Dying without a will

[yorkshirelad1]

Something that Yorkshirelad1 touched on.

Does the MiL openly support any charities? Could a child of the MiL approach said charity(ies) to see if they are part of Will Writing week and, if so, could the charity put MiL onto their mailing list for Will Writing week? A nudge from that direction might be more effective than pleading from children.

Nice suggestion. Just a bit of caution if using a charity for a will writing servce: they have been known to shoe-horn themselves in to the will, and been known to be very assertive when it comes to collecting.....

[yorkshirelad1]

Think we should acknowledge the value of the the two remarkably sensible and useful posts from Clitheroekid.

+1

In addition to clitheroekid's comments, if transferring assets to a child

a) if the donor needs care later, and it's provided by social services, and social services think the donor has passed the house on to children to reduce assets below a certain level so that social services have to pay for the care, social services may try and reclaim those assets (i think the term is "deprivation of asssets")
b) if the donor gifts an asset (e.g. a house) to a child to reduce IHT (if applicable), and HMRC suspect that is the case, HRMC may show an interest. also, if the house is gifted within 7 years (or longer in certain cases) of date of death, it may be drawn back into the estate for IHT purposes. and gifting a house and remaining in it without paying a market rent can causes problems. however, with the nil rate band and the (newer) residential nil rate band, none of this may apply. but tread carefully

IANAL (or an accountant)

[pochisoldi]

Something that Yorkshirelad1 touched on.

Does the MiL openly support any charities? Could a child of the MiL approach said charity(ies) to see if they are part of Will Writing week and, if so, could the charity put MiL onto their mailing list for Will Writing week? A nudge from that direction might be more effective than pleading from children.

Nice suggestion. Just a bit of caution if using a charity for a will writing servce: they have been known to shoe-horn themselves in to the will, and been known to be very assertive when it comes to collecting.....

Two ways to avoid the "assertive" charity.

1) Ensure that any charitable bequest is for a specific amount, and is not a percentage of the residuary estate.
(residuary estate - what's left after all claims on the estate have been settled, and all specific gifts/bequests have been made)

2) Get a will drafted on the cheap, take said will, get it typed up word for word without the charity donation, sign it and get it witnessed.
The first clause of any will will state that the will revokes all previous wills and codicils.

(1) is quite legit/moral, and means that the charity, as a non-residuary beneficiary has no right to see an estate account (nips any arguments/meddling in the bud)
(2) is legal, but morally dubious - a cheap charity will writing service is done on the understanding that there's something in the will for the charity.

PochiSoldi

[Clitheroekid]

Families and money eh?

As lawyers tend to say, "Where there's a Will there's a relative!"

[Lootman]

Families and money eh?

As lawyers tend to say, "Where there's a Will there's a relative!"

I once dealt with the affairs of a man who had died intestate with no family in the UK. I eventually tracked down one living relative - a cousin in Ireland. I asked him if he'd like to come to London, claim the body and arrange the funeral.

He replied: "How much money did he leave?" It was a few hundred quid, whereupon he said "Not worth it, mate".

The crown commissioners told me I could not give the cousin the cash unless he handled the funeral. Nor could I do anything else with the cash if there was a living relative.

Other than spend it on his funeral, which I did.