Protect your family with a professionally written will

Common questions about writing a will

What should I put in my will?

Your experienced specialist will talk through your situation. Depending on your needs, they will write a will to help you:

• manage your inheritance – make sure your money, property and personal possessions go to the right people

• appoint legal guardians – put plans in place to protect any children under the age of 18

• name people you trust as executors – you can also choose Farewill to administer your estate

• protect your partner if you are not married – in England and Wales, without a will, they are not entitled to inherit from your estate, even if you live together

• provide for your step children – the law states that only blood relatives can inherit automatically if you die without a will

You’ll have the option to include trusts in your will, or make provisions for your business. 

What is the benefit of including a trust in your will?

With Farewill, your professional will writer takes time to get to know you and your situation. If it looks like you may benefit from a trust in your will they’ll explain why, and may give you some guidance to read through. A trust is simply a way to transfer legal ownership of money and property to someone else (called a trustee) to hold for the benefit of someone else (a beneficiary). Some of the reasons you may choose to use a trust include:

• Putting money aside for your children until they reach a certain age

• Making sure your children are provided for if your spouse remarries

• Leaving money safely for vulnerable loved ones

• Enabling your spouse or partner to continue living in your property on your death, before your share of the property ultimately passes to your children

• Placing conditions on a beneficiary’s inheritance

• Leaving money for your unborn grandchild or grandchildren

What is a property trust in a will?

A property trust is a way of letting someone benefit from your property after you’ve died, without them actually owning it. The trust document will set out how you would like the property to be managed, who will ultimately benefit, and who is in control of the property.

It means for example, that your surviving spouse or civil partner could continue to live in your shared home, and when they die, your share of the property will pass on to your beneficiaries – even if your spouse or civil partner’s share does not.

A property trust not only gives you control over your share, but also provides flexibility for your spouse or partner. Perhaps they would like to move from that property to relocate, downsize or move into residential care in the future. With a property trust you can include a provision that enables them to benefit from the property trust for the rest of their life – so the property could be rented or sold and the funds invested, and your spouse or partner would be entitled to the rent or investment income.

If you’ve remarried and have children from a previous relationship, or your partner remarries after you die, a property trust will protect against your share of the property transferring to a spouse's new family, instead of passing on to your children.

To find out how a property trust could protect your property, book a call with a will specialist.

Is it true that I can protect my estate from care home fees?

While putting your property in a trust may protect your surviving spouse or civil partner from paying care home fees in the future, this is not guaranteed and should not be your motivation for creating a trust. 

A property trust can enable your spouse or civil partner to benefit from your share of the family home without actually owning it: they would own their share, and when you die, your share would be owned by the trust.

Should your surviving spouse or civil partner need support from a local authority to pay for their care, the local authority will start with a financial assessment (or ‘means test’) to find out how much financial support they need. The part of the property held in the property trust may not be counted as part of their estate.

But it’s important to understand that there are strict rules in place to protect against ‘deprivation of assets’. That’s the term used when someone intentionally decreases the value of their assets to avoid paying for care. 

If a local authority decides that your trust has been created specifically for your spouse or civil partner to avoid care home fees, they can decide to treat the property as being wholly owned by them. In that situation, your spouse or partner may have to pay for some or all of their care.

So, while a property trust is one way to provide for your spouse or civil partner and protect your children’s inheritance, avoiding care home fees should not be your motivation for creating one. 

For more support and guidance on the benefits of including a trust in your will, book a call with a specialist.

Do I need a professional to write my will?

Many people assume they need to see a solicitor to write a will, but as the Citizens Advice says, “There is no need for a will to be drawn up or witnessed by a solicitor.” And if your requirements are fairly straightforward, you could end up paying a solicitor more than you need to. 

However, it is generally advisable to have your will drawn up by a professional to avoid common mistakes. Our specialist will writers have years of experience, and have written wills for people in all kinds of circumstances.

For your will to be valid in England and Wales:

• You must be 18 years or older when you write the will

• Your will must be made voluntarily and without pressure from any other person 

• You must be ‘of sound mind’. This means that you must be fully aware of the nature of the document being written or signed and aware of the property and the identify of the people who may inherit

• You must sign a printed copy of the will in the presence of two witnesses and the two witnesses must sign and date it after you have signed it.

Call us today

If you have questions about your specific situation, call us to speak to a specialist.

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0208 050 2686

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