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BUDGET 2024 The Changes To Inheritance tax

The budget 2024, our new Government has decided in it's first budget to raise further income for the Treasury by increasing Inheritance Tax. Whilst the rates have not increased the existing allowances (ie nil rate bands), have been extended for a further fixed period...

A Right of Residence

A Right of Residence is something you can include in your Will If you own a house and want to make sure that someone can continue living there after your death one of your options is to create a Right of Residence for them. This will make sure that the person keeps...

It pays to be civil

Mixed sex couples can enter a Civil Partnership and enjoy most of the Tax benefits of being married. This is a legal relationship which provides some real financial benefit to those who wish to live together without getting married. The set up costs are nominal...

A Plan for all Seasons

The death of a loved one is an extremely grief ridden time for all family and friends. At such a time you are faced with many things to arrange not the least of which is the funeral. Who to choose to administer it, where to hold it, how to conduct it, how to let...

Bank error – now in your favour

At last eight of the major Banks have signed up to new guidelines to help the public with the use of Lasting Powers of Attorney. They have pledged to improve the way they treat families who help vulnerable relatives with their finances. Applications for Lasting Powers...

Thereby hangs a Parliament

With the results of the General Election now available there is no political party with an overall majority. This means a Hung Parliament This will make it difficult for the largest party to implement its manifesto policies. It is therefore reasonable to expect little...

Protect your assets–‘ Now ‘

According to the Conservative Party manifesto for the forthcoming General Election if they get back into government they intend to reform social care. They plan to include the value of your home residence in the assets to assess your ability to pay for care costs....

Stealth Tax -U-turn

It has now been announced that the Government is not to proceed with the increase in the costs of obtaining Probate. These increases were due to be introduced at the beginning of May but have now been withdrawn. The protest from government back benchers combined with...

A Challenging Time

Figures just released show that during 2015 a record number of 14167 Wills were challenged in the Courts. This represented almost 21% increase over the previous year. The main causes appear to be divorces, remarriages and the ever rising property values in estates of...

Goodbye House

Research carried out for the Royal London Insurance Company found that bills for a typical stay in a care home were likely to be between £50000 and £93000.and that the total would mean a loss of between a fifth and a half of the value of an average house. It found...

Up they Go

A new system of Probate Charges to be introduced in May will see them rocket upwards. The fee payable to Government by Executors of a Will for permission to administer the estate of a deceased person will now be based on a sliding scale. For estates valued between...