It was originally believed that Aretha Franklin died without a Will, leaving her multimillion pound estate to the rules of intestacy. However, the lawyers for her estate revealed that three Wills have subsequently been found.

Initially, two handwritten Wills written in 2010 were found locked in a cabinet. These Wills revealed that the singer had named her niece Sabrina Owens and son Theodore White II as Executors of her estate. The third Will discovered under a sofa cushion more recently, was supposedly written in 2014 and names her son Kecalf Franklin as Executor.

The 2014 Will is reportedly difficult to decipher, so it needs to be determined whether it qualifies as valid Will. The Will has words crossed out, notes in the margins and the handwriting is hard to read in places.

Aretha Franklin’s estate is reportedly worth approximately $80 million (£62 million) and it is still unclear as to who will inherit the estate. If a Will is found to be valid then the estate should be distributed as per the wishes set out in the Will. On the other hand, if it’s ruled that the singer died intestate, then under the intestacy rules set out by Michigan state law, Aretha Franklin’s four surviving children would inherit an equal split of her estate.

The importance of leaving a valid Will

The uncertainty around how Aretha Franklin’s estate will be distributed highlights the importance of not only creating a Will but also ensuring that it is legal and stored in a safe place. Regardless of age, health and wealth, it’s crucial that people state their wishes in a Will. This avoids their estate being distributed in the predetermined way dictated by intestacy laws.

To make a Will,  you must be 18 years old or older in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or 12 years or older in Scotland. You must make it voluntarily, be of sound mind and make it in writing. Additionally, in England and Wales, you are required to sign it in the presence of two witnesses who are both over 18, and your two witnesses must sign the Will in your presence. However, in Scotland, you are one required to sign it in the presence of one witness that is over the age of 16. You can’t name the witnesses or their married partners as beneficiaries in the Will.

You should also consider where you store the Will. The best approach to ensure your Will is found when the time comes, is to inform your Executor(s) of where the Will is stored.

Secure and safe storage of your Will(s) is crucial if they are to be found in a pristine condition when needed and hence not contested.  It is crucial they are found when needed otherwise you are considered to have died intestate i.e. not having a Will at all.  This is why we always talk about our storage facility and the importance of storing your Wills outside your home.

When we set up our Will writing division some 12 years ago, we needed to find a secure means of storing the Wills we write and we looked at all the options available

At the time banks used to store Wills, which they no longer do, so we needed to look for alternatives as storing Wills at home is extremely risky and something we strongly advise against.

Once securely stored with us, we provide you with a storage certificate to keep and we also provide copies to give to your Executors and friends.  Our facility is completely secure and offers the following safety features:

• Protection against fire, flooding & water damage
• 24 Hour CCTV Monitoring
• Secure perimeter fencing & electronic access gates

Your Will is then registered on “The National Will Register” free of charge (usually £30 per Will). This is a UK wide database used to record the location of Wills. This is the first place that a legal professional should check if the executors are unable to locate the original document themselves.  Please note “The National Will Register” do not store Wills.

There really are few alternatives.  Banks no longer seem to offer storage facilities for Wills, which means you’d need to rent a safe deposit box.  If you decide on that option, you need to find out how the bank will control the box after your death. Some banks will not allow anyone except a court-appointed administrator to open the box to retrieve the Will. This policy may cause difficulty and delay in settling your Estate. Other banks allow a family member to remove the Will in the presence of bank officials. Whatever their protocol you should make sure the Executor named in your will has access to your safe deposit box after your death.

Banks will make a charge for any storage facility and these charges will escalate over time.  The price you pay when your Will is stored with us stays the same for the duration your Will is stored with us, so the real cost, less than a cup of coffee per month, will diminish over time.  In addition, you can store other documents with us, such as Powers of Attorney, deeds, life policies etc.

