Just because your parent(s) are rich, doesn’t mean you’re going to inherit a pound or even a penny.
That’s not strictly true of course, because if you’re under eighteen or over eighteen and they financially support you, they have to leave you a reasonable amount (subject to minimum amounts set by law) under the family provision laws in England and Wales. In Scotland it’s slightly different because the law states minimum amounts the children must be left, whatever the age.
However, if you’re over eighteen you might not want Simon Cowell or Nigella Lawson as your parent(s), or you might just go with their views and see the moral right side of their wishes.
Simon Cowell, famous for his shows X Factor and Pop Idol; is reportedly worth around £100 million. It appears he hadn’t made a Will until recently and was only then prompted to do so by his mother. We won’t know the contents of his will until after his death (which will hopefully not be for many tens of years) but it is rumoured to contain clauses that leave just £10 million (we say the word ‘just’ very carefully!) to his girlfriend (someone tell him he needs to update his will if he marries) with the other £90 million going to charities. The animal and children’s charities will receive the money tax free as gifts to qualified charities from legacies are inheritance tax exempt. It will include his worldwide assets like his two new Barbados properties worth at least eight million.
Nigella Lawson, celebrity television chef, together with her husband are worth slightly more, £110 million. The former Conservative party chancellor‘s daughter doesn’t say what she wants to do with her money on her death, but she does say it won’t go to her children.
Sorry Ms Lawson, but as they’re under eighteen you’d better make provision for them otherwise a judge will over-rule your will. We wonder if she’s going to leave any to her husband. If not, he might have reason to question the will. As it stands her husband doesn’t agree with her decision and they’re going to have to agree to disagree.
Getting couples to agree with the legacies in their wills is not necessary, but some understanding is. You can’t leave money to someone and then tell them what to do with it. If this last couple leave money to each other, then their wishes long term won’t be met; they’ll have to make decisions based upon their own financial shares and on first death, if what they want to happen, will definitely happen and only then subject to the law at that time.
That’s why it pays dividends to keep up to date with the law and changes in will writing. Your LSUK consultant will keep you up to date and brief you with any suggested revisions if law changes. Storing your wills with LSUK ensures that regular communication is fundamental.
Filed under: News
If a person REALLY wants to prevent their children from getting money it wouldn’t be hard to stop them especially in the cases where they assets of the people in question aren’t fixed. Moving the money to another country so long as it’s done legally would put that money and assets under the laws of the countries it resides.
I’d like to agree and I’m sure this is what happens sometimes, but if a client is domiciled in the UK, the UK tax office have jurisdiction over worldwide assets, whatever happens to them wherever they are, when a client dies. The tax office will bill the Inheritance Tax on all assets everywhere, even if they are in an IHT free zone elsewhere.
Ms Lawson has now issued a statement on her website, saying she wanted to clarify the situation to save her children more embarrassment.
“Of course I have no intention of leaving my children destitute and starving - rather, this is a story that came from a comment I made about my belief that you have to work in order to learn the value of money,” it reads.
“I have always said of my children that once they have finished university or training, whatever education they choose, they have to support themselves through work, as I did, but I have never discussed the details of my will with anyone.
“The story that has been circulating is not a true reflection of my intentions and, although I’d normally ignore it, I want to set the record, not least to spare my children continuing embarrassment.”
LUSK are pleased to be able to update their readers.
We are often asked for advice by married couples and civil partners who want to leave something to their children but are worried about the inheritance tax consequences. We almost always advise the creation of a “nil rate band” trust whereby the £300000 threshold is placed into trust and can then be used by the children or at the trustees’ discretion without tax having to be paid. However every case is different and we will always make sure that we tailor our advice to the clients’ needs.
What this does show is that even those who should know better really do need the advice of experts when inheritance matters are considered. The danger of this sort of article, when it appears in the tabloid press, is that the offbeat advice of celebrities is taken as fact. On these “facts” people then base their decisions to make decisions that will have a long lasting effect on their heirs and successors after they have gone. My advice is to always, but always, take the advice of the relevant experts.