Wills, Trusts and Probates

 

 

 

The rules governing intestacy are sometimes overlooked by couples who have been in long-term partnerships but have neglected to make a will naming the surviving partner as a beneficiary.  Failure to do so means that partner will be entitled to nothing from the estate.

 

 

We advised a terminally ill client when making a will in which he left most of his estate to his long-standing partner. On doing an asset review, however, we noted he had not nominated his death in service benefit to anyone.   He was recommended to do this and we established a discretionary trust into which the benefit was nominated.  When he died, the death in service benefit amounted to £275,000 and this money was paid to the trust tax free for his partner’s benefit.

 

His employers confirmed that had the nomination not been in place they would have paid this money to his estate, rather than exercising their discretion and paying it directly to his partner.  This would have resulted in inheritance tax of approximately £110,000 being paid.  In addition, as his Will left most of his estate to his partner and to his mother, his partner would not have received the entire death in service benefit which would have been contrary to his wishes.

 

  

 

Our client’s father died and his daughter was sole beneficiary inheriting £300,000 from his estate.  When this was added to her own estate it meant that she would have to pay inheritance tax on her death.

 

 

We therefore varied the terms of her father’s Will so that instead of the £300,000 passing to her directly it went into a discretionary trust of which she was a beneficiary.  She is able to use the funds in the trust in such a way that they will not be liable to inheritance tax on her death.  The trust can last for up to 80 years so her children will also be able to access the funds on her death; furthermore, should her children become bankrupt or divorce in the future, these funds should not be taken into account as assets of theirs and should therefore be ring-fenced.

 

 

We dealt with the estate of this client who was a resident in a nursing home.

 

 

On dealing with her papers we found that she had never been properly assessed for funding her care.  We arranged for a retrospective assessment of her finances which resulted in a refund of nursing home fees amounting to £16,000.

 

 

We were instructed to deal with an estate of the client's mother.

 

 

As part of our standard practice we check no overpayments have arisen due to overpaid pension or benefits. This is very important as the client (as executor of the estate) could be liable for these if they are not correctly paid from the estate. We were notified of a debt of £9,000 relating to overpaid benefits. The benefits were means-tested and we therefore requested full details of the original assessment to investigate how the overpayment had arisen. After raising  a number of queries it was agreed to write off the debt as the DWP were unable to answer our questions due to lack of records. This, therefore, increased the beneficiary’s share of the estate by £9,000. 

 

 

 

 

Our client’s mother had been assessed for continuing care (free nursing care paid for by the NHS) but was turned down as her medical needs were not deemed to be serious enough.  The family disputed this and contacted us.

 

 

 We were able to review the initial assessment and found errors in the forms used, the assessment procedure together with mistakes as to the client’s medical condition.  The NHS reviewed the initial assessment and awarded fully-funded care for the client’s mother, saving her approximately £35,000 in care fees per year.

 

 

A client came to us for advice on how to raise money from his home as he was finding it difficult 'getting by'.

 

  

As part of our fact finding, we looked into his outgoings and found significant care fees were being paid for his wife's nursing home care. On further investigation it was discovered that the assessment performed by the local authority had been based on out-of-date and inaccurate information.  Furthermore, the condition of the client's wife had deteriorated to such an extent that we felt an immediate application for continuing care was appropriate.

 

The local authority accepted this and the care fees weresubsequently  met by the NHS and not by the client. In addition, an application was made for a retrospective assessment of fees which would provide the client with a refund of some of the payments previously made.  As a result of this work the original request from the client - to release money from their home - was actually not required.   This case also highlights the growing importance of ensuring any assessment for care fees is accurate and based on up-to-date financial information and all care/nursing needs.