Published on: 20th September 2021

Your Estate Planning To-Do List

It is extremely important to ensure that you plan and sort your affairs before it is too late. Tower Street Finance has completed research which shows that whilst 84% of adults in the United Kingdom plan to leave inheritance to their loved ones, only 54% of adults have Wills in place. At Casey & Associates we are able to ensure that you have personalised estate planning that works for your individual needs. Here we have laid out some of the most important aspects of how you can get your affairs in order.

Wills

Creating a Will is arguably the most vital aspect of estate planning. By creating a Will, you not only determine where your assets will go and avoid the state distributing your assets through the laws of intestacy, but you are also able to choose a guardian for any children you might have, choose executors, note your funeral wishes, create trusts, and more.

At Casey & Associates, we specialise in bespoke Will writing and have created thousands of Wills. By taking all of your circumstances into consideration, we are able to ensure that your Will gives you the peace of mind that your assets will be handled as you wish.

LPAs

Having Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) is something that is valuable to many people. By creating an LPA, someone whom you trust is able to have the legal authority to manage your affairs if you are unable to. There are two types of LPA documents: one for Health and Welfare decisions and one for Finances and Property affairs.

There is no ‘right time’ to create an LPA. Once you have lost mental capacity, your loved one will have to go to the court to gain the right to manage your affairs which can be time consuming and costly. Having LPAs in place now allows you the insurance and peace of mind that trusted friends or family members will be able to manage your affairs. 

Tax Planning

If you have a potential inheritance tax liability, proper estate planning can help to mitigate any taxes due. This can be done through changing where assets are passed to, creating trusts, gifting, business property relief, and more. At Casey & Associates we are able to discuss your options during our estate planning consultation.

Thinking About Care Fees

The rising cost of care fees are a big worry for many of our clients. By planning your affairs in advance, we are able to help protect your family home from being used to pay for care fees. Based on your individual circumstances, we have multiple trust and estate planning options to choose from.

In Case of Emergency File

Do you have a file where you keep your asset details, insurance policies, bank account numbers, list of shareholdings and all the rest of the information your executors will need? It is a good idea to keep everything in one place so that important paperwork can be easily found when the time comes.

By going through this checklist, you can determine if you have properly planned all of your affairs. If you would like bespoke information about any of these topics, please do not hesitate to contact one of our helpful and knowledgeable consultants by calling 01732 868190 or using our online form by clicking here.

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Our Covid-19 policy is now that if you wish to give instructions or require general information about our Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney or Trusts then we will carry out a telephone or Zoom appointment. However, if you wish to give instructions to one of our Consultants and you feel that you can only do this at a Face to Face meeting we are offering, at our Consultant’s discretion, a limited number of Face to Face appointments in most of the areas we normally cover (subject to Government advice). To see the areas we normally cover please click here. To arrange an appointment please telephone 01732 868190 or click here.

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