Why Make A Will
If you don’t have a valid Will then your estate will be disposed of under the rules of intestacy. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that this will result in your property being distributed in the way that you would have wished. The rules of intestacy often do not produce that result.
You need to make a Will to ensure that your estate passes to the people you choose and does so without delay or argument. Without a Last Will and Testament unmarried partners may not inherit your estate. sometimes even spouses may not automatically inherit all of your estate. Apart from this very important reason for having a Will, think about the following also:
- Regardless of the size of your estate, it is the accumulation of your life’s assets and should therefore be treated with the respect it deserves.
- You have the opportunity to nominate who will take charge of your affairs after your death by naming the Executor(s) in your Will.
- Making a Will usually results in quite considerable financial savings in the administration and the distribution of your estate.
- Without a valid Last Will and Testament, obtaining Letters of Administration and appointing an Administrator, can take months or sometimes even years. In the meantime your surviving spouse or partner has all the usual: household, weekly, monthly, and daily expenses to find and they will probably be on a reduced income, plus it will be at a time when they most need reassurance. Your surviving spouse or partner may not have access to money she or he would normally have a right to because they could be frozen until all the formalities have been sorted out (someone else deciding who gets your life’s assets). If you have got a valid Last Will it should take no longer than three months to obtain Probate and release your assets to the people who you chose.
- To make sure (if you have young children) that a Guardian is named by you. Giving someone of your choice a parental voice, therefore preventing the State stepping in and naming a Guardian for your child in your absence. Without a Will Social Services may step in and decide WHO looks after your children and WHO has parental rights over them.
- Consideration for family and loved ones who are left behind should far outweigh any anxiety you have about making sensible arrangements which will apply in the event of your death.
What happens if you don’t make a Will?
If a person dies without leaving a valid Will they are said to have died intestate. This may occur because the deceased never made a Will at all, or because they revoked their Will and did not make another, or because the Will is invalid; Approximately two out of every three people who die in England and Wales each year die intestate (without a valid Will)
The Act which deals with the laws of intestacy is in place to say where your estate passes, who deals with it and what rules they have to follow.Unfortunately, because the most of the rules and regulations were formed in 1925 they are considered out-dated and usually do not reflect the full wishes of most people.
These rules often do not produce the result that a person would wish. For instance, spouses do not necessarily receive the whole estate and people who live together have no rights to the property of their live-in partner.
Did You Know?
• If you are married and don’t have a Will, your assets will not all go to your spouse
• Getting married or entering into a civil partnership revokes your Will
• If you have a Will in another country it may accidentally revoke your UK Will
• If you haven’t appointed Guardians, the Courts will appoint them for you
• Step children will not benefit
• If you are living with somebody but not married, they get nothing
• If you die without a will, you will end up paying more inheritance tax and fees
• You run the risk of children inheriting too much money too early and losing it if they get divorced
