If you have children under 18 years old
Making will allows you to name people you and your children trust to look after their well-being if you die. Once these wishes are stated clearly in your will, you can be sure your children will be properly protected.
Co-op Legal Services can help you every step of the way to write a will that will name both guardians and trustees for your children. Our will writers make the will writing process as quick and straightforward as possible, and ensure that all the legal aspects of your wishes are properly covered.
Choosing a legal guardian for your children
When making a will, most people focus on what will happen to their assets when they die. But if you have children, it’s also essential to consider who would care for them if you were no longer around. It’s possible to appoint a legal guardian for your children when you make your will.
Parents can appoint a legal guardian to care for their children if they die while the child is under 18. The requirements for formally appointing a legal guardian are very similar to the requirements of putting a will in place. For example, it needs to be in writing and signed in the presence of two witnesses. It’s for this reason that many people incorporate their choice of legal guardian into the terms of their will.
So how do you choose the right legal guardian? Firstly, it’s important to recognise that the guardianship appointment would only take effect if there was no one else alive who already has parental responsibility. So normally the terms of the guardianship appointment would state that it only takes effect if both parents have died.
The next step is to consider who, outside of the natural parents, would be most suitable. Sometimes this is an obvious choice. However, in a lot of instances it’s not so clear cut. You’ll need to consider where they live, their religious or ethical beliefs, their relationship with your child, whether they will want to take on the responsibility of raising your child.
Some of the key factors to consider when choosing a legal guardian include:
In addition to these challenges, it is important to understand the impact of appointing a guardian who is not resident in the UK. Whilst guardianship may be authorised, there could be issues obtaining the correct visas; either for the guardian to live in the UK or for your children to go and live abroad.
When it comes to choosing a guardian, there’s no right or wrong answer, other than what you feel would be in the best interests of your child.
If you have children over 18 years old
If you die without a will in England or Wales, your estate (your home, car, bank accounts, investments and anything else you own) will be distributed in accordance with the rules of intestacy, which govern who will inherit your estate when you are gone.
The rules of intestacy state that all children will receive their inheritance outright at the age of 18, whatever their financial position or their levels of maturity. The rules of intestacy also state that, if your children are entitled to benefit, then your estate will be divided up equally between all your children (excluding stepchildren), which may not be what you want.
Making a will can ensure that your grown-up children receive their inheritance when you choose. It may be that you want them to inherit at age 21 or 25 rather than age 18, or perhaps you’d prefer that they had a share of their inheritance at age 18 and receive the remainder at a later date.
Writing a will can also ensure that money or other gifts given to your children during your lifetime can be taken into account, helping to minimise disputes between your children after you die.
If you have stepchildren
If you’d like to provide for a stepchild after you pass away, you need to state this clearly in your will, otherwise they will not inherit any of your finances, property or possessions.
The rules of intestacy were created in 1925 and they don’t always accomodate modern family structures, and they don’t recognise stepchildren at all.
If you have children from a previous relationship
If you’re in a relationship but not married or in a civil partnership with your partner and you die without a will, all your property and possessions in your estate will be inherited by your children, meaning your new partner will be left with nothing at all.
However if you’ve married or entered into a civil partnership and you die without a will, your new spouse or partner will inherit the first £250,000 of your estate outright, which may leave your children with little or no inheritance. This is referred to as the sideways disinheritance trap, because the estate moves sideways to the new partner rather than down to the children.
It’s possible to make a will that protects your children’s inheritance after you remarry, while also providing for your new spouse or partner. Trust wills can be an effective way of doing this.
Are inheritance rules different for adopted children?
The same inheritance rules apply to legally adopted children as they do for biological children. Without a will, they are entitled to inherit in the same way as biological children under inheritance rules. If there is a will but they have been omitted, they can make a claim against the estate just as a biological child could.
If a child has not been legally adopted, they will not be entitled to inherit under inheritance rules. The best way to ensure a child is provided for if they have not been legally adopted is to name them in your will.
When making a will, it is important to beware of using terms such as ‘my children’ because this would exclude step-children and children who aren’t biological or legally adopted. An invalid or poorly drafted will could mean that a step-child or unofficially adopted child misses out on their inheritance.
If you’re looking to employ someone from overseas you will have to become a licensed sponsor if they are to get a visa. Until last year people from the EU were exempt, but with the UK leaving the EU many workers will need a visa.
Eligibility: To be eligible you must not have any unspent convictions for immigration offenses or certain crimes such as fraud or money laundering. You will also not be able to apply if you have had your sponsorship revoked in the last 12 months. You will also need systems in place to monitor sponsored employees.
Types of licenses: There are several types of licenses depending on the type of worker you’re employing. These include skilled worker visas, health, and care worker visas, intra company workers, minister of religion workers or sports people workers. A temporary worker visa allows you to sponsor people who are coming for a short period of time.
Management.
You will have to appoint someone within your business to manage the sponsorships. There are three distinct roles.
These are:
These roles can be filled by one person or several.
You and your relevant staff member will have to undergo suitability checks to make sure you do not have any unspent criminal convictions, fines or working for an employer who has had its license revoked in the past 12 months.
Ratings
There are two ratings. A is the main level and allows you to issue new licenses. However, if you do not fulfil your sponsorship obligations you may be downgraded to B status. This means you can continue to extend licenses to people you employ but will not be able to issue new ones.
If you are downgraded to B you will be issued with an action plan you have to follow before being upgraded back up to A.
You can only have two B licenses during your four years. You’ll lose your license if you do not make the right adjustments for your second action plan.
Immigration skills charge
You may have to pay an additional charge when you assign a certificate of sponsorship to someone applying for a skilled worker visa or intra company visa. This will kick in if they are applying from outside the UK to work for six months or more or inside the UK for any length of time.
Responsibilities
You will be responsible for making sure the worker has the matches the requirements for the specific visa and that the work is appropriate. You will also have to monitor them while they are in the UK and inform the authorities if they break any of the conditions.
If you fail to meet these responsibilities you may have your license downgraded.
If there are significant changes to your circumstances such as if you stop trading, are involved in a merger, or take over or change the nature of your business, you must inform the authorities within 20 days.
Get in touch
If you’d like more information, our team of expert immigration lawyers or immigration solicitors can help.