Have you got a will?
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 1:44 pm
On Tuesday, I was in Essex with my colleague from our private client group, who was talking to a bike group about wills, probate and powers of attorney.
There was an audience of about 130 or so motorcyclists, and when asked the question, only about 10% had a will. Many had not thought about it, did not think it was worthwhile, did not think they had an estate of sufficient value or simply thought it was too expensive to make a will. So on that basis, I thought you might be inerested in an article recently prepared by my colleague Andy Grant who is an expert in the wills and probate area of law.
Great Britain has one of the best road safety records in Europe and the world. Despite massive increases in traffic over the last few decades, the number of people killed on our roads has fallen from around 5,500 per year in the mid 1980s to well under 1,754 in 2012. However, this still means that five people die on Britain's roads every day.
My colleague Andy Grant, a specialist Solicitor who deals with wills and probate and unfortunately he is being asked to deal with more and more fatal motorcycle crashes where the rider had no will in place, or the rider suffered such catastrophic injuries, they are incapable of looking after their own affairs.
Here he explains some of the issues that can arise and what happens in such cases, and how you as a motorcyclist can avoid placing extra stress on your family and loved ones in the event that the worst case scenario occurs (which of course we all hope will never happen)
You should firstly consider having a will prepared. A will dictates what happens to your estate on your death and can also be used to appoint legal guardians to look after any minor children you have. If you don’t have a will then there are laws to dictate how your estate would be divided and this may not be in accordance with your wishes and the person or persons who have to carry out the administration of your estate may not be who you would have chosen. Not having a will can make the administration of an estate very difficult at a time of grief and stress.
You should also consider putting lasting powers of attorney in place. A lasting power of attorney appoints a person or persons as attorneys to make decisions on your behalf if you are mentally incapable of making them for yourself. There are two types of lasting powers of attorney; one relating to health and welfare and one relating to property and affairs. They are two separate documents, and you can have one without the other. Within a lasting powers of attorney you can include your wishes with regards to how you would want your money to be spent, or even go so far as to state whether you would want life-sustaining medical treatment. To be used lasting powers of attorneys have to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.
If no lasting powers of attorney are put in place then no one can make immediate decisions about your financial affairs and this can lead difficulties if you own a share in a business or are solely responsible for the financial affairs of your family. It could also mean that you are given medical treatment that you do not wish to receive.
If no lasting powers of attorney are put in place and someone needs to take control of your financial affairs because you lack mental capacity then they can apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed what is called a deputy. The difference between a deputy and an attorney is that you don’t choose who the deputy is, as they are appointed by the Court. The Court may not agree to the person applying being appointed or someone, such as a family member, may object to the appointment of the person applying.
The application process to be appointed as a deputy is very different from that of registering a lasting power of attorney and it is much more expensive, there is more administrative work to be done and takes much longer, sometimes up to 6 months. If welfare decisions need to be made on your behalf then, again, an application needs to be to Court of Protection, but the Court will usually only grant authority on a decision by decision basis.
Although a bit of a long read, if you have not got a will, maybe this may convince you to think about it. It only costs around £180 for a simple will, but it provides peace of mind and lack of aggravation for your next of kin should the worst case scenario occur.
Food for thought maybe......
There was an audience of about 130 or so motorcyclists, and when asked the question, only about 10% had a will. Many had not thought about it, did not think it was worthwhile, did not think they had an estate of sufficient value or simply thought it was too expensive to make a will. So on that basis, I thought you might be inerested in an article recently prepared by my colleague Andy Grant who is an expert in the wills and probate area of law.
Great Britain has one of the best road safety records in Europe and the world. Despite massive increases in traffic over the last few decades, the number of people killed on our roads has fallen from around 5,500 per year in the mid 1980s to well under 1,754 in 2012. However, this still means that five people die on Britain's roads every day.
My colleague Andy Grant, a specialist Solicitor who deals with wills and probate and unfortunately he is being asked to deal with more and more fatal motorcycle crashes where the rider had no will in place, or the rider suffered such catastrophic injuries, they are incapable of looking after their own affairs.
Here he explains some of the issues that can arise and what happens in such cases, and how you as a motorcyclist can avoid placing extra stress on your family and loved ones in the event that the worst case scenario occurs (which of course we all hope will never happen)
You should firstly consider having a will prepared. A will dictates what happens to your estate on your death and can also be used to appoint legal guardians to look after any minor children you have. If you don’t have a will then there are laws to dictate how your estate would be divided and this may not be in accordance with your wishes and the person or persons who have to carry out the administration of your estate may not be who you would have chosen. Not having a will can make the administration of an estate very difficult at a time of grief and stress.
You should also consider putting lasting powers of attorney in place. A lasting power of attorney appoints a person or persons as attorneys to make decisions on your behalf if you are mentally incapable of making them for yourself. There are two types of lasting powers of attorney; one relating to health and welfare and one relating to property and affairs. They are two separate documents, and you can have one without the other. Within a lasting powers of attorney you can include your wishes with regards to how you would want your money to be spent, or even go so far as to state whether you would want life-sustaining medical treatment. To be used lasting powers of attorneys have to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.
If no lasting powers of attorney are put in place then no one can make immediate decisions about your financial affairs and this can lead difficulties if you own a share in a business or are solely responsible for the financial affairs of your family. It could also mean that you are given medical treatment that you do not wish to receive.
If no lasting powers of attorney are put in place and someone needs to take control of your financial affairs because you lack mental capacity then they can apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed what is called a deputy. The difference between a deputy and an attorney is that you don’t choose who the deputy is, as they are appointed by the Court. The Court may not agree to the person applying being appointed or someone, such as a family member, may object to the appointment of the person applying.
The application process to be appointed as a deputy is very different from that of registering a lasting power of attorney and it is much more expensive, there is more administrative work to be done and takes much longer, sometimes up to 6 months. If welfare decisions need to be made on your behalf then, again, an application needs to be to Court of Protection, but the Court will usually only grant authority on a decision by decision basis.
Although a bit of a long read, if you have not got a will, maybe this may convince you to think about it. It only costs around £180 for a simple will, but it provides peace of mind and lack of aggravation for your next of kin should the worst case scenario occur.
Food for thought maybe......