We strongly advise against storing your Wills at home but if you do there is no guarantee they will be protected from fire, theft, floods or pests and any marking of the Will, even that made by a paper clip can draw its validity into question and may cause it to be contested.  It also leaves open the risk of someone defacing or destroying your Will. The majority of Wills that are destroyed or damaged at home are done so at the hands of the owner whether or not through a simple accident, but it happens with surprising frequency.

If you do decide to store your Wills at home you will need to tell someone you trust where you have put them, so that they can be found when you die.  This is very important because if the original, signed Will is not found, your Estate would normally be treated as if you had died intestate, and your assets might not be distributed as you would have wished.  Relying on others to remember the location of Wills is not wise. Individuals do forget and become confused, particularly at distressing times, so it is sensible to leave a note of their location with your important papers.  If you decide to store them at home, you should really get a fireproof safe and you will need to advise your home and contents provider of this.

Storing your Wills with us is not only safe and secure, but also at £25 per Will per year is remarkably good value.  Having taken the responsible step in getting your Wills written then give yourself the peace of mind to know that they are being properly looked after.  There’s no point in writing your Wills to risk them being lost, damaged or defaced.

If you decide to store your Will outside our storage facility then you accept full responsibility for its safekeeping and it would be worth paying the £30 registration fee to “The National Will Register” to have the location of your Will(s) stored on their database.

The post Aretha’s Handwritten Will Found? appeared first on Enfield Wills.

In the 2018-2019 tax year, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) opened a staggering 5,537 Inheritance Tax (IHT) investigations.  This represents a 3.4% increase in comparison to the previous 2017-2018 tax year. Staggeringly this equates to nearly a quarter (23%) of the 22,000 estates where Inheritance Tax is due. With such an incredibly high proportion of estates affected, it raises concerns about whether those responsible for paying Inheritance Tax are aware of the risks if they make mistakes.

There have been well-publicised cases of lay-Executors having to shell out thousands of pounds of their own money for mistakes they’ve made in the Estate Administration of their loved ones.  One of the worst cases was in 2018, when a lay Executor was held personally liable for a £340,000 IHT bill. Read all about it here

This is an extreme case but employing the services of legal professionals to help you administer the estate can ensure the role is carried out correctly and minimise any personal risk to yourself.

The role of an Executor or Administrator: Risks and responsibilities

Personal Representatives (Executors if there’s a Will or Administrators if there’s no valid Will) are responsible for administering someone’s estate when they pass away. This includes handling all the paperwork and paying the correct amount of Inheritance Tax (IHT), as well as dealing with assets, paying debts, handling Income Tax and transferring the inheritance to beneficiaries.

The role of an Executor or Administrator is not to be taken lightly as they have a legal and financial duty to ensure everything is dealt with correctly and in a timely manner. Among other responsibilities, they’re personally liable for the correct distribution of an estate, responsible for maximising the estate for the beneficiaries, and accountable if there are any errors on the Inheritance Tax return.

Many people are unaware of the risks and responsibilities that come with the role.   It’s easy to walk in to such responsibilities when asked if you can be named as an Executor by a loved one, spouse or sibling, where the typical response is “of course, no problem”.

So if you have taken on such a role, what can you do about it.  Well, you have the right to stand down, in which case others named as Executors can take on the role or you can appoint a professional Executor.

In the Wills we write, we insist that a professional Executor is named in one of three capacities. as the sole Executor, as the joint Executor working with other named Executors, or as a reserve Executor, to be called in only when the named Executors are unable to act.

The professional organisation we work with are Premier Solicitors and you can read about their services here

We believe that Executors and Administrators need to be more aware of their responsibility when it comes to administering an estate. Estate administration can be extremely complex so we advise putting the estate in the hands of experts, preferably someone who will take the legal and financial burden off your shoulders.

Premier Solicitors are one of the UK’s leading estate administration providers and take care of the complicated practicalities after death, so you can focus on life’s important moments.

Before you agree to being an Executor find out what’s REALLY involved. Request our report “The Role of An Executor by clicking here 

The post You’re The Executor So You’re Liable! appeared first on Enfield Wills.

