Why the taxman likes Death in Service benefits
Many of our clients are worth more dead than alive. We find this fact to be completely unfair. HMRC, who collect Inheritance Tax, might take a different view. Life insurance is the culprit in many cases – the one kind of insurance that you hope never to make a claim on. However, we often overlook…
Holby City Hospital and Lasting Powers of Attorney
BBC1’s Casualty is a little bit like a live training session for our profession. Any series set in a hospital is bound to include scenarios where death or unconsciousness are never far away. The relevance of Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney is often brought home. Last Saturday’s episode was no different, featuring the rather…
Cost of registering an LPA to fall significantly
The Office of the Public Guardian has announced that the cost of registering a Lasting Power of Attorney is to be significantly reduced from 1st April. An LPA allows you to appoint people to make decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. They can avoid your family having to make a costly…
The new Inheritance Tax rules – It’s Time to Review your Will
What you need to know From April this year some homeowners will be entitle to an additional £100,000 free of Inheritance Tax. As the allowance is transferable between spouses and Civil Partners, this can effectively mean that couples have an allowance £200,000. When added to existing allowances they could leave assets worth up to £850,000…
If your child gets divorced will they lose their inheritance?
Recent research by Investec Investment & Wealth suggests that 30% of adults are unwilling to pass their money on to their children in case they get divorced and the money leaves the family. We have heard people telling us this for many years. With the divorce rate in England at around 42%, it might be…
Special offer on Funeral Plans for December only
The latest Sun Life Cost of Dying report has revealed that the cost of a basic funeral has risen for the 12th year in a row and now stands at £3,693, an increase of more than 90% since 2004. With inflation in the general economy at or close to zero, and with interest rates on…
Will Writing – It’s all a matter of Trust
We believe that success in Will Writing all boils down to a matter of trust. The trust that our clients place in us to do a good job at a fair price. And the trust that our 30+ partners in financial services place in us when they ask us to visit their clients. So it…
Ministry of Justice encourages people to plan for the future
The Ministry of Justice has launched a public awareness campaign to encourage people to plan for the future, in an effort to encourage the public to think about what might happen if they die or lose their mental capacity. They are particularly encouraging everybody between the ages of 25-50 to make a Will and create…
We are looking for self-employed promotional staff
Can You Help? We are looking for a professional person with some time on their hands to promote our professional legal services. As a Part Time Promoter with Silver Lining Estate Planning they will work 4 or more days a month either at local events or In-Store. If you know of a confident communicator who…
Lasting Powers of Attorney – a warning about Inheritance Tax planning
In a judgement on 30th October 2014, the Court of Protection has ruled that a Lasting Power of Attorney cannot be used to organise a Donor’s affairs to mitigate inheritance tax without first applying for a court order (the Donor is the person who created the Lasting Power of Attorney). The judgement was made in…