Wills And Executor Services

Overview

Legal & Financial Support Services Limited is part of the Proactive Group of Companies comprising of Chartered & Certified Accountants and Legal Services team. Combining these professional disciplines allows us to draw up Wills for our Clients in a fully tax efficient manner.
We offer a complete Will-drafting and Executor service for a fixed fee of £275 for a Simple Will, £395 for a Complex Will or, for married spouses who require “mirror image” Wills, we charge a fixed fee of £475 (discounted from £550). All instructions are taken via telephone or Zoom at our clients’ convenience and we aim to finalise all Wills within 30 days.

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REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GET A WILL

1.

A will gives you full control over your wishes during your lifetime and it ensures that those wishes are fulfilled after your death. You are able to tailor your will to suit your own individual needs as you see fit. It allows you to determine precisely what is to be distributed and to whom. It also allows you to appoint two or more executors to administer your estate and manage your affairs, after you pass away. Without a will, the intestacy rules apply and that essentially means that the rules automatically decide who is to benefit from your estate (without your input). These rules operate like a flowchart (for instance, if you are married your spouse is entitled to automatically inherit everything at first instance, without any consideration for any of your other relatives) and this can cause practical problems for those who have been left behind to deal with your estate after you die. If the automatically appointed beneficiaries are minors or have any physical and/or mental disabilities, this can result in major difficulties when it comes to administering your estate and managing your financial affairs after you pass away.

2.

Putting a will in place provides not only you with peace of mind knowing that, after you pass away, your assets will be handled and distributed precisely as you wish but also it provides more concrete protection for those who you wish to benefit from it.

Whilst provisions set out in a will may be objected to by parties who dispute its contents after your death, Courts are reluctant to meddle with wishes clearly set out in a will. If you die without putting a will in place however, any potential objections are more likely to succeed under the intestacy rules as any intentions not expressed in and evidenced by way of a will are more easily challenged.

Under those rules, certain individuals are entitled to apply to the Courts to object to a provision that automatically applies because there is no will in place. For instance, if you die whilst being in a long-term committed relationship with your partner to whom you were not married at the time of your death, technically they would not be entitled to inherit anything automatically under the intestacy rules, and they would therefore need to apply to the Court to be afforded their fair share of your estate. This could lead to a lot of emotional distress in the long run, as well as incurring additional costs, as the process would be dragged out unnecessarily by not having your wishes clearly stated in a will.

3.

If at the time of your death you have any children who are minors, putting a will in place before your death allows you to appoint an individual to act on behalf of your children as their Guardian and to handle their share of your estate until they come of age (usually 18 or 21 years old, depending on when you wish for them to receive their portion).

4.

A will protects your assets to be distributed to your chosen beneficiaries. If you own more than one property, for example, a will lets you specify who is to inherit each one on an several basis or, alternatively, if all of the beneficiaries are to be registered as joint owners of all of the properties together. You may also wish to leave behind specific gifts of any other valuable assets you own (to include jewellery, antique furniture, cars etc) to certain individuals and these can be listed in your will. However, if you die without a will, the intestacy rules apply which pass your whole estate to your surviving next of kin. This can potentially cause conflicts of interest between family members after you die – for example, if multiple beneficiaries inherit the same property and one of them refuses to consent to the sale of the house that they all own.

5.

A will lets you make direct provisions for particular people. A will can, for instance, include a provision which “ring-fences” a portion of the estate for the sole benefit of specified beneficiaries. For instance, if a husband and wife both have children from previous relationships and wish for distribution of each of their separately owned assets to be inherited only by their own biological children, rather than their partner’s other children. Without a will, in relation to this example, the rules of intestacy would mean that the entire estate of the deceased partner would be automatically inherited by the surviving partner, with no provisions made for the biological children of the deceased. Another example would be to include a provision that purposefully protects a share of a married couple’s family home to prevent that portion of the estate from being used to pay for care fees when one of the partners dies. This protects the surviving partner and allows them to continue living in the property for as long as is necessary during their lifetime.

6.

Having a will makes the process of administration of your estate cheaper and easier after your death. Without a will, it may be necessary to try and locate missing or unknown family members which may incur additional costs and which would certainly prolong the process of winding up your estate.

7.

If you decide to draft a trust into your will, this would allow an appointed individual of your choice to manage an inheritance on behalf of a disabled family member, for example. This would ensure that any benefits due to them would not be lost.

8.

Further to the above point, if you do not have a will in place and a share of your estate is to be left to a vulnerable person, the person handling your estate may need to have somebody appointed by the Courts to be in charge of that beneficiary’s share, as they do not have either the physical and/or mental capacity to deal with it by themselves. This is a costly procedure.

9.

Having a will allows you to state any specific funeral or cremation directions you may have (e.g. burial location, any particular songs you might like played at the service etc). A will also permits you to state whether or not you would like to be an organ donor, upon your death. These are things that people may not discuss with their loved ones, and so having such wishes expressly set out in a will make your intentions abundantly clear and helps to prevent any confusion or conflict of interests arising between family members.

10.

Finally, if you have any substantial assets such as businesses, stocks, shares, Small Self-Administered Schemes etc putting a will in place will allow you to make specific provisions for how you wish for these to be considered and applied after your death. For example, certain assets may be able to be transferred either during your lifetime or rolled into your pension scheme to ensure that they are as tax efficient as possible.

Testimonials

“The information you have shared is so easily understood so thanks for directing it for me. If I am ever lucky enough to be signing any sort of contract for my music I would certainly appreciate your guidance.”

Niamh McGlinchey

“In all the years my husband and I were involved in litigation, you had the sharpest, cleverest legal brain of the lot.”

Ruth McNeill

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Belfast
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