Your will tells everyone that needs to know, what should happen to your money, possessions and property after you die. It means that you get the final say about how you would like your possessions to be shared and can be content that your final wishes are being respected.

It's not as difficult as you might thing and you don't have to have any specialist legal knowledge to start thinking about how and what you would like to share. It can be helpful and reassuring for friends and family to know that business has been taken care of and they can execute your final wishes exactly as you intended.

There are practical benefits to having a Will such as reducing the amount of Inheritance Tax that might be payable on the value of the property and money you leave behind. Writing a Will is especially important if you have children or other family who depend on you financially, or if you want to leave something to people outside your immediate family.

“I wanted to make sure that when I died, my family were free to celebrate my life and not have to deal with complicated legal issues. I know how stressful it can be to lose a family member and I wanted to make sure that my family were taken care of and show support for the service that had taken care of my friend when they were going through a difficult time - my way of saying Thank You! ”Anon

The tax advantages from writing a Will

Current legislation states that your beneficiaries will not have to pay any inheritance TAX if your estate is less than £325,000. Anything over £325,000 is liable to 40% inheritance Tax. Gifts to charities are generally exempt from Inheritance tax. If you leave a charitable gift it will be deducted from your estate before inheritance Tax liability is calculated.

Your beneficiaries will not be liable to pay inheritance Tax if you leave your assets to your spouse of civil partner as they are exempt. Once your spouse or civil partner dies, there is no exemption and the whole estate will be liable for inheritance tax.

Since 6th April 2012, if you leave 10% or more of your estate to a charity, you’ll be taxed at a lower rate (36%) rather than 40%) on any part of your estate that qualifies for inheritance tax.

If you would like to find out more before you commit to anything, you can call the office for some advice on  0114 258 4489 or click HERE to access our Will writing FAQ's.