Wills Trusts and Estate Planning

Lexington Wealth Management offer a comprehensive estate planning service.  Lexington feels that the right person to advise you on your inheritance tax (estate tax) is your financial planner.

We recommend a one-stop-shop approach.  You would not want to go and discuss your inheritance tax liablility with your IFA for them to give advice, only for you to be referred, or worse left to find a Solicitor to arrange your Will and Trust.  Most local Solicitor firms will not calculate your Inheritance Tax liability, only offer to arrange a Will or Trust.

Therefore to be able to advise you comprehensively Lexington are authorised by the Institute of Professional Will Writers to arrange Wills and Trusts for our clients and we have the Inhertance Tax knowledge and experience to caluculate your Inheritance Tax liability.

Who should make a Will?

Everybody in the UK should have a will.  A Will is your written request on how and who should benefit from your estate and what should happen after your death.  We believe it is irresponsible to leave these decisions up to your loved ones once you have gone.

Making a Will generally takes two relatively short meetings at our offices at Lydiard Millicent, near Swindon which is 5 minutes from Wootton Bassett and 20 minutes from Cirencester.  Once the Will has been signed and witnessed they are stored (with no ongoing fee) and you can essentially forget about them.

We think it is Good Housekeeping to get yourself in order, and an important time to ensure all your land, property, savings  and investments are registered and recorded, so easy administration after your death.

DIY & Online Wills

We strongly advise clients not to do this yourself, or try and use and online service.  You are dealing with everything you have worked for in your life and the people who you love the most.  Why would you try arranging your will, risk making an error which cannot be clarified or corrected once you are deceased.  Get it right and take professional advice from Lexington Wealth Management.

Inheritance Tax

When a person dies, Inheritance Tax is potentially a liability at 40% on their Estate (for example, property, savings and investments) which is in excess of the Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band (for 2009/10 this is £325,000) and it earns the government a figure estimated at more than £4bn every year.

Who is Responsible for Paying Tax on an Estate?

Usually the inheritance tax charge will be paid by the executor of the person’s estate. The tax is usually paid using funds from the deceased person’s estate within 6 months, after which HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs) charges interest.  The time period for Inheritance Tax liabile on property is 10 years.

What Assets are Taxable?

All assets owned solely or partly by the deceased, at the time of death, or within 7 years prior to death in some circumstances.

An example of an Inheritance Tax calculation can be found by clicking this link.

Potentially Exempt Transfers

If you make a gift and survive longer than seven years, the seven year rule no longer applies and the gift is known as a ‘potentially exempt transfer’ which means that the estate will not have to pay inheritance tax on the gift, no matter what its value.

Annual Exemptions

You are allowed to give away gifts to the value of £3,000 a year, each year in order to avoid paying inheritance tax on them after your death. You can also make small gifts (up to a maximum value of £250) tax-free.

Charity Exemptions

If you make a donation or gift to a UK registered charity, the value of the gift will be exempt from inheritance tax.

Power of Attorney

A power of attorney takes the form of a document by which one person (the 'donor') gives another person (the 'attorney') the power to act on his behalf and in his name. Examples of when this is useful is in say, a family situation where one partner becomes critically ill or suffers an illness rendering him unable to communicate or handle his affairs and the other partner needs to be able to take over.

Up until November 2007 an Enduring Power of Attorney served this purpose, and those written before this date remain valid.  Since this date Lasting Powers of Attorney are applicable and cover more areas and are more detailed.