Wills
Putting it off could mean that your spouse receives less
It's easy to put off making a will. But if you die without one, your assets may be distributed according to the law rather than your wishes. This could mean that your spouse receives less, or that the money goes to family members who may not need it.
There are lots of good financial reasons for making a will:
- you can decide how your assets are shared out - if you don't make a will, the law says who gets what
- if you aren't married or in a civil partnership (whether or not it's a same sex relationship) your partner will not inherit automatically, so you can make sure your partner is provided for
- if you're divorced or if your civil partnership has been dissolved you can decide whether to leave anything to an ex-partner who is living with someone else
- you can make sure you don't pay more Inheritance Tax than necessary
If you and your spouse or civil partner own your home as 'joint tenants,' then the surviving spouse or civil partner automatically inherits all of the property.
If you are 'tenants in common' you each own a proportion (normally half) of the property and can pass that half on as you want.
A solicitor will be able to help you should you want to change the way you own your property.
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