Gifts to Children - a Cautionary Tale

When writing a Will it is highly possible that the client will want to make a gift to a minor, or there could be the possibility of a minor inheriting under a per stirpes clause. It is very important to consider what actually happens with such a gift and who should act as a trustee in such circumstances.

Money can bring out the worst in people as Claire Sproston found out after discovering her father and stepmother had stolen the inheritance she had been left in her grandfather’s Will.

Miss Sproston’s grandfather, Benjamin, passed away when she was just 13 and had made a Will naming his six grandchildren as Beneficiaries, each receiving an equal share of his £50,000 life savings.   Miss Sproston’s inheritance was placed in trust until she turned 18.  When she reached the landmark age, Miss Sproston enquired about the money only to be told by her father, Nigel, that he changed the trust and she would have to wait until she was 21 to receive her inheritance.

It was only after Miss Sproston consulted her cousins that she realised something was afoot and that her father would not have been able to alter the terms of the trust. She promptly went to see a solicitor who discovered the sad truth; her inheritance had gone.

Nigel Sproston and wife Jane were found guilty of fraud at Cardiff Crown Court and jailed for ten and nine months respectively.  The couple lied to solicitors and an investment company as well as forging Miss Sproston’s signature in order to get their hands on the £13,000 inheritance.

The Telegraph reported that Nigel Sproston, who pleaded guilty to fraud, told police he “spent £2000 of it paying off debts, £5000 on a holiday for myself, gave £1500 to charity and the rest just got frittered away.” His wife denied the charge but was found guilty nonetheless. Speaking after the verdict, mother-of-one Miss Sproston, now 22, said: “I’m still denying to myself, really, that either of them could have done what they did. When I first found out what my father had done, he told me he did it out of anger because we were naughty as kids.” “My dad has never told me what he did with my money. I don’t know if I will ever get it back.”

Although the subject can sometimes be a difficult one to raise with clients there should always be a discussion about the suitability of the trustees. If there is any doubt they should consider appointing a professional trustee to manage the fund.

Who Gets the Kids?

New baby has arrived, the room is decorated ready to go but have you sorted your Will out?

A maudlin question but every parent should have a Will which names Guardians, if you don’t a Judge will be left to decide who raises your children if the unthinkable happens.

As daunting as the process might seem creating a Will with guardianship appointment is fairly straight forward and leaves you sure that in the extremely unlikely event you can’t raise your kids they will be cared for.

You should name one guardian, and one alternative, in case your first can’t take on the role for each child.

You could name more than one but this raises the possibility of the co-guardians disagreeing later.

Things to consider when choosing a guardian:

• Is the prospective guardian old enough?
• Does the prospective guardian have a genuine concern for the children’s welfare?
• Can the prospective guardian physically handle the role?
• Does he or she have the time?
• Does the prospective guardian share your moral beliefs?
• Would your children have to move?

RIP - Rest in Poverty

A newly released report has shown that the cost of dying has risen by 20% since 2007 to an average of £7,248. The annual report by Sun Life Direct makes interesting reading and shows a lack of preparation and consideration by the population.

The calculated cost of dying includes death related costs such as funerals, probate, headstones and flowers and has risen a huge £400 in the last 12 months alone. The average funeral has increased by 61% in the last seven years leaving one in five people who have to organise one struggling with the costs.

Despite the shocking statistics a quarter of people fail to make any provisions for end of life costs and 44% of people fail to plan their funeral as they believe it is down to their friends and family to organise and fund it. The rising demand for help with these expenses means that the state is struggling to meet the demand for assistance. This is likely to worsen as the volume of elderly people and the ageing ‘baby boom’ population is forecast to steadily increase over the coming decades. The Dilnot report last year has already shown that people are failing to consider their own ‘end of life costs’ and this further report confirms that people are not planning how to fund the probate of their estate or their care at the end of their lives.

For those who think the state will fund their funeral the statistics within the report will make ‘eye-opening’ reading. 38,000 funeral awards were made in 2010/11 however 44% of applications were unsuccessful. The average pay-out for a funeral is just £1,217 per applicant leaving a shortfall to be met by the family of the deceased.

Concerns have been expressed by a number of parties as to whether the current social infrastructure established to support people at the end of their life meets the needs of today’s society. Although the number of deaths in England and Wales is at an all time low (491,348 registered in 2009) it is anticipated the number of deaths will rise significantly by 2030 by a predicted 17%.

“People are living longer and are therefore using more resources, both their own and the state’s” comments Dr Kate Woodthorpe, lecturer in Sociology at the University of Bath. She further confirms that “costs for social care are rising, living standard expectations are high and there remains an expectation that wealth is passed through the generations”.  The advice for your clients must be to ensure that they have considered end of life costs and have provisions in place to meet them.

The scoeity of Will Writers published this article on their recent Newsletter to it's members

It's that time of year where we all think about our New Year's Resolutions and with 60-70% of  the UK adult population without a Will I would image that "MUST SORT MY WILL OUT" is on many of those lists.

 

I need your help in reminding people how important a Will is in regards to their financial planning, you advise them with their life time planning but all that could come unravelled if they have an insufficient Will or no Will at all.

 

As a New Year special offer Bicester Wills has put together some Peace of Mind Winter Time Specials packages, which offer excellent value for money. These offers are only available until the 29th of February.

