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Convenient Wills     The home visit will writing service

Stoke (01782) 639716

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Recognize the 5 early warning signs that your existing Will is out of date


A brief, cursory review of your Will may lead you to believe that your Will is still up-to-date. But look again in more detail, and you will probably find that your Will is in urgent need of an update.

The need for an updated Will can be any one (or more) of 5 reasons:

The above are relatively easy to spot. Much harder to spot are:



You should:

It is estimated that 30% of all existing Wills are out of date.  Could yours be one of them?

Time stops for no one.  Ensure your Will is kept up to date.

The Impact of Time Passing

A Will is an ‘evolving document’.  By that we mean that it should change to reflect the testator’s changing wishes as his/her own, and those of his/her beneficiary’s, circumstances change.  For example:


Different priorities: Aspects that were not a concern at the time an original Will was made may now become a priority. e.g. protecting the family home from being used to fund long-term care. The Will should be amended to reflect these changing priorities.


Guardians:  The demands of a 6-year old child are completely different from that of a 13-year-old adolescent. Similarly, guardians also grow older. So where an active and healthy grandparent may have been a suitable choice as the Guardian in the past, a better choice may now be to appoint a brother or sister who has children of the same age.


Growing family: You may still have the same number of children but do you now have grandchildren/more grandchildren/a disabled grandchild/a step-grandchild?  You Will may need to be altered.  


Executor appointment: Originally you may have appointed your parents as executors or reserve executors, or perhaps you appointed a solicitor.  With the passage of time your own children (or even your grandchildren) will often become better suited. Your Will needs to be updated to effect the change.


Child resident: A child that was living with the testator years ago as a minor may now be still living with the testator but as an adult.  That adult-child might be homeless if he/she was orphaned.  A trust should therefore be included in the Will.

 

Inheritance tax liability.  As we progress through life we quite often inherit monies. Those inheritances may now have created an inheritance tax liability. A Will can sometimes help mitigate this liability.



- a child’s marriage is failing.  If a child inherited from their parent and then that child divorced, half of the inheritance would go to the son/daughter in law as part of the divorce settlement.  Most parents would object to this.

– bankruptcy of a beneficiary.  If a child is bankrupt then any inheritance they receive while their affairs are controlled by the Official Receiver will be used to clear their debts. Most parents object to this.





The above are just some examples of how external factors can impact upon a Will.

In our Home-Visit will writing service we review any existing Will to check that an up-date is actually required. Please call us to arrange a visit.



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