to make day-to-day decisions about your health, welfare or financial situation.
Lots of these situations can come out of nowhere, without much warning. Which is why every adult should consider having a Lasting Power of Attorney, so you’re prepared for whatever life throws your way.
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a document that allows you to appoint someone you trust, as your attorney, which gives them the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf if you lose the mental capacity to do so in the future.
Lasting Power of Attorney and a Last Will and Testament are two different legal documents with different purposes and effects.
Whereas a Will only comes into effect after you have died, a Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that is used before you die, usually when you aren’t able to make your own decisions and lose mental capacity.
The moment that you die a Lasting Power of Attorney ends.
I recommend for you to get it sorted way ahead of time, because it makes a world of difference when it matters.
It can be more important the older you are as illnesses such as dementia become a higher risk.
Wills and Trusts is a non regulated industry.
I have completed specialist training and achieved a qualification with the Society of Will writers which is the largest and leading self-regulatory body representing the Will Writing Profession.