PLANS to charge bereaved families up £6,000 to gain control over their loved one’s estate – known as probate – have been scrapped by the Government. Applying for probate currently costs a flat rate of £215 regardless of the value of the estate, but this could have risen to up to £20,000 for the […]

  Families are risking the future of their loved ones’ inheritance due to confusion over Wills, new research has shown. People either do not fully understand the rules of intestacy, which come into play if you die without a Will, or assume their family will agree on how to divide assets without a dispute. According […]

  MILLIONS of pounds could be generated for charities across the UK by a new initiative launched by Family Estate Planning’s (FEP) partner company. Countrywide Tax & Trust Corporation is to introduce new prompts about charitable giving – also known as legacy giving – into its Will-writing software. This means that Wills written with Family […]

  INHERITANCE Tax (IHT) needs to be scrapped completely according to an overwhelming number of residents in the Wokingham and Reading areas, a new survey has revealed. Some 90% of residents who were polled said that IHT was “unfair” and should no longer be imposed on the British public. The remaining 10% believe it is […]

  Parents are putting their standard of living in retirement at risk by helping children onto the housing ladder, a new report has revealed. Collectively parents gave £6.3 billion last year – an average of £24,100 per family – meaning they would rank 10th if they were a mortgage lender. The report, from Legal & […]

  COPING with the aftermath of a loved one’s death is hard enough without the added stress of financial pressures relating to Inheritance Tax (IHT). Yet bereaved families are finding themselves forced to pay high rates of interest on outstanding IHT bills because of lengthy delays with the granting of probate. An investigation by Telegraph […]

  Childless couple are being unfairly penalised by Inheritance Tax (IHT) rules in what Family Estate Planning’s director Andy Pulford has called a “glaring inequality”. Andy said the current rules penalise people who do not have children and are “completely unfair”. He is urging the Office of Tax Simplification to address the issue as it […]

  The number of people registering a Lasting Power of Attorney has more than doubled in the past three years, according to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). Registrations of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA), which allow people to choose someone they trust to take care of their health or financial affairs, have reached […]

  VAT should be removed from the cost of writing a Will that includes a charitable legacy, according to a major new report. The report, issued by the Charity Tax Commission, states that making charitable Wills tax exempt would give solicitors a greater incentive to raise the questions of whether someone wants to leave a […]

  A QUARTER of all estates liable for Inheritance Tax (IHT) are now being probed by HM Revenue & Customs each year, an investigation has revealed. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by wealth management firm Quilter has found that some 5,537 investigations were carried out in the last year by the authority. This represents […]