Wills & LPA's

Wills and Future Planning

The broad aim of lifetime planning is to organise your assets during your lifetime in such a way as to minimise the future IHT charge on death. This may be achieved in a number of different ways, such as investing in tax-efficient assets and seeking to obtain and enhance IHT exemptions and reliefs.

It is crucial to get your priorities right. Before embarking on any lifetime planning it is essential to have regard to your own needs and financial security. Tax savings should never be at the expense of the well-being of you and your family.

Lifetime IHT planning can also involve making or reviewing a Will. Where the planning involves a combination of lifetime gifts and structuring a Will, the two aspects should not be considered in isolation. It is essential to have regard to the terms of a Will if lifetime gifts are contemplated and vice versa. Even if you do not pursue any lifetime giving, you should at least consider making a Will and reviewing it regularly because the most appropriate form of lifetime planning will vary over the course of your life.

Why make a Will?

At Vaux Fletcher, our vast experience helping clients put plans in place means we can help you to plan your future. Should you die without a Will, the Laws of Intestacy will apply which will determine who will inherit your assets. This could mean that your final wishes aren't fulfilled in the way you would want.

We can help you to:

• Ensure your assets are distributed in accordance with your wishes rather than the intestacy rules which could mean, for instance, your spouse/civil partner only inheriting a certain portion of your estate
• Nominate executors of your choice to deal with the distribution of your estate in the certain knowledge that they will comply with your wishes
• To nominate your preferred guardians of your children to avoid disagreements or family upsets
• Make small personal gifts
• To take advantage of tax saving strategies and exemptions and not expose your estate to unnecessary taxation.

Trusts

What is a trust?

A Trust is a way of managing assets (property, investments, savings etc), enabling you to protect your hard-earned assets for those you would like to see benefit, such as your family and future generations.

There are many reasons you may wish to create a trust including:

• The protection of a family's assets
• Where a child is under 18 years of age and therefore too young to control their own affairs
• Where the beneficiary is vulnerable or mentally or physically incapacitated

If you have any questions or concerns about Inheritance Tax or Capital Gains Tax and placing assets in Trust, please speak with us today.

Lasting Powers of Attorney

It's important to consider what would happen if you were suddenly unable to make decisions or sign paperwork. This might be something as simple as:

• You were abroad on holiday or for business and couldn't get home
• You were to have an accident
• You developed a medical condition that incapacitated you

How do I protect my business?

The simplest way is by making a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). The LPA is a legal document which authorises a chosen person to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so.

We can help you make a decision as to whether a Business LPA is right for you depending on whether you are a sole trader or a partner with a partnership agreement (if you don't have a partnership agreement, we can help you with that too!).

Now you can put a price on peace of mind!

Individual personal LPA's

We can prepare:

Business LPA

Now you can put a price on peace of mind!