When a person dies without leaving a valid Will, their estate i.e. property, money must be distributed according to the rules of intestacy. This makes things complicated as the law decides who inherits the estate according to certain criteria.
To make your Will legally binding you need to make sure it's signed alongside two witnesses. It's really important that both witnesses watch you sign your Will at the same time, then they also need to add their own details and signatures. This is so that, if your Will is ever contested in the future, your witnesses can testify that they watched you sign your Will.
Family members cannot be a witness to your Will. The common rule to remember is that a person named to benefit from your Will, or any persons related to them cannot sign as a witness. If they do sign as a witness the Will could be classed as void or effectively mean that beneficiary does not inherit. Witnesses should also be over 18 years old.
You can appoint one executor, however, it is strongly advisable to appoint a minimum of 2 or more, so that if one of your executors dies before you do, the surviving executor(s) can take on the responsibility. You may appoint up to 4 executors.
An executor is legally responsible for carrying out the instructions in the person's Will.
An executor's role is to administer your estate after your death, they must:
- Value your estate and report this to HMRC, the executor is responsible for making sure all the relevant taxes are paid and all the necessary paperwork is filed with HMRC.
- Apply for the grant of probate (the document that legally enables them to administer the deceased estate)
- Be responsible for selling your house and cashing in any assets so your beneficiaries can receive their share of the inheritance
- Pay any outstanding debts & Bills
- Distribute the estate to the named beneficiaries.
- They must act in the best interests of the estate
Your Will is one of your most important documents. After writing it, you need to make sure you keep it in a safe place where your executors can find it when they need it.
If your Will is damaged or if your executors can't find it after your death, then your wishes might not be followed and the people that you want to inherit your estate may not receive anything that's why we at WEPC offer a secure and safe storage option to store your documents at a very competitive price. When the time comes your loved ones, executors can retrieve documents with ease.
Yes, changes can be made to your Will at any time, as we hold a electronic copy of your Will, WEPC pride ourselves on customer services, a simple call to one of our dedicated aftercare team and we can make the amendment for a fee from £49.00 and forward a new Will for you to sign and have witnessed.
You may wish to leave your estate between your children when you pass away. Anything left to a minor under 18 will be held in trust by your executors/trustees until they reach minimum age of 18, however you can set an age to inherit from between 18 to 25. Your executors can choose to transfer the gift to the child's legal guardian or caregiver for safekeeping at their discretion, or to use it for the child's benefit before they reach the age you have set for them to inherit.
