General Chat

Ive just read the Mail and from what I can make out you are ok if you jointly own the house - if one of you dies the other gets it - its if both of you go, the kids get landed with the tax. It says something about arranging to leave your separate halves to the kids in trust so that you can avoid them paying out. I wonder if the free will costs covers something like that or just a basic thing?

Anne Yes - the law very quietly changed last year. Prior to that, there was no IT when one spouse died, leaving everything to the other spouse. Now the law has changed and the surviving spouse IS liable for IT on half of the estate.This may lead to the surviving spouse having to sell their home. OC

I think the £1000 for a will mentioned in the mail is for quite a complicated one that ties up all the money and splits it so the inheritance tax allowance is split. It said it needed a specialist solicitor to do it. It was not for an ordinary basic will. ann Glos

Janet Yes - not many people know this, lol! The value of the house has to be given by two independent Estate Agents. IT is paid on that valuation BUT - the IT is adjusted after the property is sold. In my case, this meant an extra £10k, because the delay in selling the property (because I couldnt pay the IT) meant an increase in the eventual selling price. It was truly a nightmare time. During which, I had to pay for the upkeep of my father's house (insurance, poll tax etc). which was yet more money to find. Oh, and you can forget 'tapering relief', that is a big con. 'Tapering relief' means you can give away money and property before your death. If you do this more than seven years before your death, that value does not attract IT. But if you die within the seven year period, then the value of what you have given away, attracts tapering relief on IT. In theory. But in fact what happens is - say you gave away £300,000 worth of assets six years before you died, and you left £100,000 worth of assets. Your estate will be valued at £400,000, and the bit which attracts IT is taken off the TOP of that. This is difficult to explain, but the tapering relief on IT, basically comes out of the 'free' bit at the bottom, not the taxed bit at the top. A big con. OC

Hi, did you know its Will Aid month in November - you can get your will done 'free' by a local solicitor for a recommended donation to the charities of £110 for a couple £75 for a single will. If you are not able to afford that you can pay whatever you feel you can afford. Check it out on the website http://www.willaid.org.uk/

I had no idea that IT had to be paid before probate. How ridiculous. I guess it would work in your favour if you were super rich or were friendly with an estate agent who could lie about the value of the property concerned. I can't think of another tax that you have to pay before receiving the benefit. (Council tax is ongoing)

Can I add to what Anne has said. Inheritance Tax has to be paid BEFORE you can get your hands on any money from the deceased Estate, and you cannot therefore sell the house first, as it is not yours to sell until you have paid IT, and been granted Probate. My late father left a very careful Will. The IT bill was in excess of £40k and I did not have a single penny to pay this! Protracted negotiations with the Tax man allowed me to defray the portion of IT which would come from the sale of the house but I still had to find £26K up front before they would grant me probate. So, when making your Will, please think about your family - will they have enough cash of their own, to pay your IT bill? Remember they cannot touch a penny of your money until the IT bill is paid. One way round this is to have some money in National Savings-type investments - NSI can transfer any money in the deceased's account straight to the Inland Revenue, to pay off the IT bill. One or two Building Societies will also do this - but you need to check with each specific BS what their policy is. General High St Banks WON'T do this. I can tell you from experience that it was an utter nightmare trying to borrow this money, no Bank would entertain me, even though I had a watertight Will.I did it privately in the end, at a huge rate of interest - I had no choice. OC

A will certainly should not cost that much.. For people over 50, at certain times of the year some solicitors will draw up a will free of charge.

Making a will should cost NOTHING like £1000! As mentioned above there are ways of reducing the inheritance tax bill for your loved ones. Not many people seem to realise that you have to pay the Inheritance tax BEFORE the will goes to probate. On this year's calcualtions your loved ones are allowed £285,000 free of tax but pay 40% on the remainder. So if your house sells for £450,000 they would have to pay about £66,000 up front BEFORE they get any money from the sale. I speak as one who is dealing with this at the moment! Your solicitor/financial advisor can help you find ways of reducing this bill via trust etc. Anne

Hi Aileen, we have just re-written ours, we have to have 2 one for Spain and one for the U.K,because of the different laws concerning inheritence here. We paid just over 500 euros for both wills, Im sure you can get it done for far less than 1,000 pounds. Why not phone round a few lawyers,and get quotes for them. you must get it done by a lawyer, you can really drop yourself in it if dont,just one word out of place and it can change the whole will. Roxanne xx

Have PM'd ya. Diana xx

I dont know the ins and outs, but a solicitor would advise you how to reduce the taxes. My gran sold her house (on paper i suppose) to my dad and his sister, they then had to make a will allowing her to stay in the property til she died. How it all works i dont know, but it made a huge saving and wasnt illegal.

Hi Strump, The internet is so slow today I'm almost falling asleep. I think its the Inheritance Tax issue which bumps the money up when you make a will. Next year if you have property over £300k then you have to pay 40% to the government on the excess. Aileen xx ps will probably be in my box by the time you get this post!

My will cost £180 (plus £65 for his time i guess) which was done through a solicitor.£1000 seems very high.

Just been reading The Mail and it has a big double page spread on making wills. So embarassed, we haven't made one and are in our 50s. Private pensions we have had for years are worth diddly. Only asset now is our home which at today's prices is worth about £450k. I'm b******d if part of our estate when we kick the bucket goes to the tax man and not to our children/g/kids. Looks like it will cost about £1,000 to get the type of will that ensures that doesn't happen. Any advise gratefully accepted. Aileen xxx