by johnireland | Estate Planning Essentials
This is the decision parents postpone longest. Fees and Executors get dealt with quickly; the question of who would raise the children if both parents could not is left open for years — which leaves it to be settled by other people at the worst possible moment. What...
by johnireland | Articles
For decades, Business Property Relief was the quiet reason many family companies passed from one generation to the next without being broken up. Qualifying business assets attracted 100% relief from Inheritance Tax. The value did not matter. A trading company worth...
by johnireland | Articles
A generation ago, an Executor’s first task was to go through a filing cabinet. Bank statements, share certificates, insurance policies and title deeds were physical objects, and finding them was mostly a question of patience. Today a substantial part of the...
by johnireland | Articles
Of all the decisions involved in making a Will, this is the one that stops people. Fees, Executors, even the division of an estate are dealt with briskly. Then the question arrives — who would raise your children if you and their other parent could not — and the...
by johnireland | Estate Planning Essentials
When a business owner dies, practical problems start immediately, long before probate is granted. A sole trader’s bank account, or any account in a personal name, is frozen the moment the bank hears of the death, stopping payments to staff and suppliers...
