In 21^st century society when we are more socially mobile than ever before, it is not uncommon to have some sort of asset in another country. More often than not this will be a property, possibly used for holiday purposes or with a view to being your retirement retreat. Testament to this is the fact that in 2016 there were some 300,000 Brits living in Spain and more than 150,000 setting up home in France. However, with Brexit looming, there are concerns about buying and visiting property abroad. For those that have already bought a property abroad or are pushing ahead with buying their dream in spite of Brexit, questions remain unanswered over what will happen to the property when they die as we will no longer be subject to EU law.

Last year, that Mrs Ilott, an estranged daughter ‘written out’ of her mother’s Will, was awarded £164,000 from her mother’s estate made headlines. The English case concerned the Will of Mrs Jackson who died in 2004. As noted in a previous blog (available to read here), Mrs Jackson had left a majority of her estate to charities, expressly instructing her executors to defend any challenge to her Will brought by her daughter, explaining in a letter that: ‘I have made it clear to my daughter during her lifetime that she can expect no inheritance from me when I die’.

The Inheritance Tax allowance for married homeowner couples is set to increase to £1 million by 2020. Each parent will be able to leave £500,000 in property – up from the current £325,000 per person – without paying Inheritance Tax. This is great news for the rising number of people whose estates are now falling within the inheritance tax band. The upsurge in house prices have seen swathes of families now facing inheritance tax bills where no long ago it was the reserve of the wealthy. Effective tax planning can serve to minimise, or eliminate any Inheritance Tax liability. At 40%, your loved ones can lose a significant amount of their inheritance to taxes. Speak to one of our solicitors to see if we can help if you think your loved ones’ inheritance may be affected by Inheritance tax.

Many people have a very pre-set idea of what it means to plan for a time when they pass away, or ‘estate planning’ to use traditional legal terminology. They will know that this will involve bringing together an index of their property that they own and setting down in their will what is to happen to this when they pass away. For most people, this fairly simple idea of estate planning is as involved as they will need to get, and as complex as their will needs to be. However, for some people, they will have more to consider and this will need to be included in the terms of their will. The issue is that the idea of a ‘modern family’ has changed significantly over the past many years. As a result, estate planning has developed to keep pace with this.