Assets (including bank accounts, building society accounts, shares, National Savings Investments, other investments, life assurance, pensions money owed to you etc.)

Your Executors (a maximum of 4 can act) are responsible for carrying out the instructions set out in your will. The following points may help you when considering who to appoint: In simple cases, one person may be appointed to act alone (for instance when your spouse/partner is the sole beneficiary), but it is usually wise to appoint at least two people; If appointing only one executor, an alternative appointment should be included in the event that your first choice dies before you or is unwilling or unable to act; If you have an idea (however small) that there has been (or may be) tension between your beneficiaries we strongly recommend you appoint only independent people as your executors; Solicitors in this firm are available to act as executors, either alone or together with other named people; e.g. family members, friends etc.

Please list the details of any executors you wish to appoint (if you have already provided the details in Part 1 then you need only include that person’s first name or description (e.g. ‘Ann’ or ‘husband’)

Please provide the details of any replacement.

If you have children then your nominated guardian(s) will take care of them from after your death until your children attain the age of 18 years. The appointment usually only takes effect once all parents (or all those with ‘Parental Responsibility’) have died, though this position can change in the case of a single parent - this is something we can discuss with you.

A ‘beneficiary’ is the person who you name in your will who will inherit your assets e.g. cash, house etc. In your will, you can generally make three types of gifts:-
A straightforward gift of money known as a ‘pecuniary legacy’
A gift of a certain item (e.g. jewellery, motor car, a shareholding, house and so on) known as a ‘specific gift’ and,
A gift of whatever remains in your estate after such gifts have been made and all debts settled known as a ‘residuary gift’ or ‘residue’.

The next section is where you will tell us how you wish your estate to be distributed and some points to bear in mind before you do so are: -

Unless you say otherwise, a beneficiary will inherit at the age of 18;

Gifts to UK established charities are free of inheritance tax;

If you leave a specific gift and you do not have this item when you die (e.g. it has been sold, given away or lost) the beneficiary will get nothing;

It may be wise to include a substitute beneficiary in case the intended beneficiary dies before you, this is particularly so in the case of a Residuary Gift. Typical examples might be a gift to children passing on to grandchildren or a gift to a friend passing on to charity;

If you have a pet, you may wish to include instructions about what is to happen to them after your death and any financial contribution you wish to make to their future upkeep.

If you want to leave your personal possessions to an individual or your executors, you can refer in your will to a ‘Letter of Wishes regarding Personal Possessions’ and ask the individual(s) or your executors to distribute your personal possessions according to that Letter. The letter is not legally binding and is not part of your will and you can change the letter at any time before you die without changing your will.

In the spaces below, please tell us about the gifts you wish to make in your will. For example, you can give cash, bank accounts, shares, paintings, jewellery, or other specific items etc. Do you want to include a clause in your will giving your personal possession to an individual or to your executors to distribute according to a letter of wishes? If so, please provide details.

Charities rely heavily on legacies to carry out their good work. 75% of people support charities during their lifetime but often are unaware that they can support charities after they have died by making a gift in their will. If you want to support charities, you can consider giving a fixed amount or a percentage of your estate. There is a tax advantage of leaving money to charity. If your estate had to pay inheritance tax on your death, if you leave 10% or more of your estate to charity, your estate pays a rate of 36% inheritance tax, instead of 40%.

The residee is the rest of a deceased person's estate which is left after the payment of specific gifts, debts, funeral expenses and inheritance tax.

It can occasionally be useful to have the following information and so, if appropriate and you wish to, please complete the following: