Whitebrook Wills Blog

With the current newspaper headlines about the impact of Inheritance Tax because someone dies unexpectedly without having made a Will, perhaps a few bullet points might be relevant. 

Did you know that as a married person or civil partner, making a Will can in actually help to reduce the amount of Inheritance Tax finally payable on your joint estate? 

Each person's estate benefits from what is known as the "nil rate band".  This simply means that assets belonging to the estate will only be taxed over the value of £325,000. 

Married persons or civil partners who have both prepared Wills in advance with all assets going to the surviving individual, can then also ensure that these assets qualify for exemption.

In addition, assets left entirely to the partner or spouse in this way, means that the deceased is not deemed to have used their nil rate band and it can be passed onto their other half, which could, in effect, double that person's nil rate band to £650,000 and ensuring that no inheritance tax will need to be paid on any assets under this value in the event of their death, even if they remarry. 

Of course, if no Will is made out then a deceased person's estate will be distributed according to the English laws of intestacy.  This does not necessarily mean that all of their assets will automatically be passed onto the other spouse or partner but may instead be distributed among relatives.  If this occurs, then their estate may not benefit from any exemptions or transfer of nil rate band - a potentially costly mistake.