What Other Services Does The Warr Partnership Offer?
Legal Documents
Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA)
When a Will is not enough! What if something happens to you during your lifetime?
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a document in which people (called attorneys) are appointed to look after your financial and/or your personal affairs should you become unable to look after them yourself, perhaps through illness, accident or advancing years.
Most people recognise that it is important to have a Will to organise their affairs and continue to care for their nearest and dearest in the event of their death...
However, the Office of the Public guardian confirms the experience of most lawyers - more and more people are making similar provisions to organise their affairs should they become unable to look after them themselves during their lifetime - an ever-increasing possibility given people’s increasing lifespan advances in medical care. It is important that such arrangements are made while you are fit and healthy since the law states that you cannot make provisions once you are unable to manage your affairs.
There Are Two Types of Document.
- A Property and Financial Affairs LPA enables attorneys to be appointed to manage money and other financial assets.
- A Health and Welfare LPA enables attorneys to be appointed to manage personal and healthcare matters.
An LPA Has Important Safeguards:
The document can only be used once it has been registered with the Courts and you can nominate up to five people who are notified of the registration, at which point they can object or raise any concerns if they have any.
You can restrict the LPA so that it can only be registered if you are unable to manage your affairs.
Hopefully you’ll never need it – but if you do, it will probably be the best thing you have ever done.
Court of Protection
Deputyship Applications
We can prepare these where the above need has arisen, but where an LPA had not been prepared prior to disability. However, it is a much more time consuming and expensive process, and the appointed Deputy is more restricted than they would have been as an Attorney.
Advance Decisions
(Living Wills)
This is the traditional way, prior to the inception of the Health & Welfare LPA in 2007, essentially to deal with the end of life scenario only. It is less comprehensive and less useful than the H&WLPA.
Protective Trusts & Discretionary Trusts
These are Will Trusts to protect your estate from factors which would result in their value being reduced or diverted to an unintended recipient.
Couples are able to use their Wills to protect assets in a trust in such a way that if the survivor ever needs residential or nursing home care, the assets held in the trust cannot be assessed and used to pay care fees.
Some couples, especially those in second marriages, may be concerned that if the survivor of them inherits everything, they can then change their Will to disinherit the family of the first partner to die. Couples with such concerns can structure their Wills in such a way that when the first partner dies, the surviving partner has the enjoyment of their share of property through a property trust and / or money through a life interest trust.
When the surviving partner dies, the assets in the trust are guaranteed to pass to the family of the first partner and the assets of the surviving partner pass to their family.
People who have beneficiaries who are going through a period of misfortune, such as bankruptcy, divorce or poor state of mind or are in receipt of means tested benefits can create a discretionary trust in their Will which enable the inheritance to be managed by trustees on their behalf without it affecting any benefits.
Although most people will not be affected by inheritance tax: the present £325,000 Nil Rate Band is transferable to a married partner when the first spouse dies, this giving £650,000 Nil Rate Band when the second spouse dies. In addition there is an allowance (Residence Nil-Rate Band) on the principal place of residence when it passes to direct descendants.
There are, however, still steps that can be taken if your estate is above the threshold for married partners of £1,000,000, including the residence nil-rate band.
Probate & Estate Administration
We will give general advice regarding Grant of Probate free of any additional charge.
We also provide an efficient and economical estate administration service to executors and are well experienced in the procedures and how to avoid potential problems. As a result, we can often complete the administration of an estate in less time than people generally expect.
Because, as a small family firm, our overheads are considerably less than larger firms, our typical fee re estate administration is around £1,000.00, plus disbursements, only.
Document Storage
We can securely store your Wills and other legal documents. This service also carries the additional benefits of considerably reduced fees for Will amendments and basic advice to executors in the event of death.