Where a person makes a Will and subsequently divorces, has their marriage annulled or dissolves their civil partnership then their former spouse or civil partner is deemed for the purpose of the testator’s Will to have died on the date that the marriage or civil partnership ended. This is the date on which the decree absolute or decree of dissolution was issued.

So if the former spouse or civil partner has been appointed an executor or trustee under the Will then the appointment will not take effect. Similarly, if the former spouse or civil partner were to receive any benefit under the Will then this gift would fail and any substitute gift provisions would apply. If the former spouse was the only beneficiary and there were no substitute provisions then the estate would be distributed in accordance with the rules of intestacy which is unlikely to be how you would like your estate to be distributed.

It is important to remember that if you are currently separated and going through divorce or dissolution, but the decree absolute or decree of dissolution has not yet been issued then you Will will not prevent any appointments to your spouse or civil partner taking effect.

For this reason you should consider amending your Will even before the divorce or dissolution is completed.

Finally, it is also possible to exclude this happening by stating explicitly in your Will that you want your spouse to benefit evenif divorce takes place.

The post Is A Divorce On The Cards? appeared first on Enfield Wills.

The Executor or the Administrator, has the responsibility for ensuring all debts and taxes due are paid before any money and assets are distributed from the estate. This is a legal requirement and failure to carry out these duties can have serious consequences.

Inheritance Tax(IHT), who pays and how much?

Inheritance Tax is a tax on the value of a deceased’s estate after they die. Formerly these were known ‘death duties’, a redundant term as Inheritance Tax consolidated these multiple duties into a single tax in 1986. Technically, Inheritance Tax is a transfer tax on the net collective value of an estate as it passes from one person i.e. from the deceased to another people.  Like any other tax, it is collected by HMRC and like any other tax, there are requirements governing its payment and penalties for failing to comply.

Each of us is given an allowance of £325,00 below which no IHT is payable, although you will still have to complete the IHT forms to show that the estate has been accurately valued.  However there is no IHT payable regardless of the value of the Estate, if it all left to the spouse and on their death the IHT allowance is £650,000 before IHT kicks in.

Inheritance Tax is levied at a rate of 40% on the net value of the estate i.e the gross value of the Estate, less the allowance and less any debts, such as mortgages, loans and credit card bills and bequests to charities.  The Executor or Administrator is responsible for working out the net value of an Estate. Failure to discharge these duties accurately may leave them  personally liable for any fines and interest due, particularly if they have subsequently distributed the value of the estate to other beneficiaries as they are under no obligation to provide funds to pay towards any miscalculations.

When does Inheritance Tax have to be paid?

A Grant of Probate is required before any assets can be released form an Estate.  This will not be given until confirmation is received from HMRC that all due Inheritance Tax has been paid. In practical terms that HMRC expects you to pay Inheritance Tax before you do anything else and that means have access to any funds from the Estate to pay this bill. Inheritance Tax should be paid within six months of death and if it is then HMRC will start to charge interest on the overdue sum.

Which other HMRC taxes apply?

This will depend on the deceased person’s circumstances but there may be Income Tax due and a completed a tax return will need to be submitted.  In some cases, Capital Gains Tax may apply if the value of the deceased’s property and any other sold assets has risen since they were valued for probate purposes. Beneficiaries inherit assets at their probate value so if this rises they are liable to pay Capital Gains Tax on the increase.

Our Wills are as individual as you are

The post What You Get Clobbered With When You Die! appeared first on Enfield Wills.

Ken Dodd who sadly passed away aged 90, just over a year ago has made an amazing gift to the people of Liverpool.  He secretly married his long-term partner Anne Jones in his home just 48 hours before he died and in so doing  escaped a huge Inheritance Tax (IHT) bill on his £27.7m fortune.

In addition to a number of charities , one of his beneficiaries was St John The Evangelist church and church hall just yards from the house in Liverpool where he lived all his life.

The church hall is the subject of a major restoration and extension, while the church’s clock is being repaired and renovated.

