I think most of  us  like feeling sorry for ourselves from time to time, or all the time in some cases.  However, in my experience, it is far more satisfying for other people to feel sorry for you and then for you to reluctantly join in.     When dying, even your enemies could feel a little sorry to see you go.     Regrettably, this death bed “perk” has been devalued lately by so many dying people just not going due to some last minute medical or spiritual tinkering.  Professionals call it the “Long Goodbye Syndrome”. Legally this really can be very irritating, especially for the beneficiaries.    However, even if it is just a “dummy run”, preparing for death can be a positive experience provided that you choose the right lawyer.  Ideally, choose one a few years younger than yourself.  An older lawyer could steal the limelight and a young lawyer may just not “give a monkey’s”.     You need to try and co...

I am often asked if you should reveal the content of your Will to your adult children. In a perfect world my answer would be absolutely not. This will allow you to change your will for petty reasons, e.g. that they did not ask you to lunch, without upsetting them or appearing senile. If the reason for changing your Will is a good one, inform them after the Will has been changed that they have lost out. The more money that they think you have the more satisfying you may find this. You can always change it back later. However, as clients get older and their fortunes greater, they come under increasing pressure from their adult children to reveal “Who to?”, “How much?” and in some families “How Long?”. Trying to reason with an adult child that their “utterly useless” sibling is more deserving, is not usually accepted as a valid reason for the loss or reduction of their rightful inheritance. Where a step mother or step child is involved such explanations will fall on deaf ears. If you tell...

When elderly people make wills, I encourage a frank discussion about their children to see if there are any particular problems. Some people avoid the subject and say that they have normal children, which I suspect means that they have been traumatized by the experience and cannot speak about it. Adult children seem to range from “competent and never call”, to attentive, to “having trouble sitting the right way round on a toilet seat”. Some have already received more money than the other children, there are spendthrifts married to unreliable spouses, drunken womanizing sons etc. I usually advise against “ruling from the grave” unless there are medical reasons or there is a really serious issue. I feel it is better to spend it before you go (an increasingly popular option) or to divide it between the children equally and let them get on with it. Extract from "A LEGAL GUIDE TO DYING-baby boomer edition" © Paul Brennan 2008-2016. All Rights Reserved.     © Paul.Brennan 2008-2016...

Do you have a few bob?  If not, this is not for you. If so, read on. With wills, as in some other situations in life, size matters. Compare the size of your will with your friends. You will find some will have a whopping 19 pages which you may feel puts your small three pager to shame. “But why bother?”, a client asked me the other day. He has one wife and one child. He plans to leave his wealth to her and if she is dead to his son. His son is capable, not a spend thrift, does not have a drug problem and is happy, hard working, mentally and physically sound.  At that stage of the interview, I began to doubt that it was his son but that is by the by.  Whereas some people get divorced they have decided to fight it out to the bitter end as many of us do. A standard will seemed to fit his situation exactly. However, things change.  He could die, for instance. With such an attractive wife, no doubt someone else would snap her up.  Could this new man set about spendin...

Why did Walt Disney not have something cheesy to say about Step Mothers? Answer: they are a thoroughly bad lot, that’s why. Luckily you decided not to marry again (yet) and although suspicious of the new lady in your life, your adult children have not been too hostile (yet). After three years or so, your minds will turn to making wills. She has no children and is prepared lovingly to give everything to you. You want to see her right but to look after your own children too. You decide to consider carefully what your children will want. Within seconds you guess, “everything”. She will want your home. You give it to her for the duration of her life and then it will go to your children. On your death your children will do the “math” and decide that “your lady” has at least 30 years to go and may see them out. She may make a court claim for full ownership of the house. This is either because she is, understandably, fearful about her future security or a bit of an old bag depending on who yo...

The worst thing about committing a legal mistake is that everyone seems to find it obvious after the event especially your wife/partner. If business owners started to create new, exciting, unique legal mistakes then it would be a real challenge for us lawyers-fortunately for us they do not.  This means that your lawyer has probably seen the legal mistake before and has a good idea what to do.  Although it may not seem that way to you. Many small business legal services can be divided into “deals” where lawyers prepare documents to anticipate and avoid future problems or “disputes” where things did not get documented at the start and the parties come out swinging.  Usually deals are cheaper than disputes.   Experienced business owners are adept at working out when to document and when to wing it. Mistake no. 1        You unexpectedly die and your business stops dead too. This can be very inconvenient. Avoid this by having a will including a busines...

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A person who was about to become a trustee wanted me to assure him that he was not taking any personal risk.  I told him, absolutely not.  Of course, I was joking. Trustees know that if they are fraudulent, reckless or negligent then they can be pursued by the beneficiaries of the trust. But, sportingly, beneficiaries need to catch them first. However, that is not the trustees only problem.  Consider the following: - When you sue a person and they refuse to pay after you have got a judgment/court order the last resort is to make them bankrupt, but it is a little bit fiddly. - When you sue a company, if it does not pay up, you threaten to wind it up.  This is surprisingly easy to do. So what about a trust?  It is a separate legal entity, the sort of place that you put your money to try and shield it from other people e.g. your daughter’s layabout husband.  However, a trust cannot be wound up or made bankrupt.  Fortunately, for the trust’s creditors they...