Straight Talk Financial Planning

Family Matters

MacMillan Caring Locally Partnership

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Straight Talk Estate Planning are very proud to announce we have partnered up with the Christchurch based MacMillan Caring Locally for their Free Wills Month, running through September 2021.

MacMillan Caring Locally is not affiliated with the well known MacMillan charity at all. It’s a not-for-profit organisation established to support the The Macmillan Unit at Christchurch Hospital. This is a Specialist Palliative Care Unit and Hospice for patients in South East Dorset and South West Hampshire.

We’ve been in contact with the team there for some time and aware of the amazing work they do and the impact they have on the lives of their patients, and the families of those patients, in their last days. The team on the unit really go above and beyond to make dreams come true where they can and those final moments as comfortable and positive as possible. You may have seen one of our directors Caroline taking part in a sponsored 12 mile walk for the unit.

We’re so happy to be able to offer this support to the unit. If you would like to know more get in touch with us here or have a look at the MacMillan page

Let’s talk about death. Or not?

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You know you should write your will. Your family have been on at you for an age to get around to it. But somehow it just keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the pile. There’s always something nicer or more obviously pressing to think about, isn’t there? And let’s be honest, who wants to think about their impending doom?

But do we really spend time talking about your death in a will meeting? Actually, really, no.

Of course its not unusual for clients to be concerned that the grim reaper will be hanging spectrally in the corner of the room as we chat, and I’d be lying if I said there aren’t a few difficult questions I will ask you. But the truth is we don’t really talk about death.

When writing your will what you need to think about is everything that comes after.

What happens to your estate after you’ve passed away? Who will inherit your assets if you pass without a valid will in place? When? And how? And what can we put in a will to make sure that who you want to inherit will do so when and how you want it to happen.

I generally find that, much to many client’s surprise, what we talk about in our meetings is life. We talk about our children, our parents, our siblings and friends, the lives we’ve built together and the lives we want them to have. My clients share stories with me, often deeply intimate and usually told with a smile on their faces. Why does a certain child want a particular piece of jewellery? Why would you want them to inherit at that particular age? Because don’t you remember that time when…. Because I’d like them to be able to do this… Because I know they’d want to do that…..

Good estate planning is problem solving, but one family’s problem is another family’s non-issue. You won’t be asked questions about your death itself, but you should be asked a lot of questions and to consider a lot of different scenarios to identify what really worries you about your family inheriting (are you worried about inheritance tax? Do you actually need to worry about inheritance tax? Are you worried you’ll pass before a parent who is now living with you and they’ll be left unable to afford the home you share? Are you worried about one of your children’s relationships?). I think of these as your pain points, and good estate planning is pain relief.

And relief is what client’s always feel at the end of this process. ‘Thank goodness we’ve dealt with that.’ ‘It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.’ ‘I’m so glad we’ve got this sorted now.’

I don’t really talk about your death because, the sad truth is, I can’t do anything about that. But I can improve what comes next for your family. And lets be honest, the truth about estate planning is it’s not actually about you.

A response to Kate Garraway’s situation

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Our most asked question at the moment seems to be “Have you heard about Kate Garraway?” and yes, sadly we have. We really feel for Kate, its an extremely difficult situation to find yourself in on so many levels and we extend her and her family our deepest sympathies and well wishes for her husbands recovery.

We’d love to say its unusual to hear a story like hears but the truth is it’s not. Whilst we can’t help with the emotional trauma of a loved one falling ill for a long period of time, hearing about the additional distress that comes from the practical difficulties of managing the family’s finances on your own is always hard because we know that a little planning could have saved a lot of headaches.

For those of you that don’t know, on top of everything else, Kate is struggling to manage the family finances as the majority of accounts, utilities, insurances etc. are in her husband’s name and she does not have Powers of Attorney in place to manage them on his behalf whilst he is unwell.

What a lot of people don’t realise is that simply having Joint bank accounts will not help either. A joint bank account works on the basis of implied consent, and implied consent cannot be given if you lack mental capacity. So if one account holder loses capacity and there are no LPAs in place, the account is at risk of being frozen.

So when do you put Powers of Attorney in place? What is the ideal time to do this?

So often we hear clients say they don’t want to put LPAs in place because they feel they are too young. But the truth is that the worst could happen at any age, as this case shows. LPAs cannot be applied for after you have lost mental capacity, so its important to get them in place whilst you can.  If you lose mental capacity without an LPA in place someone will have to apply to become your deputy, which is a complex, costly and time consuming process that involves going through the courts. The last thing your family would want to deal with if your health has suddenly taken a serious turn for the worse and they need to be able to step in and take care of themselves or each other.

There’s no such things as too early, but there is certainly such a thing as too late.

