Legal News | 29.11.24

Private Client roundup: what you might have missed

The Autumn Budget has thrown particular Private Client matters into the mainstream media lately, with ‘agricultural property relief’ going from a scarcely known inheritance tax topic (at least, for non-farmers!) to headline news. That said, there are plenty of Private Client updates that are not hitting the front pages…

Lasting Powers of Attorney

• The number of applications (1.37 million) were up by nearly one third during 2023/24.
• More than 50,000 applications were rejected last year.

Most rejections are due to misspellings, missing information or illegibility. If rejected, you may need to prepare the Lasting Powers of Attorney, in full, again. Should you have lost capacity during the time taken for the Office of the Public Guardian to review and reject your Lasting Powers of Attorney, making new documents may not be possible. It is therefore essential to get things right, first time around – and Wansbroughs can help with this.

Grants of Probate

• The Probate Registry was reportedly aiming towards a four-week turnaround time. They have not reached this, with published turnaround times still quoted as “up to 16 weeks” (and longer where questions are raised).

We have found that some applications are being dealt with more quickly but there is no consistent improvement in turnaround times across the board. We continue to chase the Probate Registry for updates when applications have been submitted to ensure that an application is not overlooked.

Inheritance tax

• It remains the case that inheritance tax must be paid within six months of the deceased’s death.
• Interest is payable at 7.5% on any inheritance tax paid late.

Many institutions allow personal representatives to release cash to HM Revenue and Customs to pay inheritance tax and so this should be investigated before looking at loans or accepting the 7.5% interest rate on late payment.

Wills

• It has long been accepted that if you destroy your Will by “burning, tearing or otherwise destroying”, your Will will be revoked (section 20 of the Wills Act 1837).

• A recent case was heard in which a solicitor finished tearing a client’s Will on the client’s instruction, in order to destroy that Will. The client had since died, and the case was brought to Court to determine whether the revocation of the Will by tearing was valid.
• The Judge held that the client’s intention to destroy her Will was clear and that it was validly revoked. The deceased’s estate therefore passed in accordance with the intestacy rules as no valid Will was in place.

This case highlights that revoking a Will is not always simple. At Wansbroughs, when preparing a new Will, we include wording to make clear that previous testamentary dispositions have been revoked by the new Will. If you wish to revoke an existing Will, you should seek professional advice to ensure that this is done correctly.

As always, if you would like to discuss any Private Client matters, please do reach out to us at wealth@wansbroughs.com.