Married Couple with Children
We did Wills for them several years ago and they wanted to review the decisions they had made. An elderly aunt had recently died and they were shocked at the amount she had paid for care home fees and were concerned that their children’s inheritance could be greatly reduced in similar circumstances. We recommended that they use a property trust in their Wills. This meant that when the first on them died, their share of the house would pass into a trust to protect it, whilst giving a life interest to the survivor. They we delighted as this gave them peace of mind knowing that if the survivor ended up in care, the share of the property that was in trust could not be used to fund the care.
Unmarried Couple with a Child
Although they had been together for over twenty years they had never married. They had discovered that if one of them died without making a Will, the rules of intestacy would mean their entire estate (mainly their house) would go to the next of kin. And, because they were ‘single’ they were surprised to realise that the next of kin would be the child followed by the client’s brother with whom he had fallen out with many years ago. We were able to write Wills for them which meant they could leave the house to each other and after the second death to the child alone.
Single Parent with two Children
Our client’s main concern was to make sure her children were cared for by guardians of her choosing. She also wanted to make sure that money out of her estate could be used for her children whilst they were growing up. We therefore drew up a Will that named the client’s brother and sister-in-law as the primary guardians, along with a close friend as a substitute in case the primary guardians couldn’t take up their duties. We then arranged for her estate to be put into a discretionary trust, to enable the trustees to control the assets until the children were old enough to be able to inherit themselves. This arrangement also enabled her estate to be used for the benefit of the children whilst they were growing up.
