How often should I review my Will in Polegate (and other legal planning)?
Accidents happen, Tax rules change every year, asset values change all the time, Judges change the law regularly, Parliament update the rules, your family situation is always developing, and children have 18th birthdays. From that point on, they are legally on their own: Parents have no rights if things go wrong, Social Services will advise the Court of Protection as to who should run their lives – and it is likely to be a professional who will charge you child for their time and the Court Fees – all of which is preventable.
Octogenarians’ executors tend to be fairly old, too! Holes open up in your legal planning occasionally, so let’s work together and fix them – the review is FREE.
So, how often should you review your Will and other Legal Planning? Not less than every 3 years – sooner if there are significant changes in the family. Miss them, and (as an example) your beneficiaries might miss out on £140,000 – sometimes even more.
I met a client recently who, with a simple, low-cost, and little-known addition to her Will, could benefit her family to the tune of £300,000. That is the result of well over 20 years of solid experience.
Make a Lasting Power of Attorney
See below the enquiry form for WHY both Polegate Professional Will Writers (me) and YOU need regular updates…
About me
I have been offering advice on Wills, Enduring or Lasting Powers of Attorney, Trusts and Inheritance Tax Planning in Polegate as a professional service since 2001. I was the Sussex Chairman of the Society of Will Writers for over 15 years until I retired in 2024 to concentrate on my own business. I helped ensure that our local members have adequate access to training and at least ten monthly updates every year (competitors are still welcome to sample these meetings – too many do no proper continuing professional development on estate planning). In 2024, I sold my larger Will Writing business and settled down to a more peaceful life without staff and a lot less admin. I love working with clients, not admin. I am based in Polegate: home visits are available within ten miles or so, but am happy to work with pleasant people not just in Polegate but throughout England and Wales by phone, email and video link. Visitors are welcome, preferably by appointment. I am just off the big Cop Hall roundabout (click the link and pop in your postcode to see how close you are) where the A27 and A22 meet, or from the other direction, head north past Polegate School, Malcolm Gardens is then 2nd right and my home and office in behind the Minster Close sign which is on the left.
This means that I am well equipped to help protect you and yours when things go wrong, but last-minute Legal Planning can only be a sticking plaster; a proper job requires planning and review. Please don’t leave it just that bit too long:
Call 01323 766766 for a no-obligation chat with Steve Pett, the Polegate Professional Will Writer, or make an appointment for a free review. Route – pop in your postcode. Home visits local to Polegate are possible, as are out of hours meetings and chats. Or just ask for my FREE Guide to Legal Planning.
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“Good evening Steve, It was a pleasure meeting you, I said to my daughter just like chums chatting yesterday, felt relaxed with you, so thanks for that alone.” AB Hampden Park
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Would a free informal chat be helpful? Use the enquiry form or just call me – I do try to answer the phone until 8 pm and at weekends if I can. No reply – just leave a message and I will call you back.
“Stephen provided a brilliant, courteous and professional service. Providing great context with his wealth of experience. Highly recommended” Mark Severs, Eastbourne.
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KEY: Advice on Lasting Powers of Attorney: more important than Wills?
YES, for most people LPAs are more important than Wills.
But the advice given around them is usually very basic, more of a help filling the forms in than discussing your situation and making the most of your Lasting Powers of Attorney Polegate. I have heard some crazy advice on LPAs (and I am not singling out advisers in Polegate, there just seems to be lack of uptake of specialist training).
Notice the “s” on the end of LPA? There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney Polegate residents (like me) should have. The one that is often left out to keep costs down is the very one that may just avoid a horrendous experience for you. Lasting Powers of Attorney are very personal to you and your wishes; they should help your life stay on a path of YOUR choice when you are not in a position to make those choices yourself. Social Services will do their best to help, with their limited resources, and to advise the Court of Protection who will be able to run your life if you are not up to it – temporarily or permanently. It won’t be a common-law spouse, and it might be a solicitor, and it will be expensive.
Sorry, did you think your family would be in control? Not unless you appoint them in Lasting Powers of Attorney.
