I recently saw a letter to a newspaper from a widowed gentleman with three adult daughters. He asked whether he needed to do a will, as he wanted all of his property to be divided simply equally between his daughters when he died. If he died without a will, his daughters would likely inherit his estate, but there was a little more to this case than first appeared. The gentleman explained that h...

At Kendal Wills, we are sometimes contacted by people, wanting to set up Lasting Power of Attorneys (also known as LPAs) for relatives who have lost mental capacity. However, unfortunately, by then it is too late – they must be set up when the person involved still has the ability to make their own decisions. As people are generally living for longer, more people are sadly losing mental capacit...

HERE ARE A FEW COMMON PROBLEMS! 1) A person writes a Will which is right at the time. Sadly, they then lose mental capacity. This could mean a move into a care home, which can render the Will out of date. For example, it may deal with the family home, which has been sold to pay care fees. Once a person has lost capacity, they cannot write a new Will. So, when planning your Will always keep this i...

One of the common reasons for married people in particular not making a will, is the belief that “My husband/wife gets everything anyway”. However, this is not necessarily true. The laws of intestacy – dying without a Will – state that in the case of a person dying without a Will, a spouse (or civil partner) inherits the first £250,000 of their estate, or the whole estate if the deceased has n...

Making a Will is best done with full mental capacity, when in good health. We have all seen films where people make a Will when very old or ill, often on their death bed, but that is Hollywood not Kendal. The idea that you leave making a Will, until you are old, with poor life expectancy isn’t very wise. There are some problems with this. Firstly, you could die unexpectedly in an accident. Seco...