News
Our “Right Money Right People Right Time” seminar was held on Wednesday 21st February, at the Macdonald Botley Hotel and Spa and extremely well received. We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to attend and we hope you found it useful. Covering important subjects ranging from will drafting, Lasting Powers of Attorneys, Inheritance…
You can while away a good hour on Google and still not fully understand the subtle and, frankly, irrelevant difference between the terms ‘stocks’ and ‘shares’. Let’s just refer to those pieces of paper as share certificates. But, of course, even that has complications in this modern world. Many companies don’t actually issue paper certificates…
Whether you use a pad of Basildon Bond and a fountain pen or Microsoft Word and a laser pen, there’s certainly a lot of letter writing involved when administering the estate of someone who has died. If the deceased was working, write to the employer and enclose a copy of the death certificate. Firms usually…
Premium Bonds, unlike bank and building society accounts, can easily slip through the net when you are sorting out the effects of someone who has died. Perhaps they were a long-forgotten childhood birthday present tucked away in a dusty corner many decades earlier. Thankfully, National Savings and Investments (NS&I) runs a free tracing service. Visit…
Among the many first things that need doing following a death is for a bank account to be opened on behalf of the estate. That should be done by the principal representative, be it an executor or an administrator, who has the legal right to dispose of the deceased’s money and property. It’s best to…
The last thing any of us wants is to set off alarm bells in the distinguished corridors of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Therefore, it is important that you have a fair idea of the value of an estate when applying for probate. There’s no way you can calculate the exact sum involved until all…
I explained in a previous article that an administrator is someone authorised to dispose of a dead person’s estate if no executor is available for whatever reason. But who can apply to take on this role? First in the pecking order is a residuary beneficiary, ie, someone who receives the remainder of the estate. Next…
The terminology can be confusing but a Grant of Probate is the legal right to dispose of the property, money and possessions of someone who has died. Actually, a Grant of Probate is just one of three legal documents called Grants of Representation, which give you the authority to deal with a dead person’s estate.…
Back in the day, family members often lived their whole lives in the same town or village. So, finding relatives mentioned in a will was usually simple. But in these days of globalisation, high divorce rates, modern transport systems and the internet, families are often scattered to the four winds. And that makes tracking down…
A Spouse, or civil partner, and blood relatives are the only people who can inherit the estate of someone who has died intestate. There is an easy-to-read flowchart at www.heritagewillwriting.co.uk/what-happens-if-i-dont-have-a-will/ which explains the order in which the money and belongings are distributed if no will is in place. If none of these people exist, the whole…