I need to change my Will but am confused and don't know what to do!

[carina62]

I already have a Will but I need to change it now as I used to have a 2nd property which I have now sold. I will just explain my situation - I live with my partner, my house with mortgage is in my sole name. I have a daughter, her partner and 2 grandsons. I want to make my Will as easy and uncomplicated as possible. I want to leave my house to my daughter and grandsons but I also want my partner to be looked after ie I wouldn't want say my daughter to evict him so that she could sell the house.

What is the best way forward in this? I appreciate any advice. Thanks

[Kati]

Re: I need to change my Will but am confused and don't know what to do!

tagging [MENTION=85500]Peridot[/MENTION] xx

[enaid]

Re: I need to change my Will but am confused and don't know what to do!

You can write a new will and destroy the old one by burning or shredding and making sure the new will revokes any previous wills or codicils.

[Peridot]

Re: I need to change my Will but am confused and don't know what to do!

Hi again Carina,
The fact that you have sold a property shouldn't make a difference you are leaving your estate, whatever that entails at the relevant time. You will need the will to provide your partner with a right to reside at the property until such event as you decide takes place. You would need to give details of the current property but you can also include a phrase that would allow for a future move for example - or such residential property that I own at the date of my death.
You will need to consider what events should trigger his losing the right to reside, such as marriage or co-habiting for example as well as the obvious death or admission to care home. You also need to consider who would be responsible for bills and insurance while your partner is living there.
I would recommend that you go to a solicitor for this, as although a very common type of clause you need to make sure that it is drafted correctly to ensure your wishes are met. A will writing company will often charge far more and you may not get what you need!
It should not be a huge amount more expensive than a basic will as this is a common scenario and you are not trying to create a difficult trust. You probably need some advice on inheritance tax and how this would need to be dealt with. I suggest you contact local solicitors to you to check out their fixed fee options explaining that you need to create a right to reside for your partner. You could look on LBCompare for your local fixed fee options.
If I can help further do post again.

[carina62]

Re: I need to change my Will but am confused and don't know what to do!

Thanks for that. Basically, I also do not want my house to be sold in the event of care home fees, I would rather leave it to my family. I know when my parents passed away, they did a Will which involved 'severing the property' ie my mother's half of the property was protected in case of care home events. It turned out that my mother passed away first and my father was severely disabled but he remained in the property until he died but if this had not been done, it could well have turned out that my father would have needed to go into a care home and then the house would have had to be sold. I would like to include in my Will the fact that I would not want my property sold for care home fees. I assume this is still possible?

[enaid]

Re: I need to change my Will but am confused and don't know what to do!

Am afraid you can not state that in your will, but you need proper advice to get round it and it is not always possible with that.
http://lbcompare.co.uk/

[Peridot]

Re: I need to change my Will but am confused and don't know what to do!

Hi Carina,
I'm afraid Enaid is right, no one can protect assets for their children if they need care home fees paying. If someone is living at the property then the property can't be sold. In addition Local Authorities are wising up to the various attempts by people to protect assets, particularly property for their beneficiaries. If transfers of property to others and certain trust scenarios have been created then they are able to 'look behind' the arrangement and unravel it if needs be. If it is deemed that the arrangement was to avoid care fees then they can still claim the monies. I would never recommend transferring the property from your name in any even,t as this leaves you in a potentially very vulnerable position, with no assets of your own and another person able to sell the property from under you!
Basically, I am afraid you can't win. Severing tenancies is slightly different as they would only be able to look at the half share value, for calculating funding. These scenarios would only occur once one of the partners has passed away leaving their share of the property to someone other than their partner/spouse. If the partner/spouse then required care then only the half share they own would be taken into consideration when calculating care fee assessment so half the property value would not have been included and in effect is 'protected'. This can create other issues in the event the surviving partner does not receive a right to live in the 'other half' of the property that has been left to children for example, so careful will drafting is necessary. This is not the situation here though, as the property is in your sole name.
Hopefully it will not be necessary for you to go into a care home. If you needed to, then all assets have to be declared and owning a property (assuming there is some equity in it above £23k approx.) then you would be ineligible for assistance.
Care is very expensive and unfortunately with the aging population is becoming more common. The Local Authorities are however trying to enable people to stay in their own homes for as long as possible and care can be provided in the home which then is funded by way of a charge against the property that would be redeemable upon death and/or sale. Of course if there is another way of funding the care then the house could be retained and the fees paid from elsewhere, whether by someone else paying or if you had other assets to use. This is not an option for most of us however.
Unfortunately we have to look after ourselves nowadays. We work hard for what we acquire during our lives, and in the future although it would be lovely to pass things on the children and others, it is not something that can be a priority any longer.
We are no longer living in a society that is necessarily able to take in and look after elderly family members who require full time care so we need to be selfish about how we will be looked after, if the need arises.
I definitely recommend talking your will over with a solicitor but if anyone says they know how to prevent you paying care fees I really would take it with a large pinch of salt (and maybe go elsewhere!)
Enjoy life, maybe consider helping family out while you are here, if that is possible and see their smiles, rather than waiting until you've gone. Don't put yourself in a vulnerable position though as you never know what will happen in the future.