Legal Resources and News

I was interested to read this week that there is another new initiative to try and reform the laws of intestacy to include cohabitees.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said in 1789 “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”.  Recent research suggests that in the UK we are likely to be faced with more deaths and consequently more taxes over the next decade.

We often come across estates with beneficiaries who are proving difficult to trace for a number of reasons. These reasons include family estrangement, death of the beneficiary, and poor drafting of a Will, often by a non-professional person.

It was interested to read the latest marriage rates statistics from the Office for Nationals Statistics. The greatest percentage increase in rates of marriage occurred amongst men and women aged 65 and over.

Most Will clients that we advise do not appoint Neves as Executors in their Wills.  This is particularly true where a client has trusted family members or friends who could act. If this is the case, the usual advice we give is that the friend or family members could choose to seek legal advice if they wished, but appointing a professional Executor may incur an unnecessary cost on behalf of the estate.