CASE STUDIES

1.New Partner

Miss A has a child from a previous relationship and now has a new partner. They live together but the house is owned by Miss A.

Miss A is happy that, in the event of her death, her partner should be able to continue to live in the home and care for her child but she is concerned that her child should inherit her home in due course.

A Will was prepared which appointed Miss A as partner guardian for the child. The Will left the home to the child but gave a right of residence to the partner for life.

Note. There were lots of options for Miss A. She could have allowed the partner the right to occupy the home for a set period- perhaps until the child reached 21, or perhaps for life or until the partner remarried or cohabited.

2. Unequal Assets

Mr B had a wife with whom he had a daughter. His wife had been married before and had two sons from that marriage. Mr B owned the family home and had other assets in his own name of £600,000. Mrs B had no assets of her own.

Mr B wanted to make generous provision for his wife but wanted to make sure that his daughter inherited the bulk of his estate in due course.

A Will was prepared gifting the family home to his wife. The remaining assets were placed in trust for his daughter allowing the income from that trust to be paid to Mrs B for life.

Note. In this case a Flexible Life Interest Trust was used to allow the Trustees to vary the terms of the trust in response to changes in the law or family circumstances. This provision could be really useful as this trust could potentially be in existence for 50 years.

3. Children of Varying Ages

Mr & Mrs C had three children aged 2, 14 and 18.

They wanted to leave their estate to be divided equally between their children but recognised that this could be very unfair if they were to die while the children were still young. The eldest child would inherit 1/3rd of the estate wheras the youngest child would inherit 1/3rd of the estate less the cost of her maintenance and education whilst she was growing up.

The Will left the entire estate in a trust under the terms of which the trustees were allowed to pay out any amount at any time to any of the children. A separate Memorandum of Wishes left guidance to the Trustees to use their discretion to ensure that the children were treated equally.