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Have you ever considered what would happen if you were in an accident or if you were diagnosed with a condition which meant that you could no longer make decisions for yourself?

If only we could see what the future holds? Maybe we would then be in a better position to plan for what is to come. No one has the answer but this doesn’t mean that you can’t plan ahead for some eventualities.

It is a common misconception that your spouse or civil partner would automatically be in a position to deal with matters for you. Some also think that their ‘next of kin’, perhaps a child, parent or sibling, would be able to help instead. Unfortunately, they too do not have the legal right to deal with matters on your behalf.

This leaves many people in a vulnerable position. Family members, may find themselves in the position that they are unable to access information regarding your assets, even in order to keep paying your bills or dealing with your day to day care.

So, what can you do to prepare for your future?

Lasting Powers of Attorney – what are they?

A Lasting Power of Attorney allows one or more people you Trust implicitly – called “Attorneys” – to make decisions on your behalf, known as the “donor”. There are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorney:

Both Lasting Powers of Attorney are a legally binding document recognised by financial institutions, such as banks, plus government bodies which allow you to appoint individuals closest to you to assist you during your lifetime. Guidance and conditions can also be included to ensure that you are protected whilst also providing your appointed Attorneys with some guidance, which will help them to make decisions in the future.

Lasting Powers of Attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used. In the case of Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney, these can be used prior to the donor losing capacity, if the donor wishes at the time of the Lasting Power of Attorney being created.

A Lasting Power of Attorney can therefore best be described as an insurance policy and while it’s hoped it will never need to be used, it’s there just in case.

What if it’s too late and your loved one has already lost capacity without putting a Lasting Power of Attorney in place? – Deputyship

If you don’t have a Lasting Power of Attorney and you lose the ability to manage your own affairs, the alternative is Deputyship. This is a slow and expensive process (usually around 6 – 12 months), involving an application to the Court of Protection.

This therefore makes it extremely difficult for the person looking after you, as they won’t have legal authority to help you until after the authority is granted.

Health and welfare deputyships are uncommonly granted by the Court of Protection and are usually seen as a last resort. Instead, an order may be made to assist with a specific issue rather than delegating full decision-making power. This is because the Court prefers to retain powers in this respect given the sensitive and often complex nature of the decisions to be made.

If you’d like more information about Lasting Powers of Attorney contact our expert Private Client Team on 01908 660966 / 01604 828282 or email PrivateClient@franklins-sols.co.uk.

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When choosing a solicitor to advise on your future planning, it’s important that the solicitor you choose has extensive knowledge, qualifications and experience. STEP is a worldwide professional association comprising of lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and other practitioners that assist families planning their future. Full STEP members, known as “TEPs” are internationally recognised as experts.

What do STEP members do and what is a TEP?

STEP members are specialists in inheritance and succession planning and draft Wills, Trusts, administer estates, act as Trustees and advise families on a range of private client services.

“TEP” stands for “Trust and Estate Practitioner” and is the designation given to full STEP members. In order to become a TEP, practitioners must have a combination of specialist qualifications and experience.

Why is STEP important?

Inheritance tax, succession planning and Trusts is a vast area of law. In order to provide holistic advice, specialist knowledge is therefore required to understand how one action might impact on a client’s other circumstances.  Using a member of STEP ensures that the Solicitor will possess this knowledge.

We want to be able to give the best possible service to our clients and this is one of the main driving factors behind STEP. All STEP members are subject to an extensive Code of Professional Conduct  and STEP’s Will Code, requiring members at all times to act with integrity and in a manner that encourages the confidence, respect and Trust of clients and also the wider community.

STEP represents the most experienced and senior practitioners in the field of Trusts and estates. They are highly qualified individuals and are required to keep up to date with the latest legal, technical and regulatory developments, meaning that clients can be confident in the advice that they are given.

The organisation itself has professional standards which make clear that members must uphold the reputation of both STEP and the field of Trust and estate practice, again ensuring client confidence.

Franklins and STEP

At Franklins we understand the importance of STEP and are fortunate that all our Team are members or working towards membership of the highly prestigious STEP organisation. For more information on why to use a TEP, click here.

