Wills

A Codicil is a legal document which sets out alterations to somebody’s Will and works alongside the Will rather than replacing it.  It is usually simpler to redraft the original Will as all wishes are then in one place and the cost for a simple Codicil and a simple change to a Will is similar.

Inheritance Tax is a tax applied to an estate upon death after all the nil rate tax allowances have been claimed.  A well drafted Will can help utilise the allowances in the most efficient way.  Inheritance Tax (IHT) is currently 40% after allowances.

Yes, of course. If you want to leave specific personal possessions to certain people, then you can outline this in your Will. You can also leave money to your favourite registered charity(s), but again you can only guarantee this by including it in your Will. 

In fact gifts to charities are exempt from Inheritance Tax so use none of your tax free allowances.  There is also a way to leave a percentage of your estate to charity which can reduce the overall tax rate on the other gifts, which his particularly useful on larger estates. 

When you marry or enter into a civil partnership, any Will that you already have in place will be revoked and is therefore no longer valid.  You can prevent this from happening by making your Will in contemplation of your marriage or civil partnership and name the person you intend to enter into the marriage or civil partnership with.

Yes, it is legal to make a beneficiary of your Will an executor too. In fact, it’s actually pretty common for people to do so. After all, family and close friends are the people that you are going to trust the most and are going to want to leave a gift to when you pass away. However, it’s still extremely important to take your time when you choose an executor. This is because they will be the one responsible for sorting out your finances, making your funeral plans and carrying out your wishes.

We always recommend making a Will in the country where other assets are held and to seek advice from legal professional in that jurisdiction.  It is important that neither of your Wills revoke each other.

There are strict rules about witnessing the Will to ensure that it is valid.  Two people need to be present to witness your Will and they should be independent people, so not a family member or beneficiary of the Will.  Neighbours or colleagues may be ideal if they are not in the Will or related to anyone who is. 

There are many different types of Wills and our Specialist Team will advise you on the best one for your circumstances in order to achieve your goals.

Marriage or Civil Partnership revokes a Will so if you remarry, your existing Will may no longer be valid.  Your estate would pass under the law of intestacy in this case.  However, you can make a Will in contemplation of marriage/civil partnership before the event to ensure that it is not revoked.

Often people choose a family member as an Executor or a trusted friend, which is absolutely fine, whether they are in the Will or not.  Professionals can be appointed as Executors also and this can be used if there is no surviving family or where the estate will be complex to administer or where there are ongoing Trusts.

Testamentary capacity is the legal term used to describe a person’s mental capacity to make or amend an existing Will.  If, when challenged, it can be proven that the person making the Will lacked testamentary capacity at the time, the Will may be invalid.  What happens at this point will depend on whether there were previous Wills and other factors.