Legal Health Check

• Posted onDecember 13, 2018

Put your affairs in order this Winter with a Legal Health Check

The New Year is upon us and now is a good time to think about those jobs you may have been putting off. We have put together a legal health check to consider to ensure that you and your family are protected now and into the future. Here are five things to consider for 2019.

Make a Will

Thinking about making a Will can be difficult but it is important to make a Will to ensure that your loved ones are protected and provided for.

If you do not have a Will, the Intestacy Rules will apply. These are a set of legal rules setting out who will inherit your estate in the absence of a Will. However these individuals may not be the people you would want to benefit. In making a Will, you choose to whom you leave your assets and you can ensure that the people who are important to you are provided for.

If you have already made a Will it is important to review your Will regularly to make sure that it still expresses your wishes and satisfies what you consider important. For example, there may have been significant changes to Inheritance Tax rules, changes to your personal circumstances (for example through births, deaths, marriages and divorces) or significant increases or decreases in your wealth since you made you Will.

One of our team of Wills, Trusts and Probate solicitors will discuss with you your priorities and how best to achieve these. This can be especially useful in situations where Inheritance Tax or care home fees are a particular concern, or where step-children or cohabiting partners are involved.

Consider Estate Planning

As a result of making or reviewing your Will, it is likely that you will have discussed any potential Inheritance Tax liability. Inheritance Tax is a tax which is charged on the value of assets you own at the date you pass away, plus the value of certain trust assets and gifts.

Inheritance Tax can be a significant cost to your estate at the time you pass away, meaning that less of your estate ends up passing to your chosen beneficiaries. By reviewing your tax position while you are alive, you will have time to plan and may find that you have time to take steps to minimise any Inheritance Tax payable in the future.

The possibility of having to pay care home fees is also a concern to many people, and in some circumstances it may be possible to take steps to protect at least part of the value of your estate against future care fees.

It is important to consider these issues early and take any necessary steps now. Often when tax or care fees become payable it is too late to make any savings.

Make a Lasting Power of Attorney

Most people are aware of Wills but you may be less familiar with Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA). While a Will takes effect on death and passes your assets to your chosen beneficiaries, an LPA is a legal document that is active while you are alive. Your LPA will state which individual(s) you have chosen to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to make those decisions for yourself or if you ask your Attorney(s) to assist you.

There are two types of LPA. One type deals with financial decisions, including making payments from your bank account, managing your investments or selling your property. The other type deals with health and care decisions, including medical treatment, where you live, or whether you should receive life sustaining treatment. Decisions about your health and care can only be made by your attorney(s) when you are unable to do so yourself.

You can only make LPAs while you still have mental capacity. Capacity is not always linked to age or ill health. We all hope that we will always have the ability to make our own choices, but the reality is that many of us may lose this ability. None of us knows what the future might hold. Although dementia is a common cause of incapacity, you may suffer from an accident at any time, leaving you unable to make or communicate decisions.

If you are without an LPA, a costly and time consuming Court application may be needed to appoint someone (a Deputy) to make decisions for you. This may be extremely upsetting for your loved ones. They may be unable to make decisions in the meantime about your health needs. They may not be able to access funds to pay for care you might need, or to maintain your home.

By having a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, you are planning for the future, whatever it brings.

Consider a Living Will

You may have very strong views about the medical treatment you would or would not want to receive in particular situations. You may deal with this by making a Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Care Decisions or you may wish to prepare a ‘Living Will’. This is a legal document, setting out what you would want to happen if faced with a medical condition or the need for medical treatment. It is important that a Living Will is registered with your medical practitioners and reviewed regularly, if it is to be effective and followed by your doctors.

Consider your funeral wishes

It is not necessary to have a pre-paid funeral plan in place before you pass away. Some people prefer to express their funeral wishes in their Will, but it may sometimes be the case that a Will is only reviewed after the funeral has happened. It is, therefore, very useful to have a discussion with your loved ones concerning your funeral wishes or to prepare a letter expressing those wishes which could be kept with your other important papers.

At WSP Solicitors we do our best to make your life less complicated. We hope this legal health check has been useful. Why not make it your New Year’s resolution to seize the moment and make 2019 the year you legally protect yourself and your loved ones for now and for the future.

Contact our team today to book an appointment or for more information.

(This is not an exhaustive list)