Only 3 out of every 10 adults in Scotland have a valid Will. Why should this be? In most instances people respond ‘I never got round to it’.

We make it as easy as possible for you to discuss your affairs by arranging a meeting in the comfort and privacy of your own home.

We will discuss:

• The appointment of trusted Executors for your Estate.
• Who the beneficiaries are to be – including specific legacies to individuals/charities.
• Appointment of legal guardians for children under age 16.
• Funeral arrangements.
• Other relevant matters depending on personal circumstances.

You will be guided through all relevant sections and any explanation given in easy to understand terms, so as to ensure that the Will created will best suit your needs and circumstances.

For everyone, a Will is the only way to guarantee who benefits from your Estate.

For unmarried couples or partners, when the first partner dies, his or her Inheritance Tax allowance dies with them. With the Inheritance Tax Will however, this allowance is safeguarded as assets up to the prevailing Nil Rate Band – currently £325,000 – can be placed in Trust. When the 2^nd partner dies, the value of the assets held in Trust are disregarded for Inheritance Tax calculations. This way for unmarried couples or partners, their children will benefit as the Will ensures both parents Nil Rate Band allowances are used, and not just the one.

The Nil Rate Band is the amount you can pass on free of Inheritance Tax. Anything over this figure is subject to tax at 40% under current legislation.

The Inheritance Tax Will also protects the assets in the Trust for your children in the event that the surviving partner finds a new partner.

A Living Will, also known as an Advance Medical Directive, allows you to state what treatments you would or would not want if you became seriously ill in the future, and you were unable to communicate your wishes at the time. This can leave those close to you having to make extremely difficult decisions. A next of kin for example would have to give written consent to have a life support machine switched off in the event that 2 Doctors (one being a Consultant) confirmed the patient was not going to recover.

Living Wills are sent to your Doctor and hospital, as well as one being retained by the client for the next of kin.

Most of us have experienced the problems encountered when you contact a large institution, e.g. bank, utility company etc. to make a simple enquiry on behalf of someone else – ‘Sorry we can only discuss matters about the account with the named account holder’ is a common response – to comply with the requirements of The Data Protection Act 1998!

However, in the event of incapacity, this ‘protection’ creates a real problem during the period of incapacity – which could last for months or even years.

A Power of Attorney allows you to appoint a person or persons you trust to deal with your affairs, both financial and welfare, in a comprehensive yet simple way. If there is no Power of Attorney in place, the only alternative is to apply to the courts for authority to act – at considerable cost in both time and money.

The legal age for inheritance in Scotland is 16. In many instances this can result in children or grandchildren having significant amounts of money at their disposal to spend as they wish, with sometimes calamitous consequences. Grandchildren can on some occasions inherit substantial amounts from an Estate where a parent has pre-deceased their grandparents.

Through a suitable Trust the child or grandchild still has controlled access to their inheritance via your nominated Trustee(s), which ensures the money is available for important things in life. The maximum age for inheriting under such a Trust is 25, but Trustees have the discretion to give children their full inheritance at a younger age if it is deemed appropriate to do so.

With a Family Protection Trust (FPT) or a specialist Property Protection Trust, we can help you protect your assets.

A Family Protection Trust can potentially help you avoid Executry costs, Care costs, avoids creating or compounding an Inheritance Tax liability for children, ensures your children do not inherit at the wrong time, can help to minimise Legal Rights claims and helps avoid Sideways Disinheritance.

In the event that a surviving partner was to re-marry, a Property Protection Trust ensures your share of the family home is safeguarded for your children’s inheritance and protect your share of the property for Care costs.

In 1991 an average funeral cost £820. By 2004 this had increased to £1,920, and now it is nearly £4,000! In the past 8 years the average funeral has increased in cost by 71%. No bank or building society savings account has increased by the same percentage growth over the same period. If this trend continues, the average cost of a funeral in 2021 will be over £5,400.

We plan in life for what may happen – surely it is sensible to plan for what will happen. Paying in advance for your funeral will save money, and will ultimately benefit your family or your Estate.

The main benefit of our Pre-paid Funeral Plans is that they guarantee to cover the cost of the funeral director’s services regardless of how much the cost has increased by the time of need. The emotional benefit to your family at a difficult time will not be forgotten. Taking away the burden of making funeral arrangements and avoiding distressing arguments in trying to second guess your wishes, are considerable. We help you personalise your funeral plan to your own specific wishes.

Click to see our range of UNIQUE funeral plans

We understand that dealing with the death of a loved one can be a stressful and emotional experience. This is why we want to support our clients at their time of need by offering them access to professional services that can reduce the burden on them at this difficult time.

One task that you may need to consider is administering the estate of the person who has passed away. This can be a complex and time consuming legal process that involves dealing with all of the assets and liabilities associated with the estate.

Please click here to find out how we can support you through the estate administration process.

Live for today, prepare for tomorrow

We’d like to introduce you to our new partner, OIG.

OIG lets you secure all of your important information and make it available to the right people at the right time. It helps you get everything organised in one place, and crucially it means you’ve sorted everything out for your loved ones should anything happen to you.

For more information on our special £10 per year discount offer, please get in touch.