 

 

 

Peace of Mind Winter Time Special	2 Simple Mirror Wills 2 Property and Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney Storage of Documents Total £674	£550
Peace of Mind Winter Time Special Plus	2 Simple Mirror Wills 2 Property and Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney Storage of Documents Estate Review Total £774	£650
Peace of Mind Winter Time Platinum	2 Simple Mirror Wills 2 Property and Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney Storage of Documents Estate Review Probate Preparation ( Inventory Records and Valuations) Total £999	£850

 

 

If you or anyone you know needs to discuss their Will needs please let me know, remember I am happy to meet clients on a no obligation basis and happy to review existing documents free of charge.

Discounted Wills for Single Parents During January 2012

PRESS RELEASE

Single Parents Offered Discounted Wills

SINGLE parents are being offered the opportunity to have a heavily discounted will written to protect their children’s future.

The Society of Will Writers (SWW), the UK’s leading professional body for the will-writing industry, is once again hosting Single Parent Month throughout January.

Gail Church of Bicester Wills who is also Regional Director for the SWW Oxfordshire Region says
“ Research has shown that single parents are one of the most likely groups not to have a will and the SWW is keen to change this.  The SWW is offering single parents throughout the UK a chance to have their will written at a greatly reduced cost in the hope it will make them think about their children’s future and ensure, should anything happen to them, their children’s’ welfare is assured and that they would be entrusted to the person that they want to care for them, instead of leaving it to chance.”

SWW Director General, Brian McMillan, said: “As parents with young children most of us never think about dying but sadly not all parents live long enough to see their children grow up. For single parents particularly, a will is the most important thing you can do for your children to ensure that guardianship and trusts are put in place should the unthinkable happen before your child is 18.

Throughout the month of January, SWW members across the country will be offering to write a single parent’s will for a fixed fee of £35 regardless of circumstances.

The SWW has more than 1,700 members across the UK, all of whom are bound by the Society’s code of conduct and who carry professional indemnity insurance.

For further information about this initiative in the Oxfordshire area please contact the Gail Church on 01869 244329 or email gail@bicesterwills.co.uk

Property Ownership

Property Ownership
Geoff Boycott out for a Duck!!

Geoff Boycott hit the headlines for a very different reason other than cricket last month. He is suing lawyers for compensation over a property deal involving a house in the millionaires’ resort of Sandbanks, Dorset.
In 1996, he bought a house for his “friend and confidante” Anne Wyatt.  Mr Boycott told the court he allowed Mrs Wyatt to live in the house rent-free, for the course of her lifetime. They were listed on the deeds as joint tenants.
But when Mrs Wyatt died in 2009, aged 82, her half of the house went to her estate instead of to Mr Boycott. To Geoff’s “huge surprise”, he discovered that Mrs Wyatt had changed the agreement in 2007 to“tenants in common” so that she could leave her share of the property to her heirs.
Property ownership is always a difficult one for clients to understand many do not even know there are two different ways to own property and that if owned as joint tenants i.e. the property automatically goes to the survivor on death, it can easily be changed to tenants in common by a simple Deed of Variation without having to seek the permission of the other party.
Now Mr Boycott is seeking a sum equal to half the value of the house, he said he had never been advised that Mrs Wyatt could “sever” their agreement in such a way. “If I had known either one of us could do that, I wouldn’t have gone ahead,” he said.
He claimed that if lawyers had done their job properly when drawing up the original agreement, the property would have become his outright upon her death. Expressing his frustration with legal jargon, he said to Mr Justice Vos: “Us ordinary people are meant to get a fair deal from the law. How are ordinary people expected to understand when it’s double-Dutch like this?
He described the idea of joint tenancies as “ridiculous”.

This highlights the need for people to seek professional advice when wanting to bequeath property in their Will and to explore the implications of what they are doing. 

The Threat Posed by Long Term Care Fees
In the UK nearly a million people were living in nursing, residential or long term hospital care in 2005. The cost of caring for the growing army of pensioners is predicted to soar to nearly £30 billion by the year 2030. Women have a one-in-four chance of needing long term care, and men a one-in-six chance.
 Whilst the government will pay those costs relating to nursing or medical care (the time spent by a nurse with the patient etc), the individual is liable for the costs of residential and personal care, often called social care, which is means-tested.
 If you have assets up to £23,250 you have to pay a contribution to social care costs. If you have assets over £23,250, you have to pay all social care costs!
These costs are likely to amount to £20,000 - £50,000 per year or more. However, the family home will be disregarded as part of that person's assets if it is occupied by a partner or other qualifying person, which means that the local authority will not include the value of the house when assessing the person's ability to pay care fees.
 If a person has to go into care, then under the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983, local authorities can charge residential care fees to (ie run up a bill against) that person's home. After that person's death, the local authority would normally expect the person's representatives to sell the property to pay the care costs. Furthermore, as a last resort a local authority can sell the deceased's property - if it obtains a court order - in order to meet the charge (or bill).
Your home could be under real threat if you have to go into care and your partner has already passed away. Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow estimated that 70,000 homes are sold each year (200 per day) to pay for care fees, meaning that the relatives of those people will not now be able to inherit the family home or the proceeds from the sale of the property.
In effect, if one of you dies and the surviving partner has to go into care, this can amount to a 100% tax on your estate above £23,250.
Therefore, to do nothing could be the equivalent of bequeathing your home to the local authority rather than to your family. 

There could be a Solution 

 The Property Protection Trust Will is particularly suitable for married, unmarried and same sex couples (who own their home) in the following circumstances: 
 

• Mature couples concerned about losing their home to pay for care fees  
• Couples where one or both partners have children from previous relationships
• Couples who individually wish to ensure the inheritance of their children (or others) without forcing their partner to sell their home
• Couples where there is a significant age difference between partners

Contact me for more information or let me know if you would like a fact sheet gail@bicesterwills.co.uk