Estate planning

Estate planning is the process of arranging how a person's assets, responsibilities and wishes will be handled both during any period of incapacity and after death. In the UK it is generally delivered through four instruments: a will, a Lasting Power of Attorney, trusts, and lifetime gifting.

It is broader than will writing. A will deals only with death. Estate planning also deals with the years before it, which for many families are the harder ones.

What it covers#

Why the incapacity half is underrated#

Most public discussion of estate planning is about inheritance tax and who gets what. In practice, the part that causes families the most immediate distress is capacity.

Without an LPA, a spouse has no automatic authority over their husband's or wife's finances. The route is a deputyship application to the Court of Protection — expensive, slow, and supervised. It is the single most preventable crisis in this field.

Who does it in the UK#

Solicitors, will writers, estate planners, and increasingly financial advisers and accountants extending what they already do for the same clients.

Will writing is not a reserved legal activity in England and Wales. There is no compulsory qualification and no regulator. That makes training and accreditation a matter of professional choice rather than legal requirement — which is why they matter. See do you need qualifications to write wills.

Related#

What is a will writer? · Estate planning software · Training