"Encouraging savings is why I made my promise that only millionaires would pay inheritance tax." Conference watchers will recognise these words spoken by George Osbourne in his speech at the recent Conservative Conference. The speech from Gordon Brown the week before at the Labour Conference contained the equally vague statement as to the intentions of [...]
Probate is a term commonly used when talking about applying for the right to deal with a deceased person's affairs. It's sometimes called administering the estate. In practice, different terms are used, depending on whether or not the deceased person left a will and where they lived. This information covers probate in England and Wales. [...]
Inheritance tax is something most people do not worry about but probably should do, given the way house prices have risen over recent years. Inheritance inclusions A person's estate includes everything owned in their name; the share of anything owned jointly; gifts from which they keep back some benefit, such as a home given to [...]
Family trusts are not just a means of avoiding inheritance tax; they can provide an effective way for parents to retain some control of assets, while passing them to adult children. Successive governments have viewed family trusts as a tax avoidance ruse and have imposed increasingly unfavourable taxes; most recently in 2006 with the introduction [...]
Life is quite unpredictable and death is the ultimate reality we have to come to terms with. It takes one untimely death in the family to bring us face to face with the fragility of our existence. At such a time, we would need all the courage and conviction in our souls to hold ourselves [...]
In this materialistic world that we live in, properties and estates hold a lot of value; determining the inheritors of any estate once the owners are gone can involve a lot of activity – some in the personal front and others in the legal domain. Once a person dies without a will, it is quite [...]
It is seldom easy to come to terms with the death of a loved one, let alone attend to matters of his or her estate. However painful as it is, it has to be done. At such a time, it is helpful to hire a probate specialist to ease the stress...
After the death of a person, his property and other assets pass on to his heirs; the legal process that is employed to facilitate this property transfer is known as probate. There are several facets to this; it could be the passing of title in some cases. In other cases, it could involve determining who gets what when someone passes away. If a will exists, there is nothing like it and one can determine “who gets what” quite easily. However, in instances where there is no will, the laws of intestacy or the laws determining hierarchy of heirs are looked up. Quite like any other place, the probate services in London are also rather essential to settle property related issues and are much in demand.