Sideways disinheritance

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Sideways disinheritance. Its a phrase you may well have not heard before, but when I describe the phenomenon I often find my clients know someone in their circle of family or friends who has, directly or indirectly, experienced it.

But what is it?

Lets imagine a scenario. John and Jane are happily married and have two children, Sam and Sally. John and Jane have sensibly written simple wills leaving everything to one another on first death and then down to the children equally on second death. Sadly John unexpectedly passes away and as per the Will the estate passes to Jane.

A few years later Jane meets Adam, falls in love and remarries.

Marriage invalidates a Will, and she never gets round to writing a Will with new husband Adam. Jane passes away, and now according to the rules of intestacy her estate that she built up with John now passes to Adam, and not John’s children Sam and Sally.

This is sideways disinheritance.

Many of us have stories of this, a lot of us worry about this occurring maliciously but its all to easy for this to occur by accident too. So how do you protect from it?

There are a few options. You could set up a lifetime trust and pass your assets into this in your lifetime, protecting your assets from all sorts of outside influence for generations to come.

Or you could write in-will trusts that will put your assets into trust on your death and protect them for your nominated beneficiaries giving the lifetime benefit to your spouse should they survive you.

The option you take will depend on what is right for you, your family, and your priorities and you need an estate planner who can talk you through all of these options and work out what is best for you.

Enduring – v – Lasting Power of Attorney

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I wanted to talk a little bit about Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs) today.

These were the precursors to Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) and many of you, or your parents, may have Enduring Powers of Attorney in place.
Whilst EPAs are useable, I have a problem with them. Like LPAs, EPAs can only be used once registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.
Unlike LPAs, EPAs can only be registered once you’ve lost mental capacity. And how long does registration take? Could be anywhere between 8 – 10 weeks, or more if the OPG are busy. And boy are they busy right now.
LPAs can be registered as soon as you write them so they are ready to go as soon as you need them.
So if your loved on is happily sat thinking if anything happens to them then you can jump right in and start taking care of them, would they be happy to know it might be 10 + weeks before you can act? And in serious health situations would that be too late?
If you or your family members ever answer the ‘Have you got your will and LPAs sorted?” question with “Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure we dealt with that years back” tell them to get those documents out of storage, have a look at them, and make sure they’re actually going to do what they want them to, when they want them to.

Families of the future

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I had an interesting conversation with a solicitor today (yes, that happens). Among many other things we spoke briefly about the ever-changing nature of family.

In our line of work we often see the beginnings of these changes, the trickles before the waterfall. And what is it we’re seeing at the moment? 3 generations in one household is becoming more and more common. It started with the increases in the cost of living forcing young people to stay with parents longer and longer.

Now we are seeing young couples with children of their own choosing to pool resources with parents to purchase larger properties and live together sharing the financial and practical responsibilities of the home. And I for one can only see this as a beautiful thing, an act of cross generational support. I hear more and more that phrase “it takes a village to raise a child”, and I hear more and more about older generations wishing to stay in their homes for as long as possible. It looks like we are returning to our “villages”.

I’m sure this will increase post-covid, when we try to figure out our new normal after a life of really getting to know our neighbours again, of being suddenly and drastically separated from our grandparents and older children or seeing our young children missing their grandparents.

But my experience of this is grown children so anxious to protect the financial investments their parents have made in their homes. “If something happens to us, what happens to mum?” is something I’m hearing more and more. And the answers can be simple, the answers can give you real peace of mind, but they might not always be what you think. Effective estate planning along with good financial planning (which is so much simpler and cheaper to put in place while you’re young) can really put everyone at ease and ensure you’re all protected, no matter what your futures hold.

Can you sign and witness your Wills effectively during Coronavirus? Yes. You can.

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Its undoubtedly true that COVID-19 has had a massive impact on all of our lives and made some things more difficult. At STEP we are still working, from home, but there have been impacts on our process for sure.

One of the questions we are most frequently asked at the moment is can you still get your Wills signed and witnessed correctly during coronavirus? And the answer is Yes. You can. Associates up and down the country, not just here in Hampshire, are carefully working in outside spaces to make sure your documents can be signed effectively and safely.

Its even being written about by the good old BBC!

Here I am talking about the challenges, and comedy, of signing your Wills and observing Social Distancing:

https://youtu.be/pxIsRQfS-VI

If you would like to talk to a member of our team about signing your Will during Coronavirus do be sure to chat to us.

Residential Nil Rate Band

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Many of us know about the Nil Rate Band – the £325,000 relief we all have available to us as estate we can pass to anyone free of inheritance tax (IHT). And of course for married couples and those in a civil partnership this is transferable (i.e. your spouse or civil partner can ‘inherit’ your NRB) leaving you jointly with £650,000 to pass free of IHT.

