Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney
Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney
Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney are two of the most important documents in any estate plan. A Will helps ensure your estate is distributed in line with your wishes after death, while a Lasting Power of Attorney allows trusted people to step in if you are ever unable to make decisions for yourself.
At Howard Wright, we help clients understand how these documents fit into their wider financial and family planning. We can review what you already have in place, highlight any gaps or issues, and where needed introduce trusted professionals to prepare the legal documents for you.
Why These Documents Matter
For many people, these documents are easy to put off. However, having the right arrangements in place can make a significant difference to your family and loved ones if something happens. A Will helps make your wishes clear after death, while a Lasting Power of Attorney can help ensure that someone you trust is able to deal with important financial or personal decisions if you are no longer able to do so yourself.
Wills
A Will is often one of the first building blocks of an effective estate plan. Many people assume that their spouse, civil partner or next of kin will automatically inherit everything, but that is not always the case. A Will helps set out clearly who should benefit from your estate and can also help with other important decisions, such as appointing executors, naming guardians for children and making specific gifts.
As part of your wider planning, we can review any existing Will arrangements you have in place and help you consider whether they still reflect your wishes and circumstances. If changes are needed, we can introduce you to a trusted professional who can prepare or update the legal documents for you.
How Howard Wright Can Help
While we do not draft Wills or Lasting Powers of Attorney in-house, we do help clients understand what may be needed as part of their wider estate and financial planning. We can talk through the issues you may need to consider, review any existing arrangements and, if appropriate, introduce you to trusted professionals who can prepare the documents for you.
To discuss this with one of our Chartered Advisers, you can call us on 0345 688 4939 or fill in our enquiry form below; it only takes 20 seconds to complete.
Once you have done this, one of our Chartered Financial Planners will then contact you as soon as possible to discuss our planning process and how we can help you achieve your goals and objectives.
Lasting Powers of Attorney
A Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to appoint one or more people you trust to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself. This can be just as important as having a Will, because if you lose mental capacity without a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, those close to you may face delays, added costs and a more complicated process before they are able to act for you. There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney in England and Wales: Property and Financial Affairs, and Health and Welfare.
Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney
This allows your chosen attorney to deal with matters such as bank accounts, bills, pensions, property and other financial decisions. Once registered, it can usually be used with your permission while you still have mental capacity, as well as if you later lose capacity.
Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney
This allows your chosen attorney to make decisions about matters such as care, medical treatment and living arrangements, but only if you are no longer able to make those decisions for yourself.
We can help you understand how these arrangements fit into your broader financial planning and estate planning, and where appropriate introduce you to a trusted professional to put them in place.
When Should You Review Your Arrangements?
It is worth reviewing your Will and Lasting Powers of Attorney whenever your personal or financial circumstances change. This might include marriage, divorce, having children, a bereavement, a significant change in wealth, or a change in the people you would want to act for you. Even if nothing obvious has changed, older documents should still be reviewed periodically to make sure they remain suitable.
Speak to us about Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney
If you would like to review your existing arrangements or discuss putting Wills or Lasting Powers of Attorney in place as part of your wider financial planning, we would be happy to help. We can talk through what may be appropriate, highlight any issues to consider and, where needed, introduce you to a trusted professional to prepare the documents.
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