Who do you want to decide who looks after your children and your assets, You or the court?
Organising life insurance can sometimes be a very morbid subject to talk about and it can take a lot of thinking before someone even looks into setting themselves up. But, nobody seems to be talking about protecting your assets once you have them secured.
here at Your Choice Cover, we can help you with 3 types of protection for your assets and family's future.
Wills
A Will is a distribution document that states what will happen to your assets upon your death, who gets what if you have children who will become their legal guardians etc but offers no protection to this. This is where a Trust comes into play (we will discuss this further in this article).
If the worst-case scenario were to happen to you and you don't have a will in place your family or partner can come into a lot of problems when trying to sort out your affairs and distribute your assets to the correct people.
But who is entitled to will?
Anyone over the age of 18 is entitled to set up a will, no matter what their marital status may be or if they are single. If you have children under 18 having a will is essential as this is the only way a parent can appoint legal guardians to look after the children if anything were to happen to you.
What are the consequences of not having a will?
Did you know? Just because you're married doesn't mean the other partner automatically inherits your estate/assets, unless stated otherwise in a Will.
If you are unmarried, even if you are in a long-term relationship, in the eyes of the law you are seen as "friends" not partners and they are entitled to nothing, again unless a Will states otherwise. Your partner will be placed at the bottom of the list, below; parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and even cousins (Even if the deceased no longer kept in contact with these family members).
If you have children under the age of 18 and something were to happen to you, they won't automatically go to the person you would prefer unless stated in your Will. Courts will decide who will look after your children in the event that both parents pass. Children are often put into temporary foster care until the courts make this decision and this can take months.
On top of all of the above, you will encounter a lot of courts and legal fees to gain the inheritance & life insurance policy.
Do you want your assets that you've worked hard for protected or would you prefer to give it up to the state?
Trusts
So now you have the insurance, you have your Will all setup. But how are you going to protect this?
This is where a Trust comes into effect. A Trust protects the assets owned by you but gives no instructions as to where these assets need to be distributed and to whom. Wills & Trusts work hand in hand and would be foolish to have one without the other.
A trust can protect the inheritance from the beneficiary. Let's play out a scenario to paint a picture, you have 2 children and both you and your partner pass away leaving your assets stated in your will to the two children. They cant inherit this amount of money due to their age so it will go to their legal guardian again which is stated in your Will. Not this legal guardian goes through a bad divorce and is forced by the courts to split everything with their ex-partner. They now have access to half of the amount of the inheritance as it's not protected.
A Trust can also help if the children have physical or mental disabilities and are unable to manage such a large inheritance, a Trust can help them with this. You have insurance for your life, why not for the assets you've worked hard all your life for?
Lasting Power Of Attorney
Did you know? A&E doctors are required by law to report loss of mental capacity due to an accident etc within 48 hours to the Court of Protection (CoP). After that has happened all assets including joint bank accounts are then frozen until a deputy is appointed through CoP.
The cost of this can be anything between £5,000 - £8,000 to set up with an on-going annual cost of £1,800 - £2,000 until full recovery or death.
The law states you can delegate decisions about financial and health matters to a 3rd party such as a family member, friend, loved one etc. whilst you have the mental capacity to do so. Once you have lost the mental capacity to make this decision all rights are taken away and are left to social services for health care and the CoP for financial matters.
Now we understand this is a lot of information to take in, within one article and sometimes deciding the best choice for you can seem a bit confusing but we are here to help. Give one of our friendly customer care team a call and we can get the correct information tailored to you and your needs.
We don't sell insurance and services, we protect families.
Call us today on 0333 188 7617.
Your Choice Cover
12 Celtic Trade Park, Bruce Road Fforestfach, Swansea, SA5 4EP
Phone: 0333 772 1284
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