People have wanted to see the clock being restored for years, and they have been putting money into a fund.

It has now been revealed the clock of the church he attended all his life is going to chime again for the first time in 30 years following Ken’s wishes.  What a wonderful legacy.

Remember, there’s no Inheritance Tax (IHT) between husband and wife.

Although you can leave everything to your unmarried partner in your Will, you will not escape being assessed for IHT.  However, if you’ve not written a Will your unmarried partner will get nothing, regardless of he length to time you’ve been together, so is it time to write a Will or get married?

The post The Chimes Of Freedom appeared first on Enfield Wills.

Cryptocurrencies are stored in a “virtual wallet” which uses a string of random characters called a “public key”, for use when sending and receiving the cryptocurrency. A separate “private key” allows the owner access to the money in the wallet.

If an owner dies without passing on the private key, access to the wallet is simply not possible.

Gerald Cotten had sole access to the digital wallets of QuadrigaCX containing more than 180million Canadian dollars (£105million) belonging to the company’s 115,000 customers.  He seemingly didn’t pass on the private key to anyone, nor did he write it down anywhere/

What does this mean for you?

Well apart from cryptocurrency you may other hidden accounts and this case highlights the extreme consequences of not leaving suitable arrangements for access to such funds after your death.   Write down the access information (usernames, passwords etc.) somewhere for the recovery of the monies in your accounts, but ……….

DO NOT PUT THIS INFORMATION IN YOUR WILL

It’s worth remembering that every Last Will and Testament becomes a public document following a death so quoting passwords in there is not a good idea. But what you can do is point towards them in your Will or write a “Letter of Wishes” to be stored with your Will.  A Letter of Wishes is only read by your Executors so effectively this information is kept private.

The post A Careless £105million Mistake Which You Can Avoid – Here’s How appeared first on Enfield Wills.

Avicii was best known for his popular song, Wake Me Up, which topped the music charts in 22 countries worldwide. His debut album True also reached the top ten in more than 15 countries, he received two Grammy award nominations in 2012 and 2013, and worked with some of the biggest musical stars including Robbie Williams, David Guetta, Rita Ora, and Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA.

Despite his fame and fortune, Avicii did not appear to be motivated by money and was publicly known for his charitable nature. In a 2013 interview, he said: “When you have such an excess of money you don’t need, the most sensible, most human and completely obvious thing is to give to people in need.” And Avicii did just that. He donated all of his proceeds from his 2012 tour to Feeding America, a charity fighting to combat hunger. The following year he donated one million euros to a Swedish hunger aid charity. It’s likely that Avicii gave even more money to people in need out of the media’s spotlight.

Details of Avicii’s estate have now been revealed and it highlights an important lesson for members of the public, especially those of the millennial generation. Tim Bergling had not created a Will before his untimely death, so his estate must now be distributed following Sweden’s intestacy rules. This means that Avicii’s parents will inherit all of his estate, regardless of his wishes. Due to Avicii’s charitable nature, it raises some questions. Would he have wanted to give some or all of his money to the charities closest to his heart? Would he have wanted any other family members or friends to inherit? Although we will never find out the answers to these questions, it highlights how important it is to create a Will to ensure your wishes are heard.

Surprisingly, only 24% of adults under the age of 35 have a Will in comparison to 75% of adults over the age of 55. The statistics evidently prove that many millennials have not yet created a valid Will, meaning that their wishes may not be followed if they were to die intestate. This highlights the importance, regardless of age or wealth, of taking the time to create a Will to ensure assets are in protected in the event of death.

In Avicii’s case, his parents will not be expected to pay a hefty tax bill as Sweden does not have an inheritance or estate tax. However, some estate tax may be due on the assets he owned in the United States of America, including his property.  If he had made a Will Avicii could have avoided any uncertainty surrounding his wishes and maximised the estate value by minimising the tax bill.

Keeping a Will is the only way to ensure you retain control of your decisions and your estate is distributed in a way that reflects your wishes.

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