There are various ways to leave a legacy to family and friends in your Will, including leaving gifts “in Trust”. Your appointment with InHouse Wills & Probate gives the opportunity to discuss the details, but some of the main points are outlined here.
Specific Legacies
A specific legacy is the gift of a particular item or amount of money, given to an individual or group. Examples might be:-
- “£1,000 to my favourite charity…”
- “The grandfather clock to my friend…”
Some Wills have many gifts like this, but often there are none at all.
Gifts of Residue
This is where you make a gift of portions from the remainder of your estate (i.e. after any specific legacies have been taken out), and every Will should have at least one gift like this. Examples include:-
- “Everything equally between my children…”
- or - - “10% to my niece, 30% to grandchildren, the rest equally between X and Y.”
Gifts made in Trust
Leaving a gift from your Will in trust might sound daunting, but really it just means leaving a gift with conditions. There are many reasons why you might do this, and these include:-
- To maximise what your family receives, by minimising Inheritance Tax.
- To protect your share of the house from having to be used to pay your spouse’s Residential Care Fees.
- To let your new partner live in the house, and then guarantee that it passes to your family in the long term.
- To prevent your wayward son wasting it all straight away.
- To keep it out of the hands of your daughter-in-law, protecting it for your grandchildren.
- To avoid it being taken from your family by a future divorce, or by a future re-marriage.
- To protect some money in case your children’s business ventures go wrong and leave them bankrupt.
A trust can be applied to a specific legacy, or to a share of the residue, and is available in various forms of Advanced Wills. Obviously, a trust makes your Will more complex, but overall it increases your control about how your legacy is used and where it ends up in the future.
Your InHouse consultant will discuss your situation in detail to find your best option.