But what about the Residential Nil Rate Band (RNRB)? This is an additional amount you can leave free of IHT that is applicable only to your main residential property and can only be utilised by your direct decedents – i.e. children (including grandchildren, stepchildren and adopted children).

Currently the amount stands at £150,000 per person and will raise again in April 2020 to £175,000 per person. It is not set to rise after this. As with the Nil Rate Band (NRB) it is transferable between Married partners and Civil partners. This will bring their total IHT free band to £1mill.

This sounds great, but it’s worth noting that unmarried couples and those without children cannot benefit from the relief. You should also be mindful of the RNRB if you are considering any trusts, either in your will or as part of your investment planning.

Some trusts – usually Discretionary Trusts – will mean you can’t utilise the RNRB, potentially negating the benefit of setting the trusts up in the first place. That doesn’t mean these trusts are not a good idea (they can be fantastic for protecting assets from divorce settlements, and for beneficiaries receiving disability benefits who need to ensure those benefits don’t get wiped out), but it does mean you need a Will writer that will go through all the pros and cons of writing a trust with you to make sure you can make the best informed decision for your family.

The myth of the common-law spouse

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The shape of families is changing. Many of us now, for so many valid reasons, decide marriage is not for us and raise our families together as unmarried couples, and why not? However, not surprisingly, the law has not kept pace with modern times and the idea that your life partner will be treated as a spouse is a myth.

Life partners are not considered next of kin in the eyes of the law. They do not benefit from Spousal Exemption for tax purposes, they do not count as a direct decedent so you will not be able to apply the Residential Nil Rate band for inheritance tax on your property.

If you pass without a Will (i.e. intestate) your partner will receive jointly owned assets and that is it. Which is an even more critical consideration if your property is not owned jointly.

Under the rules of intestacy, any children (from the current or previous relationships) or their issue will inherit the estate. If there are no children, the partner still does not inherit. The courts would look for surviving parents or siblings or even the Crown before considering the partner.

So what’s the answer? Get married and write your wills is the obvious solution, and if you’re not sure if you will marry or not, a simple contemplation of marriage clause into your mirror wills means your marriage will not invalidate any wills you make together. But if marriage is simply not on the cards good quality Wills are even more essential.

The kids are alright- guardians and inheritance

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Many of us write wills to protect our children when we are no longer around to do so ourselves. We want to be sure we have left them adequate financial resources to be at least comfortable and stable, and that its been left in such a way that it won’t be ravaged by the tax man.

And we want to ensure they will inherit at a time in life when they are perhaps more settled, and have worked any wild and reckless impulses out of their system. The assets we have spent our lives carefully nurturing are important to us, and we don’t want them squandered or perhaps preyed on by less than scrupulous partners. A well written will can protect from these eventualities.

But what about the most precious asset anyone could ever possess – the children themselves?

No one likes to think about what could happen if we pass whilst our children are still young, but sadly we should. We need to be sure we have nominated guardians we know will raise our children as we would wish, and if you can its always worth appointing reserve guardians as a back up.

Leaving a potential custody decision to social services gives absolutely no guarantee the eventual guardian will be someone we approve of. It can also be difficult if more than one family member would like to take on guardianship and your instructions are not clear.

What if you pass at a young age and your surviving spouse eventually re-marries? There are simple trusts that will ensure your half of the assets you have worked hard to grow together will be protected for your children, and not end up passing to a new spouse and any children they may bring with them to the family table.

Writing wills with our associates is a simple and painless process that can put all of these protections in place and give you real peace of mind, so the only question is what are you waiting for?

Getting around to it

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How often have you thought about writing your Will, known you need to write it, but then somehow it just doesn’t happen? Well you’re far from alone.

Straight Talk expanded their services to include Estate planning services like Will writing some years ago. Our aim was to accommodate clients in need of these services who simply struggled to fit time to visit a solicitor into their already busy working schedules. This can be especially challenging for working couples. We can offer out of working hours appointments in your own home.

It’s also common for people to have a sense of unease when it comes to will writing. It’s understandable that addressing your own mortality doesn’t come high on most people’s lists of fun ways to pass an hour or so, but the sense of relief all of our clients feel once everything has been put in order far outweighs their concerns at the start of the process. As one client told us recently

“We were both very worried about doing a Will – don’t know why, but you put us both at ease, and we very happy with what we decided.”

Its also important to have confidence in the services you are being provided with. Straight Talk offer free consultations which allow you to meet with us and be sure of us before committing to work. This is also a useful service for anyone who already has a Will in place and wishes to review it with an expert to ensure it still meets their needs.

The different Powers of Attorney

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Today I’d like to look in a bit more detail at the different kinds of LPAs available. Its important to note that the person writing the Power of Attorney is the Donor, and the people they appoint to make decisions for them are the Attorneys.

The two main kinds are Health & Welfare and Property and Financial Affairs.

