Do you own a holiday home abroad?

If you are fortunate enough to own a holiday home in another country that is part of the EU then following a recent EU Regulation you should probably review your Will. If you are among that number who have not made a Will you should certainly do so.

EU Regulation 650/2012, colloquially known as “Brussels IV” is an attempt to harmonise the laws of succession in the member states. It should mean that provided you leave an English Will your foreign property will be allowed to pass under the same terms, rather than be at the mercy of the idiosyncrasies of a foreign jurisdiction.

We have specialist lawyers who can advise on the preparation of an English Will that accords with Brussels IV and contact with specialist lawyers in other EU countries to whom we can refer you for further advice.

We urge you to make an appointment and look forward to meeting with you.

Have you got a Power of Attorney?

Have you got a Power of Attorney?

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is potentially a very important document. It enables you to give a legal authority to look after your affairs when you no longer can.

“One in three over-65s die with dementia”

It can give you great peace of mind knowing that someone can manage your financial affairs and pay important bills, and make decisions on your behalf.

If you lose mental capacity and do not have a LPA someone would need to apply to court to be appointed as a Deputy. This is a long and expensive process and best avoided.

There are two types of LPA. One to look after your Financial and Property affairs and the other your Health and Welfare.

You can choose whether a LPA comes into force immediately after you have signed it, or when you have lost mental capacity. You can appoint family members and/or trusted friends and specify how they should work together to make decisions on your behalf.

The important thing to remember is that you cannot create a LPA when you have lost mental capacity. Therefore it is always best to have one in place just in case. If you are interested in making a LPA please contact one of our specialist lawyers and they will be happy to talk through the process with you.

Will Power

The power of having a professionally written Will in place before you die cannot be over emphasised. Current figures provided by the Law Commission estimate that in the United Kingdom 40% or more of the adult population does not have a Will.

Where there is no Will, or a Will is found to be invalid for various reasons, the law of Intestacy applies. The rules are set out so that family members benefit from the deceased person’s estate under a set list of priority. Ultimately, should there be no family to benefit then the hard earned funds of a person may filter down to the Government. These rules are set out for a reason, but if they bite unfortunately they cannot replace the expression of a person’s own wishes.

The way to avoid this scenario is to give some thought to who you wish to benefit from your Estate after you have gone. People may wish to either benefit family members, friends, charities of their choice or even pets!

Unfortunately, in the more contentious climate that we now find ourselves, claims made against the Estate of a dearly departed family member are sadly becoming more common. In order to have standing to make a claim, the family member claiming has to satisfy certain statutory tests. Once standing has been confirmed then this type of litigation can be ongoing for a number of years, divide families even further, become very expensive and will undoubtedly be a cause of upset for all involved.

By making a Will with a qualified legal advisor, steps can be taken to mitigate against such litigation. A word of caution; although these steps may help protect the final wishes of the deceased person, they ultimately may not be able to prevent a successful claim from being made.

Overall, the message cannot be simpler – give some thought to making a Will. If your wishes aren’t recorded in the correct form then you will have lost an opportunity to make a difference to a loved ones life, a charity close to your heart or even to Lightening, your beloved pet tortoise.

Please contact a member of the Kiteleys Solicitors Private Client team who will be happy to discuss your requirements.

Why make a Will?

It’s often something that gets put on the back-burner but once arranged gives a great deal of peace of mind. Without your final wishes being properly adhered to it can cause all sorts of anxiety to those left behind at a time when emotions have enough to bear.

Once you do decide to prepare a Will, think about whether you require a simple mirror Will (husband to wife, civil partners and vice versa in the event of one death) and the beneficiaries if both were to die at the same time, who would benefit after one or more beneficiary’s death. Where children are concerned you might need to think how you’d want assets divided up in different eventualities. You may have charities you would like to support or investment projects. You also need to think about what sort of burial you would prefer and any funeral choices. If you are abroad often think about the circumstances if you were to die overseas.

In any event, two witnesses are required to be present when a signature is added to the Will for it to be valid. Either witness can not be a benefactor to the Will.
Wills are either stored with your solicitor or Will-writer and often these days  registered at the National Will Register which is very useful if benefactors do not know where the Will was made out or the solicitor involved, if a will has gone missing or lost, or in the case of losing contact details of the Will owner pre-death.

Changing you Will when circumstances alter requires a ‘codicil’ which is an additional statement to the original Will or a new Will can be made out entirely, altering the original Will is not valid, due to the chances of fraud. Again these changes need to be verified by a witness and two witnesses if beginning all over with a statement approving that a previous Will has become null and void.

Of course this is just a simple overview to standard Will-making procedures but in many cases more bespoke requirements are needed, for example if one become terminally ill, or have lost the mental capacity to make decisions.

Whatever your situation, contact Kiteleys for a comprehensive but easy-to-understand guide to Will making, your choices and how it effects your loved ones.