When it comes to writing your Wills in Sudbury (or anywhere else in Essex) you may have recently seen in the news that Rik Mayall’s family could have to pay a large inheritance tax bill under the law of England and Wales since he died without having left a will since he left an estate worth a little under £1.2 million.
That this has proved to be the case is because Mayall’s widow was able to inherit all of his personal property along with the first £250,000 worth of his estate as well as a life interest in half of the remainder of his estate with the remaining half being split between his three children.
Mayall’s widow’s share of his estate is considered to have inheritance tax exemption but that which his children were to inherit would be subject to inheritance tax where it was fond to be worth more than the threshold of £325,000 for an individual before they will be subject to inheritance tax
However, in the event that a last will and testament had been put into place by Rik Mayall prior to his death leaving the whole or most of his estate to his widow then there would have been little if any inheritance tax to pay.
Therefore, it is clear that effective inheritance tax planning is extremely important for people living in areas including Sudbury to reduce or even eliminate the amount of inheritance tax that you may have to pay at the time of your passing whilst ensuring as much of your estate as possible passes to those whom you wish to provide for and making a will is a simple and relatively inexpensive way of dealing with such problems.
The reason for this is that the law provides that bequests made via a will to their spouse or civil partner in locations like Sudbury are considered exempt from inheritance tax regardless of their size whilst those made to anyone else totaling over £325,000 will be subject to inheritance tax chargeable on the amount it exceeds £325,000 (i.e. if an individual’s estate is worth £325,001 then that £1 will be subject to inheritance tax).
Contact Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services today to see how we could help you to get your affairs in order to protect both yours and your loved ones best interests when it comes to writing Wills in Sudbury and in other locations throughout Essex.
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