For more information on the preparation of Wills and Trusts, contact Helen Taylor, Partner & Head of Private Client and the Team on 01908 660966 / 01604 828282 or email PrivateClient@franklins-sols.co.uk.

Make a Will

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What happens if you do not make a Will?

If you decide to not make a Will, the rules set out by government, known as the rules of intestacy, determine how your assets will be dealt with – regardless of any wishes you may have had.

The most common misconception is that under the intestacy rules, everything will pass to a spouse or civil partner. This is simply not the case. Consequently, you may be leaving your spouse or partner in a very vulnerable position should you pass away without a Will in place.

The law also does not recognise cohabiting couple within the intestacy rules, which may leave your partner in a vulnerable position should you pass away.

There may also be members of your family, close friends or charities you would have liked to benefit, who won’t under  these rules. It could also mean that someone may inherit from your estate that you have not had contact with for many years or simply would not have wanted to benefit.

So, what types of decisions can you make within your Will?

A Will can cover many different aspects depending on your circumstances. In the most common situations, a Will may include some of the following:

There are various other matters which you may wish to include within your Will, for example Trusts for minors, business, or over properties, but these do require specialist advice and are dependant on your circumstances.

Other benefits of making a Will

Having a Will in place lets you provide for the loved ones you leave behind and provides peace of mind that your executors will know who they are and what your wishes are, this they will be able to distribute your estate accordingly.

If you would like to obtain advice or guidance regarding preparing or reviewing your Will, please contact the Private Client team on 01908 660966 / 01604 828282 or email Wills@franklins-sols.co.uk.

 

A recent article prepared by my colleague Ellen Stiles highlighted the importance of preparing a Lasting Power of Attorney, especially in light of the current pandemic where they have been invaluable, not only for the vulnerable and elderly, but to a much wider group of people from all sections of society, who have required assistance through lockdown.

Following on from this article, the Office of the Public Guardian (the OPG) have recently unveiled an online platform which now allows an Attorney to create an account whereby they can upload a copy of the registered Lasting Power of Attorney. The Attorney can then get an access code that they can provide to the relevant organisations to prove their authority to act. Prior to this platform, paper copies of the Lasting Power of Attorney needed to be provided, which could then take several weeks to process causing delays for the Attorney(s) who needs the authority on the relevant account to act.

It is important to note that the online forum is only being rolled out for Lasting Powers of Attorney registered from 17th July 2020, although the OPG are looking at extending it to Lasting Powers of Attorney registered before this date.

We do however advise that, although the online service may make the process more convenient for Attorneys and has received good feedback according to the OPG, caution must to be still be taken as, with any online platform, it could be open to abuse and safeguarding the Donor (the person making the Lasting Power of Attorney) must remain paramount.

For more information on Lasting Powers of Attorney, contact our friendly Private Client team today on 01908 660966 / 01604 828282 or email PrivateClient@franklins-sols.co.uk.

During the current Coronavirus outbreak, and with the lockdown in place, you will find a Lasting Power of Attorney invaluable.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legally binding document whereby you can appoint someone, known as your Attorney, to make decisions and act for you when you are unable to do so for yourself. You must have the necessary mental capacity in order to make an LPA.

Whilst an LPA is most commonly used to support elderly and vulnerable people, it is now even more useful to a much wider group of people from all sections of society. Even the Prime Minister was affected by the Coronavirus, and if he had been incapacitated, his family would have needed an LPA to make personal decisions on his behalf. An LPA is beneficial to more of us now than ever before.

There are two type of LPAs which can be created, these are:

  1. Property and Financial Affairs – covering decisions such as buying and selling property, investing money and managing investments, receiving income and paying liabilities.
  2. Health and Welfare – covering decisions such as medical care you receive, where you live, who visits you, day to day care such as social activities, and what you eat. It also covers decisions in relation to life sustaining treatment.

