To protect your kids

If you have no will and you and your partner die, who would look after the children? People assume grandparents or their own brothers and sisters (the kid’s uncles and aunties). However, this is wrong – the kids become wards of court and the authorities will decide what happens. Sometimes they can go in to care whilst a decision is being made. If mum and dad aren’t married, if mum dies, dad doesn’t just get them if there is no will! Sounds harsh but can, and does, happen.

Protect your assets

A will, and more importantly for some people, a trust can control how the assets they leave behind are used. Lots of people have wills that say at 18 their children can inherit – but do you really trust your children at 18 to be sensible with your assets?! People don’t think this through, surely you would want the money to be drip fed to your children to ensure they are not spoilt or don’t waste it? Is 18 the right age? Surely nowadays, in the majority of cases it is older than that.

Following this theme on, if you leave everything to your spouse and you die young, do you think they will stay single for the rest of their lives? If they remarry and die before their new partner your house and assets could end up with another family! Proper Will and Trust planning can ensure that your assets stay with your family and don’t end up with future partners of your spouse