Editorials Library

When you die, life goes on for those you leave behind. When you are making your Will, you should consider what you can do to minimise their stress, at a time when grief can affect their mental ability to cope. Your executor is responsible for handling your estate but...

Anyone can write their own Will – and anyone could get it wrong! Make 2022 the year you get it right Why use a professional? You have international assets You live or work overseas You have former relationships and, perhaps, children You have step-children Your...

Statistics show that most parents do not have a Will or a Lasting Power of Attorney. When families are going through loss and bereavement, it can reduce the stress if the deceased had organised their affairs making it as easy as possible for the family. Without a Will...

The requirements for Testamentary Capacity vary internationally but every country requires a testator (the Will maker) to have mental capacity at the time of making their Will. Testamentary capacity means that the person making the Will should understand what a Will...

Personal and Business LPAs A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a legal document where you (donor) can appoint one or more people (attorneys) to help you make decisions or to make decisions for you if you have an accident,  illness and cannot make your own decisions...

Massive amounts of interactions with family, friends and colleagues take place via social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. By uploading, posting, tweeting, sharing, liking and commenting, we accumulate a large amount of digital information and...

Many testators wish to leave gifts or a share of their estate to beneficiaries’ subject to them reaching a certain age, most often to the testator’s children and sometimes to others where they feel the beneficiary will be more mature and capable of managing an...

Benjamin Franklin said ‘in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes’ So why don’t we all have a Will that states who we want to inherit our hard-earned assets? The most common opinions are: I don’t have time to make a Will I can’t think about that now...

In most countries, if someone dies without a Will, family members will inherit their estate according to the intestacy rules in the country they died in. This means that co-habitees would not inherit anything from their partner’s estate. Of course, this can be very...

In some countries, it is not possible to disinherit a family member in your will because forced heirship removes the freedom to do so. It determines which heirs are entitled to receive the assets of a deceased person. The rules vary from country to country, but in...

When someone dies and has not made a Will, they are deemed to have died ‘Intestate’. If there is no Will, any beneficiaries will inherit according to the Intestacy Rules of the country where the assets are situated. Intestacy laws across the world will vary by...

Although you take every care to make sure your Will is correct legally and according to your wishes, there is always the possibility that someone will claim that your Will is not valid. According to the laws of England & Wales, a Will can only be challenged on the...