Martin Lewis on Wills and Powers of Attorney

Head of Probate, Wills and Trusts, Phoebe Skarlatos, comments on Martin’s recent blog about his 3 D’s – death, dementia and divorce.

Wills

Martin is famous for shouting about Wills and encouraging lifetime planning. Martin comments “this isn't just for those with grey hair - anyone with dependants should be thinking about this”. Martin says that “An out-of-date will is almost as bad as no will” and “the wills gold standard is for a solicitor to draft it”.

Phoebe agrees. She says: “dying without a Will can be very costly and stressful for those around us. As there are no wishes, we can’t be sure who the deceased wanted to receive their funds and therefore we often see estranged family members inheriting large sums of money from those who have died.” She goes on to say that “the situation is the same with an out-of-date will. We’ve seen a good number of Wills where the person has since fallen out with the person who has died, and it can be very distressing for the family to see them receive money after this because the Will wasn’t changed”.

Wills written by solicitors are the gold standard for a reason: solicitors have high standards they have to meet to be able to write a will and this can be very helpful in defending costly challenges against the estate – see our article - The Dangers of Homemade Wills.

Unmarried Couples

Martin goes on to address those who are unmarried: “If you're not married or don't have a formal civil partnership, your relationship usually has no status. So if your partner dies, the other one may not get the house” He stresses that this “makes a will even more important here.”

He also mentions cohabitation agreements which are agreements made by unmarried couples to address what should happen if the couple split (a little bit like a pre-nuptial agreement).

Phoebe comments that “unmarried couples are high risk in the Wills world. They are much worse off for inheritance tax and can easily lose out without Wills.”

Fiona Wilson, Head of the Family Department, comments “not enough people make agreements in expectation of separation. Divorce can be complex, emotional and expensive, and creating an agreement ahead of time, whilst not the most romantic, is extremely practical!”

Power of Attorney

Martin impressed in his recent program and blog that Powers of Attorney are “arguably MORE important” than a Will, as without this, an application to the Court has to be made, which can take years to access finances of your family, including spouses.

Martin comments “I've heard of far too many nightmare experiences - about both the time and cost, with people deeply regretting they didn't sort things sooner”. Phoebe agrees. She says “whilst there are sometimes benefits to the Court of Protection (higher levels of supervision and protection for the person being looked after), the cost, time and efforts involved in the application more often than not deeply outweigh this. it’s so important to make a Power of Attorney, and to make it when you still have capacity, as you can’t make it after!”

If you believe you have a situation where you require legal advice, please contact us on telephone 0116 212 1000 or 01858 445 480, alternatively fill in the free Contact Us form and we will get in touch as soon as possible.

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