With the current restrictions in place due to the pandemic, in particular for the vulnerable and elderly (but not limited to them), having an Attorney appointed to assist you with your affairs has never been so helpful. Subject to your preferences, an Attorney under a property and financial affairs LPA can assist you whilst you still have the necessary capacity yourself. However in these circumstances, any decisions made should be made with your consent. If in the unfortunate situation you were to lose the necessary mental capacity to make decisions in relation to your property and financial affairs, you can be reassured that your Attorney can continue to act on your behalf.

An attorney under a health and welfare LPA cannot act until you are unable to make the decision in question due to lack of mental capacity. This can include incapacity due to being in a coma, illnesses and disorders as well as Alzheimer’s and dementia.  During these unprecedented times many people are finding themselves in critical conditions whereby they are unable to make decisions for themselves. By having a health and welfare Attorney appointed you can be reassured that they can safeguard your preferences and wishes during these crucial times.

It is understandably vital that you appoint the correct Attorney. You can technically appoint as many Attorneys as you wish though commonly between 1 and 4 are appointed. You must not only ensure that you Trust your Attorney implicitly but that they are capable of taking on the role. Your Attorney must also agree to being your Attorney. Attorneys cannot simply do whatever they wish and are subjected to the rules that govern Lasting Power of Attorneys as well as any restrictions you choose to place upon them.

An LPA is a legal deed and it is therefore important that legal advice and assistance is obtained when you are considering preparing one. Nearly 22,000 LPAs have rejected by the Office of the Public Guardian over the past 12 months and sadly for some of these it may be too late for a further LPA to be prepared due to mental capacity having been lost.

The Government have now issued guidance in relation to the preparation and registration of an LPA during the Coronavirus outbreak. An LPA needs to be signed by all parties, including the appointed attorneys and each signature needs to be witnessed by an independent person. A certificate provider, whose role is to confirm that you understand what the LPA is and that no pressure has been placed upon you to make it, also needs to sign the LPA. It is possible for all parties to sign the LPA and still adhere to the current social distancing rules and we are guiding clients through this process.

A Lasting Power of Attorney can provide you, in these uncertain times, a sense of certainty and is more beneficial to use than ever before.

For more information on Lasting Powers of Attorney, contact our friendly Private Client team today on 01908 660966 / 01604 828282 or email PrivateClient@franklins-sols.co.uk.

As of today, 6th April 2020, the Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) has increased to £175,000 per person.

Q: So, what is the Residence Nil Rate Band?

A: The RNRB is an additional inheritance tax allowance which came into force in April 2017. The allowance was initially set at £100,000, increased each tax year by £25,000 until tax year 6th April 2020/21 where it is set at £175,000, increasing the following tax years in line of inflation.

The additional inheritance tax allowance is available when you leave a ‘qualifying property’ directly to a ‘direct descendant’.

Q: What is a ‘qualifying property’?

A: Only one property can qualify for the RNRB and therefore, if you own and lived in more than one property, your executor can pick which property to apply the tax relief to.

What is essential is that the person who has died, must have owned and lived in the property at some point during their lifetime.

Q: What happens if I sell a property before my death that would have qualified?

A: This may not be a problem, as the government have provided for this scenario within the ‘downsizing provisions’. This is a complex area and professional advice may be required to assist with the calculation to ensure that the correct tax allowance is applied.

Q: Who is considered a ‘direct descendant’?

A: Accordingly to government guidelines:

This also includes:

Q: What if I don’t use it?

A: This is quite common, especially where a married couple leaves everything to the survivor on first death. The law provides for this scenario and confirms that the RNRB, or a proportion of it, can be transferred between spouses. This is known as the Transferable Residence Nil Rate Band. Therefore, provided that the surviving spouse leaves a qualifying property to a direct descendant, then the allowance can be claimed.

It is important to note however, that, as with other provisions relating to Inheritance Tax, the additional tax allowance can only be transferred between spouses/civil partners. It does not apply to cohabitees.

Q: What does this mean for Inheritance Tax?

A: The current rules provide that a married couple, leaving everything to each other and then down to children may have a combined tax free allowance of £1,000,000. This includes the Nil Rate Band currently set at £325,000, together with the RNRB of £175,000, both of which can be transferred between estates of spouses if unused.