Health & Welfare confers powers relating to the type of health care and medical treatment for the donor, which can include where they live, day to day matters such as diet, routine and even life sustaining treatment. The powers under this type of LPA only become useable once the donor no longer has the mental capacity to make their own decisions.

Property and Financial Affairs confers powers to the attorney to make decisions relating to financial and property matters of the donor. The key difference here is that you the donor can grant your attorneys the power to make decisions for you as soon as the LPA is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (i.e. before you have lost mental capacity) which can be particularly useful if you need financial, property or business matters attended to whilst you are out of the country.

An Attorney has a legal duty to act in the donor’s best interests and failure to do so could be a criminal offence. So donor protection from unscrupulous attorneys is implicit in the LPA document itself. Also an attorney cannot use the LPA to change the donor’s will.

The Powers of Attorneys

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Most of us have some awareness of Powers of Attorney, but few of us really have a clear picture of what they are, who needs them and when they should be written. Today we are going to address exactly what are Powers of Attorney

Simply put, Powers of Attorney are you (the Donor) granting powers to people you know and trust (your Attorneys) to manage your affairs when you have lost the mental capacity to do so for yourself, either permanently or temporarily. There are two main kinds, ‘Health and Welfare’ and ‘Property and Financial Affairs’. We’ll dive into the details of how each of these can work in future posts, so watch this space.

Who needs them? In an ideal world, no one would ever need them. But sadly we don’t live in an ideal world and predicting who might lose their mental capacity and when is impossible.

When should you write them? As soon as you can. We often associate Powers of Attorney with the elderly, but sadly life is not always what we expect and sudden illness or accident does happen. Also your property and financial affairs LPA does grant you the power to allow your attorneys to act even when you have not lost mental capacity should you so wish. This can be useful for, for example, business owners who travel frequently and may need someone to manage affairs on their behalf whilst they are away.

Much like car insurance, the cost and time taken to set them up may feel like a nuisance but it’s something you should have in case the worst should happen.

And again like car insurance, if you don’t have your LPAs in place and then need them, it’s too late as power of attorney cannot be granted once you have lost mental capacity. In that situation the Court of Protection would appoint a Deputy to act in your best interests. However, this takes time, money and you have no control over who is appointed to manage your affairs.

Its all about timing…

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One of the most common questions I encounter is When should I write my will? And how often should I review it?


The will writing triggers are not age, but the big life events – the purchase of your first home, the birth of your child, blending your family and assets with a new partner’s (especially if you’re not planning to marry), or any other significant event that might impact on the way you think about your finances or guardianship of young children.


And what about those who have wills already? Ideally you should look to review your wills every 5 years. That might sound like a lot, but its surprising how much can change in a short period of time. Effective estate planning should be intimately connected to your financial planning; up to date with the ever changing needs of your family and, for example, current tax legislation.


Expert guidance from an associate knowledgeable in finance as well as inheritance law can prove an invaluable resource to protect your assets. Straight Talk offer free initial consultations and charge fixed fees for any items you may need to produce, so there are never any nasty surprises.


You should also keep track of exactly what assets you have and how your executors can access them, when the time comes. A single simple resource of information that will give them everything you need to administer your estate with as much ease as possible. Straight Talk can help here too. We have a clear and simple to fill in booklet “What I have and where I keep it” that our clients fill in and keep. Anything that will simplify the process of probate for your loved ones can give real peace of mind for you and them.
Our free “What I have and Where I keep it” booklet can be ordered from the Contact page.

The Kindness of Exclusion

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I’m sure many professionals regularly encounter misconceptions about their industry, or field of expertise, and wills and probate work is no exception. We certainly encounter a few at Straight Talk Estate Planning but some have more sticking power than others.

One of the more persistent misconceptions we encounter is that people exclude potential beneficiaries from their wills for negative reasons. Whilst, certainly, a significant falling out over a period of time can lead to exclusions, this is not always the driving reason.

There are situations where parents with multiple children have already given significant financial support to one child over and above the others so, with the child in question’s blessing, exclude them from receiving further in the will so that the remaining children may benefit from the family estate equally.

Similarly a family may mutually agree that some potential beneficiaries may have more means to outside financial support than others. Better paid work for example, or marriage into other more wealthy families, and there is a wish to ensure the estate will pass to those that need it most.

Decisions like these are made out of practicality and kindness and are the sort of considerations that would be railroaded by the process of intestacy (passing without a valid Will in place).

Similarly circumstances can change over time which would mean you need to review your will with regard to exclusions. Perhaps that wealthy family a child has married in to falls unexpectedly on hard times so they need to be brought back in to the will, for example.

Whatever the reason, if there are people who may reasonably expect to benefit from your estate and you would wish them not too, a valid and up-to date will is a must.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of APS Legal and Associates Ltd itself