We touch upon the immense StressBusting™ benefits of having a properly executed will in place alongside any relevant insurances to protect loved ones in our post entitled "Wills, Insurance, Powers of Attorney & Life Planning as Stressbusting™ Essentials".
We then talk in our post entitled "Balancing "time travel" to StressBust™ - Our "15/60/25 Rule" about allocating a healthy amount of brain time to the past, the present and the future respectively; and the preparation of a will which well captures and documents your intentions is undoubtedly a critical element of the 25% of energy allocation a person should give to the future.
After all, even if a person's asset position is low and therefore the combination of their assets for distribution small, familes can still derive great comfort from a will which demonstrates they were thought about and clearly defines what kind of funeral process the deceased wanted.
So, in this post we talk about what kinds of specific questions a person should be asking themselves in advance of or during the process of preparation of a will. And given the vast experience we and our partners have had in preparing and interpreting wills, we felt the best way to do this would be to provide precisely the same questionnaire as we would use to establish the needs for a particular will were we undertaking such an exercise for ourselves or others.
The questions that therefore follow are intended to offer food for thought to all people, including employees, executives and shareholders of companies, considering making provision by way of will for the future, to ensure those plans best suit their own particular circumstances. The questions are not necessarily exhaustive and if in doubt specialist input should be sought, as the content of a will can affect inheritance tax treatment and be challenged in the event of procedural irregularity or in certain other circumstances.
If you can relate to the contents of this post and the questions laid out below, so would like the further value of our extensive expertise in this area, please reach out to us in confidence via our "Contact" page.
For further information in this regard, please consult our "Legal Notices" page
We hope you find the below sample questionnaire to be of use and positively thought provoking:-
-Questions relevant to the content and preparation of a will-
1. Who should be the executor and replacement executor of your estate should your primary choice predecease you? Have you spoken to them and what are their full names and addresses?
2. What is the estimated total value of the assets comprising your Will that will transfer under your Will (excluding life insurance policies which sit outside the terms of your Will)? Please list the assets and respective values below.
3. Do you wish to make any lifetime gifts subject to the 7 year rule, such as a gift of a particular class of shares to family members subject to trust or a real property transfer? If so, which assets and to whom (please provide full asset details and full names and addresses of proposed beneficiaries)?
4. Do you have any pre nuptial arrangements or contracts in place that may impact the intentions of your Will? If so or in doubt, please provide full details and copy contracts for review.
5. Do you have any life / critical illness / business key person insurance policies or private/state/occupational pensions in place to benefit those you love or others? If so, please list details of relevant provider(s) alongside level of coverage/value, together with full names and addresses of primary & substitute nominees or beneficiaries.
6. Do the policies and nominees/beneficiaries need changed or updated given the proposed content of your Will or more generally? If so, how?
7. Who do you want to leave your inheritance to, at what age(s), under what trust arrangements if any and in what assets? Please provide full asset details alongside beneficiaries’ full names and addresses.
8. Are any of the proposed beneficiaries under your Will incapable or subject to disability and thus require trust or other provision made for them on your death? If so, please provide details of precise conditions suffered alongside full names and addresses of beneficiaries and related trustees?
9. Do you want to exclude anyone from your Will? If so, who (please provide full names and addresses)?
10. Are there any children who you need looked after or in relation to which guardians need appointed? If so, please provide full names and addresses of both the children and guardians.
11. Do you hold any wealth or assets abroad or in trust? If so, please provide full details of them and where they are held.
12. Do you want to leave any specific possessions to anyone? If so, please provide detail together with names and addresses of beneficiaries.
13. Do you hold assets of high value which are insured and which you would expect to form part of your estate? If so, please provide precise details of insurance (including policy numbers) and full names and addresses of any substitute beneficiaries or nominees to yourself.
14. Do you sole trade, hold any publically listed shares or hold private shares either directly or in trust? If so, please list them below including full trading/company business names together with precise numbers of shares or interests held.
15. Who do you want to inherit your business and/or share interests and in what proportion(s)? Please provide specific details of the business shares or interests in question together with such proportions, alongside the corresponding full names and addresses of beneficiaries.
16. Do your company’s articles of association need updated, or does a shareholders agreement need amended or prepared, to ensure that the wishes in your Will can be effectively implemented? If so or in doubt, please provide a copy of your Articles together with any existing shareholders agreement and we can guide you accordingly.
17. Do you want to leave anything to charity and if so, what assets and which charities? Please provide full names and addresses of the charities alongside the assets you wish them to receive.
18. Are there any conditions to be attached to receipt of any of the inheritances mentioned above? If so, please detail them.
19. What would you wish to happen to relevant assets if any of the above proposed beneficiaries sadly predeceased you?
20. Who would you like to receive the residual (remaining) estate after all the above have been paid? Please provide full names and addresses and assets breakdown alongside those names as appropriate.
21. Are you looking to derive the benefit of any relevant married couple tax allowances?
22. Do you envisage any challenges to the above content of your Will after you die (as if so, you may wish to prepare a Letter of Wishes to accompany the Will and reason your decisions)?
23. Do you have any powers of attorney in place for finances and/or healthcare should you lose capacity during your lifetime? If so, please provide full names and addresses for those who hold such power(s) and date(s) of the power(s) of attorney.
24. What are your funeral wishes in terms of type and venue(s), and what do you wish to happen to your body?
25. Where do you intend to store your Will and have you conveyed these intentions to your executor(s).
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