Your personal Estate Planning and Estate Administration specialist
Since 2009, Will and Probate Services has been providing professional estate planning services to our clients across the South East. We have many years of experience and expertise in assisting clients to arrange their affairs so as to protect their wealth for generations of their families.
We provide a personal service to you, in the comfort of your own home, or via telephone or video services. We will help you to avoid unnecessary inheritance tax, minimise the cost of probate on your estate and maximise what you leave to your children or loved ones. We are members of the Society of Will Writers and the Institute of Professional Will Writers. We operate under the “Safe to do business with” code of conduct.
Our Services Include:
- Wills & Will Trusts
- Lasting Powers of Attorney
- Lifetime Trusts
- Inheritance Tax Planning
- Funeral Plans
- Estate Administration & Probate
- Partnership and Shareholder agreements
- Parental Responsibility Agreements
- Equity Release
Wills & Will Trusts
Writing a Will is one of the most important things you can ever do. Unfortunately, around 60% of people pass away without writing one. Many people believe they are too young or that the process is too difficult or expensive. Many believe that everything will pass to their Spouse or children automatically which often will not be the case. Additionally, many people are not aware of the benefits of estate planning or that obtaining advice can often be achieved with little or no cost.
We now have far more wealth than ever before and at the same time families have become increasingly diverse and fragmented. The threats to passing assets down to our chosen beneficiaries have increased dramatically; 100 years ago divorce and re-marriage were rare, people retired at 65 and rarely went into care homes. This combination of increased personal assets, together with the new threats of modern society means that estate planning should be a vital part of your financial planning toolkit.
When a Will is not put in place, very often it will leave an unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming mess for friends and family, adding further stress at an already difficult time.
We can make writing a Will easy, convenient and affordable for you. Contact us using the form below to arrange your personal, no-obligation review.
Lasting Powers of Attorney
Have you ever considered that making a Lasting Power of Attorney is JUST AS IMPORTANT as making a Will? Do you know what would happen if you were incapable of making decisions about your financial affairs or your personal welfare?
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows you to choose who will make decisions for you if you become unable to make those decisions for yourself. Most people think about the loss of capacity as being purely a result of old age. However, we can all lose capacity at any time as a result of an accident, illness, or stroke.
The implications of not having LPAs are substantial costs, long delays, and potential loss of control to a court-appointed Deputy.
Our consultants will help you to set up your LPAs with straightforward, professional advice.
Lifetime Trusts – Passing wealth down the generations
Do you think that Family Trusts are just for the very rich? Well, think again!
It is the most natural desire in the world to want to pass on your hard-earned wealth to your family. Trusts have been used to do this for over 700 years.
Trusts can be set up during your lifetime and assets transferred into the Trust. You can retain control over, and access to, Trust assets. Putting assets into Trust allows you to protect your wealth from a number of threats and ‘what-if’s’ and are frequently used to protect assets for your bloodline and to reduce the potential for repeated taxation of the same assets as each generation passes. For example, family assets can be protected against the effects of remarriage, divorce, unintentional disinheritance, financial claims, and inheritance tax.
Our specialists in Trusts will provide advice in plain English and make the process of helping you to protect your wealth for your loved ones as easy, convenient, and affordable as possible.
Inheritance Tax Planning
You have worked hard your whole life to acquire your well-deserved assets. You probably want to ensure that as much as possible of this wealth passes to the people you love. If your estate is over a certain value, you may find that your beneficiaries lose a significant amount to inheritance tax. This is the reason that Inheritance Tax planning can be vital. It will provide a plan for minimising the amount of tax that your estate needs to pay on your death to ensure that the people you care about are provided for in the best possible and most efficient manner. Our specialists will assist you by guiding you through the most beneficial inheritance tax strategies.
Funeral Planning
The simple truth is that there are two ways to cover the costs of your funeral. Those who are well informed will opt to pre-pay their Funeral Expenses with a well-chosen, appropriate Funeral Plan. The others will leave their family to deal with these costs following their death. This category of people will be faced with the highest costs of any, often paying hundreds or even thousands of pounds more than those who purchased their funeral plan in advance.
In addition, many of us have some ideas for how our funeral should be conducted when we pass away. However, most of us do not communicate these wishes to our relatives or friends, leaving the bereaved to make these very important and emotional decisions. Funeral planning can ensure that your wishes are made known to those dealing with funeral arrangements.
Our specialists will explain the benefits of pre-paid funeral plans and how taking this action now will directly contribute to your objective to maximise the value of the inheritances for those you love.
Estate Administration
Estate Administration is the process of dealing with the belongings, savings, investments, and property of someone who has passed on, in accordance with their final wishes. Where there is a Will, it may be necessary for an Executor to gain approval for handling the deceased’s assets. This process is known as Probate. (Note: Where there is no Will, the process is slightly different).
Often the estate of the deceased will be straightforward and the Executors (who are usually members of the deceased’s family) will be able to deal with the process themselves. There will be occasions when the Executors would like help with the process, and there will also be times when the Executors must seek legal assistance, for example, when the Will contains any form of settlement into Trust.
Our probate specialists will provide you with straightforward, plain English, advice.
Equity Release
Equity release can play an important role in financial planning if you are aged 55 and over. We can provide robust specialist advice that is designed to help people make the right choices for their individual circumstances.
Will & Probate Services
Martin Cotton
Tel: 01582 344551
Mob: 07540 853693
Email: enquiries@mjccl.co.uk
Address:
Caddington Common
Markyate, St Albans
AL3 8QF
Will & Probate Services is a trading style of MJC Consulting (Herts) Ltd
