What can I do in My Will?

Wills Factsheet No.3

 

There are four main things you can do in a Will:

1. dispose of your property (called your “estate”)
   - in such a way that it goes to those who need it, or whom you would like to have it – done by making gifts of property, money and residue;
2. make arrangements as to who is to look after your estate
   - achieved by the appointment of executors who will deal with your property after your death;
3. make arrangements for someone to look after your children
   - in the event that they are left without a parent you will need to appoint guardians who will look after your children in your place;
4. make arrangements as to what is to happen to your body
   - by stipulating the funeral arrangements you would like and whether you want your body to be donated to science.

We will look briefly at each of these below – although you will find more information elsewhere on the YourWill web site.

Your Property

There are a number of different ways of leaving property in your Will – it is up to you to decide what you want to do and what most closely achieves your wishes.

Essentially there are three main types of gift:

1. Specific gifts – that is to say gifts of specific items of property – a car, a stamp collection, a piece of jewellery, a painting or an item of furniture;
2. Pecuniary Legacies - that is to say gifts of money which can be made either with or without an adjustment for inflation;
3. Residuary gifts - that is to say giving everything that is left after tax and debts have been paid and after the gifts referred to above have been made.

However, things can get more complicated than that because there are a number of different ways in which each type of gift can be left in your Will. These include:-

• conditional gifts - where the gift is only made if certain circumstances occur;
• life-time gifts - where the recipient has the right to use something for their life-time only;
• gifts of groups of things - for example “all my jewellery at the date of my death”;
• contingent gifts – for example a gift which is contingent upon the recipient surviving you for 28 days.

Before you make your mind up as to what you want to leave and to whom you wish to leave it, there are a few additional matters you might need to think about:

• what is to happen if you leave a specific item to someone and then dispose of that item before your death?
• is there sufficient value in your estate to make pecuniary legacies and still leave sufficient for the person(s) you want to have your residuary estate?
• if you have a large estate, have you allowed for the fact that you are likely to incur inheritance tax and have you taken all possible steps to avoid that tax?
• if you are leaving the residue to a particular person, are you simply increasing their inheritance tax burden? Would it be better to leave things direct to that person’s children or grandchildren?
• have you made the best use of any tax exemptions – for example by making life-time gifts?
• have you made provision for everyone who is dependent upon you for their support? It is a costly exercise if they need to make an application against your estate for the support they need;
• if you have a business, have you made arrangements for the succession arrangements for that business?

You can find out more about the legacies and gifts you can leave in the Legacies and Gifts Factsheet.

Looking after your estate

Those who will look after your estate are called the executors and it will be there job to make sure that your property is distributed in the correct way.

You will need to specify in your Will who you want to act as executors and how many you want to appoint. You can appoint as many as you like, although only a maximum of four can act as executors at any one time. It is best to have two, or three at the most, and to think about naming two to act initially and to have two more in reserve in case the first two cannot or will not act in your estate.

As executor you can appoint your spouse, other family members or friends. Alternatively, if your estate is anything other than straightforward, you may feel it best to appoint a professional executor who understands the acts necessary to obtain a grant of probate, or a grant of letters of administration, and who can undertake the practical everyday issues of administering an estate. Richard Nelson LLP, the solicitors behind YourWill have an expertise in acting as a professional executor and will be happy to act as an executor – either alone or jointly with a spouse, relative or friend.

• For more information about executors go to the YourWill Factsheet Appointing Executors; or
• To find out about how Richard nelson LLP can act as your executor go to our Professional Executor Services section

Looking after your children

If you have children who are aged under 18 then you can, if you wish, make a provision which appoints one or more people to act as their guardians in the event that both of their parents should die, or a surviving parent becomes unable to care for them for whatever reason.

For more information about appointing guardians see YourWill Factsheet Guardians and Your Children.

Funeral arrangements

Thinking about what happens to your body after you die might seem gruesome but nevertheless it is important and those who have to deal with your estate will need to make a decision.

You will find more information about the kind of funeral and similar arrangements you can make in the YourWill Funerals Factsheet.

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