For everyone else, this provides that they may have an allowance of £500,000 (taking into account their own Nil Rate Band of £325,000 and their Residence Nil Rate Band of £175,000) provided that the criteria for claiming the same are met.

Q: So, what do you need to do?

A: You may wish to give careful consideration to preparing or reviewing your Will to ensure tax efficiency in light of recent changes. Specialist advice is recommended as the manner in which your Will is prepared may affect the eligibility of the Residence Nil Rate Band. For example, the use of Trusts may affect it’s availability but will depend on the type of Trust itself. 

For advise and assistance in relation to future and Estate Planning, contact our expert Private Client team today on 01908 660966 / 01608 828282 or email privateclient@franklins-sols.co.uk. 

In light of current circumstances with COVID-19, the Law Society and Ministry of Justice are currently reviewing the requirements around witnessing wills, in an effort to make is easier for individuals to sign their wills during these uncertain times.

Current legislation provides that your Will must be signed by the testator (the person making the Will) in the presence of two independent witnesses. With the current lockdown, self-distancing and self-isolating provisions it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet such requirements.

Whilst matters are currently up in the air, here at Franklins Solicitors LLP we are trying other methods to meet our clients’ needs, not only with signing their Wills but also when taking instructions.

Initial instructions

Firstly, we are providing our clients with the firms Will Questionnaire by email and requesting that they complete the same so that we have as much information as possible to fully understand their requirements, potential issues and wishes.

Instead of bringing this to our usual face to face meetings, we are currently offering telephone appointments, Skype calls, Zoom and, in some circumstances, even Facetime.

Execution

Various methods for signing your Wills are currently being offered:

  1. The Will can be posted out to the client for signing remotely. Before the Will is posted, a discussion of the Will clause by clause will be provided, together with a discussion as to how the Will needs to be signed and measures to be taken during this period of self-distancing and self-isolation. A briefing note will also accompany the bound Will for ease of reference.
  1. A home visit can be arranged. This is usually offered to our clients but, in current circumstances, we are adapting the way in which such visit is conducted. Firstly, the Will is be bound and placed in an envelope well in advance of the meeting. Using disposable gloves, the Will is then removed from the envelope and placed on the doorstep, or even passed through a window, for the client. Maintaining a safe distance, the testator can sign the Will in the comfort of their own home whilst our staff witness. The will can then be passed back through the window/placed on the doorstep so that the testator can step back keeping a safe distance while the Will is then witnessed in their presence. We are strongly advising client to use their own pens and to wash their hands thoroughly. 

We understand that this is a worrying time for many individuals and wish to continue assisting our clients with the preparation of their Wills as far as possible. If you would like to get in touch with a member of the team to make/review your Wills, please contact the office on 01908 660966 / 01604 828282 or by emailed at wills@franklins-sols.co.uk. 

In light of the seemingly inevitable escalation towards social isolation for our most vulnerable clients, we want to take this opportunity to reach out and reassure you that we can continue business as normal, although with some 21st century input.

In the current circumstances, we know that people are becoming increasingly concerned about putting Wills into place or reviewing and updating their existing Wills, yet may be cancelling or not making appointments due to the advice to limit unnecessary social contact or the need to self-isolate.

We usually find that our clients get peace of mind once their affairs are in order and no doubt you will appreciate how important an up to date Will can be during this challenging time.

Despite the need to work from home or to self-isolate, our IT infrastructure allows us to continue providing a full legal service to our clients.  Whether this is by way of a simple telephone conversation, or one of the many video conferencing facilities available, our specialist team of Solicitors can still assist.

We have a Business Continuity Programme in place that allows us to progress existing matters and take on new instructions so a face to face appointment is not, at this time, necessary.

We are taking all possible steps to ensure our staff and our clients remain healthy and safe and so we will be conducting all client meetings remotely from now on unless there are exceptional reasons when we will do our best to accommodate the client’s individual needs.

We are dedicated to assist where we can. If you would like to obtain advice or guidance regarding the preparation of a Will, Lasting Powers of Attorney or would like assistance with a Deputyship Application, please contact our Private Client team on wills@franklins-sols.co.uk or call Northampton: 01604 828282 / Milton Keynes: 01908 660966.