Wills & Probate

Making a will ensures that your estate passes to your loved ones the way in which you want it to. According to a recent survey, 63% of people in the UK do not have a will. Those surveyed blamed a lack of time, being too young or not having enough money. There is a common belief that if you die without a will, your spouse/civil partner, partner or children will automatically inherit your estate.

The reality is that the law will decide what happens to your estate in accordance with the intestacy rules. For example: If you have a partner to whom you are not married, they will not be entitled to anything from your estate even if you are cohabiting.

If you are married or in a civil partnership, your spouse/civil partner may not necessarily inherit your entire estate. In addition if you have children under the age of 18 and you have not made a will the courts will decide who will be their guardians.

With careful planning, you can use the terms of your will as a means of reducing potential inheritance tax on your estate. Inheritance tax is payable at 40% on the portion of your estate that exceeds £325,000 (fixed until 2026).

You can appoint guardians for your children if they are under 18 and set up trusts to safeguard the future of your children or grandchildren.

Making a will is not nearly as complicated as you may think and the service does not have to be expensive. At Tureng Solicitors, we take the time to listen to and understand your requirements so that we can give you tailored advice on the issues you need to consider, ways to save inheritance tax both during your lifetime and in your will and alert you to any potential claims against the estate.

The partners in this firm are happy to be appointed as your executors (executors are the people whom you appoint to administer your estate). We do not make a separate charge for this appointment and it often makes dealing with the administration of the estate much easier and avoids possible family disputes. We provide free storage in our vault for wills prepared by us and if you wish us to do so, we will also register your Will with Certainty, the National Wills Register, so that you can be certain that your Will can be located after your death.

By making a will, you can give your family peace of mind and save them a lot of stress and heartache at what will be a very distressing and emotional time. You may also want to consider making a Lasting Power of Attorney which covers the position if you become mentally incapable of handling your affairs during your lifetime.

At Tureng Solicitors, our experienced team can create a Lasting Power of Attorney that is tailored to your individual needs. We can take the strain out of this complicated procedure and complete the application and registration for you.

Why should I make a Lasting Power of Attorney?

If you were struck by illness in the form of Alzheimers or dementia, who would handle your finances and day to day affairs?

A proactive way of planning ahead for this situation is by making a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) while you have mental capacity. This is a useful legal document that gives another person (the Attorney) the power to manage your affairs if you are unable to do so. It protects you if your health deteriorates and lessens the strain on your loved ones should the unexpected happen.

What does it cover?

There are two types of LPA:

Property and Financial Affairs

This LPA allows the Attorney to make decisions which relate to your property and affairs, so this could be paying bills, collecting benefits or other income, or even selling the Donor’s house if you need to go into care (subject to conditions).

Health & Welfare

This LPA allows the Attorney to make decisions on your behalf about your personal welfare. This could include making decisions about where you live, giving or refusing consent to life sustaining treatment, together with more day to day decisions relating to diet, daily routine or dress. It can only be used if you lack mental capacity.

Who can I appoint as my Attorney?

When choosing your Attorney, you should look to someone who you know and trust, who is happy to take on the responsibilities involved. It is usual to appoint family members, close friends or professionals such as a solicitor. The Partners at Tureng Solicitors would be pleased to consider a request to act as your attorney if you so wish.

The Attorney must be 18 or over, have mental capacity and not be a bankrupt. You can appoint more than one Attorney and they can act together or separately. You may have different attorneys in each LPA or the same person in both.

Can I put restrictions on my Attorney or include my wishes regarding what I would like them to do?

Yes it is possible to restrict the powers of your Attorney but if you trust them whole heartedly this should not be necessary. You can include your wishes regarding how you want your property and finances dealt with or whether you wish to accept certain medical treatment.

When can my Attorney use the LPA?

The Property and Financial Affairs LPA can be used both when you have capacity to act, as well as if you lack mental capacity to make a financial decision. The Health & Welfare LPA can only be used if you lack mental capacity. In both cases, the LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used.

When should my LPA be registered?

We recommend that it be done as soon as you have made the LPA. Registration takes approximately 12 weeks and there is a registration fee of £110 charged by the Office of the Public Guardian.

What if I change my mind?

You can revoke the LPA at any time, so long as you have the mental capacity to do so.

What if I have already made an Enduring Power of Attorney?

Lasting Powers of Attorney replaced Enduring Powers in October 2007. If you made an Enduring Power of Attorney before 1st October 2007, it will be still be valid for decisions regarding your financial affairs. It does not cover health and welfare decisions.

What would happen if I did not make a Lasting Power of Attorney?

Your loved ones would have to make an application to the Court of Protection to appoint someone to handle your affairs. You will not have control of who is appointed and during this time, no action can be taken to settle your bills or pay your expenses. This is an expensive, stressful and time consuming process which is best avoided by making a Lasting Power of Attorney. If you need to go down the Court of Protection route, our specialist team can guide you through this difficult process.

When someone dies, their executors or administrators must deal with the estate—gathering assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing what remains in line with the will or the intestacy rules. We guide executors and personal representatives through probate and estate administration with clear, practical advice at each stage.

Unfortunately, not everybody has had the opportunity to prepare a Lasting Power of Attorney determining who is to deal with matters on their behalf should they lose capacity. Should a person lose mental capacity, a family member must make application to the Court of Protection to be appointed as that person’s Deputy.

A court order can be for either Property and Financial affairs or Health & Welfare.

The ideal candidate to make the application to the Court of Protection is a family member. However, there are other options available for those who may not be lucky enough to have family who are able to take up this role. A Professional Deputy can be appointed to act in these situations either through the Court or by an independent Solicitor. This is where we can help. Get in contact today.

When someone no longer has capacity to make decisions regarding their finances and/or welfare an application can be made to the Court of Protection (COP) so that the Court can appoint someone to act on their behalf. This person is referred to as the deputy and the person who lacks the mental capacity is generally referred to as “P”. More than one deputy can be appointed and the Court prefer to appoint a family member where possible or it can also be a professional body such as a firm of solicitors.

There are two types of deputyship order that can be applied for, one is in respect of Property and Financial affairs and the other is in respect of Health and Welfare. The Health and Welfare deputyship is much harder to obtain as the Court is reluctant to appoint a Health and Welfare deputy. Permission would also be required by the Court to make this type of application.

In order to get the application started a capacity assessment must to be carried out and this will be submitted to the Court in due course along with the other papers. This assessment is most often carried out by a doctor or social worker and the fee for this assessment will vary depending upon who carried out the assessment.

When completing the initial application form, a list of the donor’s assets and liabilities will need to be included within the application. Once the application is submitted to the Courts, it can take between 6-10 months to achieve.

Towards the end of the process, the deputy will need to set up a security bond. This is similar to an insurance policy and covers financial losses to P should the deputy misappropriate funds. The fee for this depends on the value of P’s assets.

At the end of the procedure, the Court will issue the deputy a Court Order authorising what they can and cannot do.

Upon the anniversary of the Deputy’s appointment, an annual report must be prepared and sent to the Office of the Public Guardian detailing P’s financial affairs during the past year.