The father, a successful builder, had died at 62. His partner of 15 years sat opposite me. She was not his wife. His two adult children from a first marriage sat beside her. He had always said he would ‘sort things out’. He never did.
He had no will. Under the rules of intestacy, his partner was entitled to nothing. Not a penny. The home they shared, which was in his sole name, would go to his children. His £1.2 million estate was now theirs to control. The tension in that room was absolute. This is what happens when a plan does not exist.
The Anatomy of a Failure
A recent survey found over 50% of people over the age of 55 have not written a will. The top reason is simply not getting around to it. The family in my office is the direct result of that delay. The failure was structural. There was no will, so the law's default settings applied. These laws do not recognise unmarried partners.
Intestacy meant his children inherited everything. Because they are not his spouse, the £1.2 million estate faces an Inheritance Tax bill of approximately £190,000 that could have been avoided. All of this was preventable. A simple trust in his will could have protected his partner, provided for his children, and eliminated the tax.
Planning Is Not a Single Document
A will is the cornerstone. But a complete plan considers more. Did he have a Lasting Power of Attorney for his business interests? No. If he had become incapacitated instead of dying, his accounts would have been frozen, and his business would have stalled. The correct LPA would have given his appointed attorney immediate authority to pay staff and keep contracts going.
These documents are not about wealth. They are about control and clarity. They replace ambiguity with certainty. They are a statement of your wishes, legally expressed. The planning protects the people you care about from the cold mechanics of the law, and from each other.
If any of this sounds familiar, we should have a conversation. The first one is always the hardest, but it is better to have it now.
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Written by Sean Kiani, Estate Planner at Inheritance Made Simple. Sean writes and reviews the firm's guidance on estate planning, wills, trusts and inheritance tax, and works with families across Bournemouth, Poole, Dorset and Central London. Verify Sean's Society of Will Writers membership listing.