If your estate is very small – currently this is defined as below £5,000, although most banks will transfer up to £20,000 / £25,000 – it’s unlikely the process of Probate will be required to distribute your estate. But this isn’t the case for everyone. For most people, a Will is required.

For more information, visit our Wills & Wills Trusts page.

If you don’t make a Will, your assets and wealth are likely to automatically pass on to your next of kin.

If you don’t have a next of kin, you’ll need to state in a Will who should benefit from your estate when you pass away.

For more information, visit our Wills & Wills Trusts page.

There are complex rules around an unmarried partner inheriting a person’s assets and wealth after they die. To protect a surviving partner or spouse, and ensure they are financially provided for during the remainder of their lifetime, you’ll need to write a Will and plan your estate.

For more information, visit our Wills & Wills Trusts page.

There are many, but the main ones are:

For you and your beneficiaries:

• Avoiding Probate costs of £10,000 – £15,000
• Avoiding Probate delays, thereby giving beneficiaries immediate access to Trust funds
• Avoiding sideways disinheritance should you ever remarry or own property jointly

For your beneficiaries:

• Avoiding dilution of inheritance due to early death and sideways disinheritance, divorce or annulment of civil partnership, or insolvency and financial problems
• Avoiding Inheritance Tax in beneficiaries’ estates
• Avoiding issues with challenges to your Will and unreliable beneficiaries
• Avoiding loss of means-tested benefits for beneficiaries

For more information, visit our Wills & Wills Trusts page.

There is no guaranteed way of avoiding the value of assets being taken into account for means testing, but under current rules, if the local authority cannot establish that avoidance of care home fees is a ‘significant factor’ for setting up the Family Trust there will be no basis for challenging the Family Trust.

For more information, visit our Later life care costs page.

The principal threats to your beneficiaries receiving what you hope to pass down to them are:

• Inheritance Tax
• Sideways disinheritance
• Probate fees and Probate delays
• Care fees

For more information, visit our Inheritance tax planning page.

Once you have maximised your loved ones’ inheritance, you may wish to protect it long-term against a number of threats that may happen, which we at Estate Planning Solutions can support with.

For more information, visit our Wills & Wills Trusts page.