The Importance of making a Will

The following information is also available
as a leaflet that can be downloaded.

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“I don’t need a Will, my spouse gets everything anyway”

Wrong. In fact if you die intestate (i.e. without leaving a Will) the Law directs who should inherit your estate.

If you die leaving a spouse or civil partner and children, your spouse or civil partner will receive what is known as a “Statutory Legacy”, your chattels and a life interest in half of what is remaining. The other half would pass directly to your children at the age of 18. This Statutory Legacy increased on the 1st February 2009 from £125,000 to £250,000.

If you die leaving a spouse or civil partner with no children but parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, or nephews, your spouse or civil partner will again receive a Statutory Legacy, however in this instance it is for a larger sum. This Statutory Legacy also increased on the 1st February 2009 from £250,000 to £450,000. Your spouse or civil partner will still receive your chattels and they will receive one half of the estate after payment of the Statutory Legacy outright. The balance passes to your other relatives.

Is this necessarily what you want? What happens if your home is worth more than the Statutory Legacy?

“I don’t need a Will because I’m not worth anything”

This may well be true. However, if you have children, another important purpose of drawing up a Will is to appoint Guardians.

Disadvantages of not making a Will

In addition to the above there are the following disadvantages of not making a Will:-

1. Children get control of any money at the age of 18 if both their parents have died whether they are responsible or not.
2. The “Intestacy Rules” which set down who benefits from your estate do not provide for unmarried partners or step-children.
3. If you do not have any relatives that survive you, your estate will pass to the Crown.

Advantages of making a Will

1. You can ensure that your wishes will be carried out and the people you want to benefit will do so.
2. You can include gifts to other members of your family, friends or charities.
3. You can choose who will be responsible for dealing with your estate by appointing Executors.
4. You can choose who will manage any money held in trust for your children by appointing Trustees.
5. You can choose who will care for any of your children that are underage by appointing Guardians.
6. You can choose at what age children will inherit.
7. You can add special clauses to make the management of any money held on trust more practical.
8. You can resolve the special problems arising from co-habitation, second marriages and “instant” families.
9. You can carry out care fee planning and/or Inheritance Tax planning.

Wills and Divorce

It is especially important to make a Will when you are in the process of a divorce.

If you don’t already have a will then the provisions of the Statutory Intestacy Provisions are likely to be undesirable, i.e. your estranged spouse would stand to benefit from some, if not all of your estate. Your estranged spouse is only removed from the group of beneficiaries entitled to share your estate once the divorce has been finalised, i.e. the Decree Absolute has been issued.

If you already have a Will then your estranged spouse will still receive any benefit included in the same until the divorce is finalised, after which time your Will would be read as if your estranged spouse had died before you.