Case Studies

These case studies provide common scenarios and illustrate why your will should be tailored to your individual circumstances.

Perhaps one of them may strike a chord with you.

Case study 1:

Mr & Mrs James jointly own a house worth £400,000. They are concerned that if either of them required long term care later in life that the family home will have to be sold to pay for the £600 or so weekly fees instead of passing to their children.

Married couples can legitimately safeguard their home and other assets from long term care fees in their wills.see Protecting your assets

Case study 2:

John and Anna are married with 2 children. John has also got 2 children from an earlier relationship. He’s concerned that Anna may remarry after his death and disinherit his children from his previous relationship. He would like to ensure that his estate passes to his children in a way that doesn’t force Anna to sell the house when he dies.

John can set things up to provide security to all of his loved ones by setting up a trust in his will. See Protecting your assets

Case study 3:

Mark and Lisa are unmarried and own a house together worth £450,000. They realise they must have a will, but are concerned about inheritance tax.

With some tax planning in their wills, the inheritance tax of £50,000 that their children face paying can be avoided. See Trusts.

Case study 4:

Mr Matthews would like £100,000 to be shared out among his 8 grandchildren. He has no idea how they will turn out, but he would like to prevent any of them inheriting if they subsequently become involved in drugs or criminality.He can provide his trustees with discretion to take into account the particular circumstances of his grandchildren at a later stage by setting up a discretionary trust in his will – see Trusts.

Case study 5:

Julia has a disabled son who receives state benefits. She is concerned about his ability to handle any inheritance and also if she leaves money to him that he may lose his entitlement to benefits.

She can set up a disabled beneficiary trust in her will to solve these problems – see Trusts.

Case study 6:

Mark has a business that he would like to continue after his death and is also keen to minimise any inheritance tax on its eventual sale.Mark can appoint executors to run his business and set things up in a tax efficient way. See Trusts.

Case study 7:

Mr & Mrs Smith are married with two young children. They wish to appoint guardians in their will and apart from making a few gifts to friends, they want to leave their estates to each other and then when the second of them passes away for their estate to be divided among their children at the age of 21. In case anything happens to all of them they want their estate to go to several charities.

Mr & Mrs Smith require ‘standard wills’.