When it comes to the writing of peoples Wills in Essex, we at Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services believe it is important to keep you aware of changes to the law which could effect your estate planning. Therefore, a change in the law concerning Inheritance Tax is a particularly timely reminder to people about the need not only write their Wills but also to review them regularly. This is largely because many people are now being warned both they and their loved ones could lose out because of now-redundant discretionary trust clauses.
That this has proved to be the case in practice is because, in view of the soon to be introduced main residence nil-rate band, people are now being told to check their liability. This allowance, which was introduced in the Summer Finance Bill 2015 to provide an additional main residence nil-rate band for an estate if the deceased’s interest was in property that was their residence at some point and is included in their estate, is to be left to one or more direct descendants on death. From April 2017, the main residence nil-rate band allowance is to be gradually introduced until it is eventually worth up to an additional £175,000 per person by 2020/21.
However, whilst this would seem to be a good thing on the face of it, the reality is arguably somewhat different for people writing their Wills in Essex and throughout England and Wales. This is because it is arguable that, for those married couples that chose to include a clause permitting a discretionary trust to be created for their children or grandchildren at the time of the first death to use their IHT nil-rate band, it could be problematic. The reason for this is that the aforementioned changes to the law serve to render a clause permitting a discretionary trust to be redundant.
Therefore, if you have already made a Will there is a need for you to seek advice on the new main residence nil-rate band allowance from a Society of Will Writers member like Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services to deal with the resolution of these issues.
Contact Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services today to see how we could help you protect both yours and your loved ones best interests by providing you advice with regard to the impact of changes to inheritance tax law upon the writing of Wills in Essex.
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