National Wills & Probate Solicitors

• Gives your property, money, investments and belongings (your estate) to the people you wish to benefit.
• Appoints as Executors the persons you feel are the most competent and best suited to manage your Estate.
• Appoints Guardians for any of your children under eighteen.
• Makes sure any inheritance tax, which sadly has to be paid, is kept to a minimum.
• Gives powers to your Executors to act on your behalf.
• Avoids disputes between your relatives as to who should receive your estate.  

Why Do You Need Legal Assistance To Prepare A Will?

"Home-made Wills" should never be relied upon because they often do not accomplish what was intended. They can also be damaging from a tax point of view. They can be a false economy.

Often the damage is not discovered until it is too late to take corrective action.

What Happens If You Do Not Make A Will?

On your death, the rules of intestacy apply. This means if you are a married person, with children, your spouse will only receive a limited sum from your estate plus your personal possessions

What remains is divided... half to your children and half in trust... It's complicated.

At such a time of sadness and loss will you want your spouse to be troubled with these headaches ? 

Costs ?

The cost of making a Will depends upon the amount of time involved which depends upon the complexity of your Estate and the Will, e.g. if you wish to incorporate any special trusts or settlements.

We shall be pleased to give you an estimate. Please either call us or complete the form on the right.

Probate.

Dealing with the administration of an estate is often complex at the best of times but is rendered even more difficult when a loved one is involved.  We are able to relieve executors of this pressure at what is often a difficult time by either by dealing with the administration on behalf of the named executors or by acting as professional executors.

Firstly we establish the value of the deceased's assets and of any liabilities and calculate any inheritance tax which may be payable.

Having established the net value of the estate we then prepare an account for submission to HM Revenue and Customs.  This, particularly in the case of large estates, is extremely complex and the consequences of not completing the form correctly can  be expensive.

We then proceed with an application to the Court for a grant of representation either a grant of probate where the deceased had left a will or where no will has been made a grant of letters of administration.

Having obtained the grant we collect in the various assets and pay from those monies any liabilities.  A comprehensive set of estate accounts is then prepared and the net estate distributed to the beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the Will or if no will had been made according to the intestacy rules.

In a nutshell it's complicated.

If you want advice please either select one of our firms or complete the form on the right and we'll then contact you to run through the details.