Writing Legal Will holds a lot of importance in a person’s life. Having a legal Will drafted will not only help you secure your estate, but also secure your family’s future. With a Will, you get to decide what happens with your estate and your money once you pass away. But what should you include while Writing Legal Will?
There are various topics that need to be covered while Writing Legal Will. Most Wills are drafted around cash legacies, bequests and residue. It is upon you what you wish to leave to your relatives, close friends or charities.
However, these are particularly fixed amounts and are only given to individuals that are included while Writing Legal Will. Additionally, you can also bequeath your possessions (which also includes the house you live in and other properties as well) and treasured items to whoever you wish.
All this can either be left to an individual or can be shared out among several individuals.
Leaving Property in the Will
If in a property or estate while Writing Legal Will, you share ownership with your spouse or civil partner, your worth in that property is half its market value, less your share of mortgage. However, few of us know that a property can be held in two ways – either it can be held as a joint tenants or tenants in common.
- If the property/ estate you own is held in a joint tenancy, your half property/ estate will be passed on to the surviving joint tenant automatically.
- If the property/ estate you own is held in a tenancy in common, you get to leave your part of share in the property/ estate to someone else in the legal Will. The individual will then become a tenant in common with the other owner of your property/ estate.
This type of agreement was usually made by people to avoid inheritance tax (IHT). The use of this agreement is however lessening overtime. There are also several other ways in which people can avoid paying heavy inheritance tax.
Including Your Insurance in the Will
There are various types of insurance that we take over our lifetime. From different life insurance policies to health insurance and child life insurance, there is everything we can do to protect our loved ones. But the question here is whether we can include these insurance policies in our Will?
Well, the answer is yes!
The entire point of taking a life insurance policy is to protect the loved ones in our absence. However, by including your insurance policies in the Will allows you to decide which particular individual gets to benefit after your policy matures.
Also, to be on the safer side, if you have any insurance policies taken in the past few years, check for PPI. Reason being, the PPI policies were mis-sold alongside insurance policies by the banks and lender for profits.
Having a PPI policy under your name can make you eligible to make a claim if it was mis-sold to you or forced upon you. There are certainly two ways in which an individual can claim a mis-sold PPI policy.
- Either they can seek help from a claim management company
- Or can make a PPI claim by themselves
Ultimately, any kind of insurance policy can be included in the Will to ensure that the amount received on maturing of the policy is given to an individual you have chosen.
Children as the Beneficiaries
If you have children that are under the age of 18, it is essential that you mention a guardian in the Will (if both the parents die).
Additionally, you also need to specify where the money will come from to look after them. In fact, it is usually made in form of trusts.
So if your children are supposedly inheriting your property, it is held in trust until they turn 18 of age or in certain cases until they get married.
Unless you specify how you want the trust to be managed, it will be by default dealt in accordance to the trustee law, which basically lets the executors deal with the fund.
Appointing executors to your estate
Executors are those individual that are responsible to carry out your wishes in accordance to the Will. On the safer side, it is always advisable to name more than one executor. These set of individuals could be anyone from your relation, friends or even a solicitor.
In many cases, unless you have a complex property to deal with, lay executors are preferred. If they need any expert help to administer your property, they can commission probate services. Your beneficiaries can also act as executors too.
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