Legal News | 6.01.22
’22 – Get your little ducks in a row this year
A new year means New Year’s resolutions and if one of your resolutions for 2022 is to get your affairs in order, then you may want to bear in mind the following:
• Wills. We recommend that you review your Will regularly to ensure that it reflects your circumstances and wishes. Since making your Will, have you had children for whom you need to appoint a guardian or perhaps grandchildren to whom you would like to leave a legacy? Simple amendments to your Will can be made in a short document called a codicil. If you have married since the date of your Will then, unless that marriage was specifically anticipated in your Will, the whole document has been revoked.
• Lasting powers of attorney (LPAs). Making LPAs does not mean that you have lost capacity to make decisions about your finances and/or health but it does mean that the necessary paperwork is in place should you lose mental capacity in the future. The alternative is a costly and lengthy application to court to be made on your behalf once you have lost capacity.
• Grants of probate. If you have been appointed as an executor of an estate and need to obtain a grant of probate (perhaps to close the deceased’s bank account or sell their investments), bear in mind that HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s fee for issuing a grant is set to increase to £273 in early 2022 (an exact date is yet to be decided).
• Gifts. Regular readers will be aware that (subject to exemptions and reliefs) gifts made in the seven years before a person’s death are included in their estate for inheritance tax. So, if you have carried the Christmas spirit of gifting into 2022, bear in mind that making a gift sooner rather than later will start the seven-year clock running.
If you would like more information on all or any of the above, please contact your usual Wansbroughs contact or email the Private Client team at wealth@wansbroughs.com.
