A woman who was written out of her mother’s will because she eloped with her boyfriend when she was 17 has won her appeal to inherit a share of the family estate and been awarded £163,000. It’s considered an important ruling by legal experts and could influence the way some wills are drawn up in
Thousands of people set up lasting powers of attorney (LPA) each year to protect their interests in case they lose mental capacity later in life. LPAs work by enabling you to appoint someone you trust to be your deputy and make decisions on your behalf should you ever lose the ability to manage your affairs.
A brother and sister have been removed as executors of their mother’s will because they could not work together and no longer trusted each other. The two siblings had been appointed as executors by their mother and were the main beneficiaries of her will. The brother lived in the same street where his mother had
On 8 July 2015, Chancellor George Osborne announced a long awaited increase in the inheritance tax nil rate threshold which will come into effect in April 2017. Whilst this is welcome news are the changes as good as they appear? Will they benefit everyone? And is the threshold really going to be £1 million? The
A husband and wife have won the right to inherit a share in a house after a court corrected an error made in a will. The case involved the will of a man who had owned a house with his sister-in-law. They had been tenants in common. The will was amended three times between 2005
Lasting power of attorney (LPA) forms have been updated to make them simpler and clearer. The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), which administers LPAs, says the move is in response to feedback from users following a consultation exercise. LPAs enable you to protect your interests in the future in case you ever lose mental
Here is the concluding article on powers of attorney with some final thoughts and encouragement. As with so many tasks in life making and registering a power of attorney IS not complicated if you know what you are doing, however there are traps for the unwary and the consequences of getting things wrong can be
This is a common question. Some people may feel that they don’t have very much money to leave to anyone, and others don’t seem to mind where their money goes when they pass away. However, making a will goes beyond simply setting out where your ‘estate’ (your money and other assets) will go when you
The rising number of second marriages and relationships involving older couples has led to an increasing number of disputes over wills in the last few years. Conflicts due to relationships started later in life have now become one of the main reasons for families taking legal action if they feel they’ve missed out on their
Two sisters who detest each other and no longer speak have lost the right to look after their elderly mother’s finances. Their 97-year-old mother drew up a lasting power of attorney (LPA) eight years ago appointing them as her deputies so they could make decisions on her behalf if she became unable to manage her