Will Planning

Wills

Here at Medical + Dental Financial Planning Services, our primary function is to enable you to achieve your aspirations and goals, initially by helping you establish the right financial foundation for your circumstances throughout your professional career and through retirement. 

But active financial planning will also help you to protect the financial security of your family after you die. We work with you to ensure that your estate goes to those you wish and conserve as much of your accumulated capital as possible for the benefit of your heirs, when the time comes. 

Understandably, people have reservations regarding this delicate matter, but the process need not be as difficult as you might think. In fact, the correct Will can allow you to:

• Specify whom you wish to inherit your estate, in what order and in what proportions so that you have comfort in the knowledge that your wishes will be carried out.
• Make specific legacies to family or friends, or gifts to your favourite charities.
• Appoint suitable guardians for young children, rather than leaving the decision to the Courts.
• Set up maintenance trusts for children, to protect their inheritance until an age specified by you.
• Ensure the inheritance of your children or other beneficiaries should the survivor re-marry.
• Protect your share of the property from having to be sold to pay for the survivor’s future care fees, thus still having assets to leave to your family.

Having a Will gives you confidence that you have done everything correctly, and provides an inner warmth that only comes in the knowledge that you have tied up all those loose ends.

But making a Will is not enough; it has to be the right type of Will - one that has been professionally drafted to take account of your wishes, and your personal and financial circumstances.

The Will can only deal with the distribution of remaining assets, so Inheritance Tax is another factor we can help you to plan for.

What if I Die Without Making a Will 

If you die without a Will, then the Government will decide who will inherit your estate, in accordance with the Laws of Intestacy. These were drawn up in the 1920’s, and are now somewhat out of date. 

For example, your ex-spouse may be entitled to claim part or all of your estate in certain circumstances. Even if your ex-spouse cannot make a claim, the assets you leave in trust for your children may fall under their control. 

Under the Laws of Intestacy, your spouse could end up sharing your estate with your children or parents. 

Or if you are an unmarried couple, your partner could be excluded from any provision, even today; or may not automatically become guardian of young children, which could be hugely upsetting and disruptive. 

So, it definitely pays to create a Will, to reflect your wishes. If not before, than consider this when you buy your first home or marry, and you really should not delay once you become a parent.

Amending an Existing Will

Once you have a Will, it is recommended that you review it every 2 to 5 years. Sometimes your wishes may not have changed, but the value of your assets and the law may have. As such it is very important to ensure that your Will continues to do exactly what you want it to do; that it protects your assets and investments, and most importantly that you have taken advantage of various areas of flexibility within the law of estate planning.
 

INHERITANCE TAX PLANNING, WILL WRITING, TRUSTS AND TAXATION ARE NOT REGULATED BY THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY.