Sir Ken Dodd had the last laugh over the taxman by marrying his partner of 40 years two days before his death. Anne Jones would have had to pay more than £2 m inheritance tax on his £7.2 m fortune. Doddy, who died in March 2018 aged 90, tied the knot with Anne Jones to stop her having to pay…
“The Law around Wills should be updated and brought into the “modern world”, a recent statement by the Law Commission for England and Wales, last week. The Law Commission, has recently criticised the way Wills have been written saying that the current rules were “unclear” and the wording of old fashioned terminology and language has left many of the population…
Since 2019, there appears to be a rise in probate disputes being reported more frequently in the media. The question is Why is that? According to HM Courts and Tribunals Office, the reason for this increase is due to a number contributing of factors, these including: Clients making DIY Wills, which are often full of errors and omissions, either using…
One of the questions we are often asked is what is Probate and is it a requirement? Probate and Estate Administration is the legal process of proving a Will. This means that is accepted as the last Will and Testament by the Probate court. Probate is the judicial process whereby a Will is “proved” in a court of law and…
Despite this being an age of blended family relationships and complicated financial affairs, more than 31 million of the UK population don’t have a Will. So why do so many people simply refuse to make one? You only have to open the papers to see the death of a celebrity, who has left their entire estate to their cleaner, or…
The number of gifts left to charities in Wills each year is set to increase from 120,000 to 200,000 by 2045, reaching a value of £10 billion. This is due to various factors including increases in deaths, more individuals leaving behind Wills and a higher proportion of people leaving gifts in their Will, according to a report by Legacy Foresight.…
The latest family and household figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that the number of cohabiting couple families continues to grow. Between 2008 to 2019, there has been a 25.8% increase in families of this type. Cohabiting couple families are even growing faster than married couple and lone parent families. In 2018, there were 19.1 million…
Make a Will More than half of us haven’t written a Will, which means we could be leaving behind an administrative nightmare when we go. Many assume that if we die without a Will our estate will still make its way to the right people, but this is not true. When there is no Will your assets are split according…
Inheritance disputes set to increase as more British adults are willing to dispute a Will Recent research highlights the increasing likelihood of disputes over inheritance. According to Direct Line Life Insurance, 12.6 million british adults would be prepared to dispute a Will and go to court if they disagreed with the division of their relative’s estate. On average, 22% of…
How savvy are you with your money and your finances, have you a little jar that you put pound coins in or have you set up a savings account for that rainy day? According to a recent survey carried out by Money Advice Service, 203 Million of the UK Population don’t feel confident in managing money and over 54% have…
