It’s Never too Late to Protect your Estate

Following last week’s words of warning from our directors regarding holding off making changes to your Wills, LPAs and estate plans until after the election, we thought we’d share a more cheering story, illustrating how it’s never too late to protect your estate.

The story comes from Nicki Gasser, an estate-planning expert with our parent company, The Will Associates. The Will Associates offers estate-planning services beyond our online Will writing offering, including Lasting Power of Attorneys (LPAs), Trusts and Funeral Plans. As such, our colleagues at The Will Associates are often able to come to the rescue when one of our expert Will writers spots a potential issue in the draft version of one of our clients’ Wills (when you write a Will using our Wills online template, you get the option to have a legal check carried out by an expert Will Writer for just £35). 

Summary

“During a home visit to a couple (he was 70, she was 62), I witnessed first hand the potential impact that a combination of changes in legislation and unfortunate life events can have on ordinary families. Luckily, I was able to help on this occasion,” explains Nicki.

Situation

“This couple had a house worth £150k and savings of £25k. They had spent around £80k supporting their son after he’d had a car accident. They had paid a top up for her pension to ensure when she retired at 60 (she had planned early retirement) she would get full pension, but the government changed retirement age to 67, meaning she is still 5 years off receiving any payment. She is not working and so receives no income at all,” Nicki continues. 

“He has an aunt who has dementia on his side of the family who is currently in care. His Grandma and another blood relative also passed with dementia. They were rightfully concerned that if anything happened to him - meaning that he would need care in the future - his pension would be taken to support him and his wife would have no income at all. 

“Whilst their daughter still lived at home, her income just wouldn't cover the home expenses. The consequences of losing the only income into their home for the next 5 years would be catastrophic for them.”

Solution

Nicki explained to them that by putting Powers of Attorney into place for each of them, they would be able to ensure that a) they would be cared for in the way they wished to be; b) their finances could be managed in the way they wanted them to be, protecting them from the distress and cost experienced by many who become too ill to manage their own affairs and do not have an LPA in place, as reported in this clip for The One Show.

She also explained that by setting up a Family Asset Trust they could ring fence their home and savings and live off the interest from them each month, should a situation arise meaning they needed to.

Success

The couple in question, who already had a Will in place, put LPAs in place and set up a Family Asset Trust. In doing so, they gained peace of mind and are now safe in the knowledge that, if the worse comes to the worse, they have the interest from their assets to fall back on and that their wishes regarding healthcare and financial control of their assets will be honoured.

Conclusion

It’s never too late to protect your estate. If you are interested in exploring what else you need to put in place beside your Will, we can help.