The key is to have a thoughtfully constructed pair of Lasting Powers of Attorney with the right friends or family members in charge, ideally from your 18th birthday*. Please don’t wait until it is too late – it is currently taking the Public Guardian over 5 months to approve new Lasting Powers of Attorney Polegate.
* Parents are ONLY able to make decisions for children under 18 – but once they reach 18, it is up to the Court of Protection, advised by Social Services, not the parents.
Expert Polegate Will Writer
Wills are especially important to unmarried couples, people with children (to specify guardians), blended families with children from different relationships, homeowners and business people.
Legal advice on Will preparation is crucial, and if the questioning doesn’t make you think, you probably have the wrong adviser.
Anyone who might have an Inheritance Tax bill when they die can potentially save as much as £140,000 with a modern Will (rules have changed and old style Tax Planning Wills may now INCREASE rather than save Inheritance Tax. Families should decide on Guardians, ideally before children arrive, blended familes really need to give that serious consideration, and businesses need to protect their future and employees.
Asset Protection Polegate
Trusts are absolutely not the solution to all asset protection needs.
Many people spend a lot of money to protect their homes against Care Fees (and with many homes charging £78,000 a year (£1,500 a week), that is entirely understandable – we all know the system is broken. Sadly, the very purpose of such trusts stands a good chance of tripping them up when challenged. There are sound reasons for setting up property trusts, but don’t be sold the idea that they are perfect for protecting against care fees.
One of the most common issues they address is MAD – marriage after death. Widows and widowers are naturally lonely, and that can lead to living with others or even marriage, both of which can confer rights over the part of the estate which used to belong to the partner who died. The widower/ widowers legal planning – or lack of it – may result in everything passing to people who had NOTHING to do with the original family, who are disinheriting the original children and grandchildren. THIS IS AVOIDABLE.
Sometimes, just the experience of the adviser is enough, and a simple Will is adequate. Sometimes, relatively inexpensive Will Trusts are the best you can achieve – certainly if there is any element of poor health. At other times, when Care Fees are nowhere on the horizon, and there are other sound reasons to set up property Trusts, then they can be a superb tool. But only in the right circumstances.
Checklist and fees. Fair prices for Lasting Powers of Attorney Polegate and Wills, no sales tactics, low overheads, and sound advice.
I recommend that all Legal Plans should be reviewed no less often than every 3 years – and more often if domestic or business circumstances change.
That doesn’t mean changes will be necessary – only that they might be. Many firms write Wills and other documents that lack flexibility – for example, some will mean that you have to update them if you have another child, or that child will be left out. Someone reading this will be in that situation – unknowingly. As a Professional Will Writer, I will help if I can
A special word for Parents of children at Polegate and Willingdon Schools.
Your Last Will and testament dictates who should be your childrens Guardians shoulkd anything happen to you. I don’t charge any extra to include this crucial clause.
Blended Families who are also home owners
Chaos, expensive legal disputes and recriminations often follow the death of one partner. Accidentally or otherwise, one set of children or grandchildren loses ALL of their inheritance.
It costs relatively little to ensure that doesn’t happen to destroy YOUR familly. Call me for a chat on 01323 766766.
Why on earth would professional Will Writers need monthly updates?
This is why:
- Every week, judges make decisions that effectively change the law on estate planning.
- The government regularly tinkers with Estate Planning, trying to improve things with new documents, online access, reducing key staff, etc!
- The Taxman is always keen to try to bring in more Inheritance Tax.
- YOUR and your family’s circumstances are continually evolving.
- Marriages and separations, divorces, births, deaths, sex changes, windfalls and bankruptcies all mean that previously sound Estate Plans no longer do what you might expect, and that is before you take into account the previous four issues.
- Who are your legal next of kin are? You could be in for a shock! For most people, it will be Social Services advising the Court of Protection.
- Will you make the lives of those left behind more complex than necessary and rack up lawyer’s fees needlessly?
- What if no will is found? Or a couple are not married? (Though there is a tiny bit of good news there.)
- Could a Charity benefit from your Will? There could be tax savings…and traps for badly written new Wills, and many older ones which were at the time correct.
- Checklist and fees
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Lasting Powers of Attorney Polegate Check out the 2 Minute Guide and Fees or Get in Touch Children Common Law Marriage
