Help for families beyond the grave

Jul 4 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

In the first few days after Michael Jackson’s death, there was much speculation over his will, which must have caused great stress and upset for his family at an already traumatic time, before the documents were found. Experts at Newcastle solicitors Sintons remind us of what we should consider when getting our affairs in order to help our loved ones after our death.

REMEMBER the old saying “you are usually worth more dead than alive”. This can be true when you take into account pension benefits, death in service benefits and life policies.

You need to consider who is to benefit from these and ensure they are not aggregated with your estate for inheritance tax purposes

If you are unmarried and co-habit with your partner, co-habitees have no immediate rights simply because of co-habitation and the law does not recognise “common law” spouses.

If you don’t have a will, they will not inherit anything and will need to make a claim against your estate, if they qualify to do so.

The rules which apply if you do not have a will, the intestacy rules, may not be what you expect. Your estate may pass to the wrong people and incur an inheritance tax charge as a result.

If you have young children, who will look after them? You need to appoint your preferred guardian to look after them to avoid potential family disputes.

Do you want your children to inherit your estate at 18?

Unless you make a will, this is what the intestacy rules dictate.

Do you know how your assets are owned?

If they are jointly held assets, such as a bank account or property, then they will usually pass to the surviving co-owner automatically, irrespective of your wishes.

Have you got dependents who are unable to manage money themselves?

You can still benefit them under the will, but ensure someone looks after their money for them and maintain any means-tested benefits they are entitled to so that the money is used to their best advantage.

If you need to make a will or update your existing one, we don’t just ask you what you want to happen on your death, we will also be able to discuss matters which affect you during your lifetime – such as if you are unmarried and co-habit with your partner and own the property together, do you have a Declaration of Trust in place which dictates what happens if you separate?

Another question would be, have you got a power of attorney which will allow your attorney to manage your property and financial affairs if you become mentally or physically unable to do so?

If not, then your relatives would be unable to manage your affairs until they had made an application to the Court of Protection, this is costly and time consuming and can be very stressful.

Another consideration would be if you wish to provide for your children or grandchildren by helping with a deposit on a house or university fees, then you need to find the most tax efficient way to do it and to ensure you protect the money if, when grown up, they are divorced or go bankrupt.

In the current economic climate we are all trying to spend sensibly.

Getting your affairs in order need not be costly, and can save you considerable cost in the long term.

It also avoids distress, confusion and upset for you and your family.

If you would like more information on any of the above, please contact Julie Garbutt, Julie Hutchinson, Debra Devine or Ken Lawler on (0191) 226-7878 or j.garbutt@ sintons.co.uk, j.hutchinson@sintons.co.uk; d.devine@sintons.co.uk or k.lawler@ sintons.co.uk

Getting your affairs in order need not be costly, and can save you cost in the long term