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Wills & Powers of Attorney Helpsheet

Introduction:

Firstly, thank you for visiting our website.

We have endeavored to make the Legalhelpers website as user friendly as possible so that everyone, from the most experienced Internet user to an Internet newbie, is able to find their way around the site, and produce their own legal documents. In relation to this, we have attempted to make the self-completion forms as straightforward as possible to complete by removing as much of the legal jargon as possible.

Nevertheless, there are still some terms within the forms which you may be unfamiliar with, or would like clarification of. Therefore, we have produced this help sheet to provide you with the assistance that you need. However, should you still be experiencing difficulties or feel uncertain about any area of the forms, please get in touch and we will do our best to resolve your problems.

You may find it useful to print this page and refer to it as you explore our website.

The Forms:

This particular help sheet has been produced to help you complete the forms in the Wills and Power of Attorney section. Therefore, terms explained here are in relation to the following documents:

• Last Will and Testament
• Enduring Power of Attorney
• General Power of Attorney
• Living Will

Filling in the Forms:

When you have decided which document you would like to create and moved onto the form itself, you will be asked to enter various pieces of information. Some of this information is essential for the completion of the form, whilst some is purely administrative, to help us contact you should there be a problem or query with your form. Finally, there may be some information which is purely discretionary which you can either include or leave out.

Essential information: each form has an in built self-checking process, so that you will not be able to submit a form online if essential information is missing. If, for whatever reason you have failed to enter some essential information, the form will ask you to enter or re-enter this information at the end, before allowing you to submit it to us. Additionally, as a final check, each and every form is individually checked over by a legal professional.

Administrative Information: The forms also ask for some information which is not essential but merely helpful to the staff at Legalhelpers in case they need to contact you. Information in this category includes your telephone numbers and email adress. You do not have to enter this information if you don't want to.

Discretionary information: Whether you provide information for these areas is totally up to you. Here, information is required purely to expand upon your wishes. Examples of this type of information include which gifts you may or may not wish to give, and what funeral plans you may wish to make.

Glossary:

Assets: Property or money which belongs to you, includes everything from your house or share of the house, to the teaspoons in the kitchen drawer and everything in between.

Beneficiary: A beneficiary is a person or an organisation who will benefit from your Will, by being left either a specific gift or an amount of money in your Will. A beneficiary may also act as an EXECUTOR, but SHOULD NOT BE A WITNESS to your Will.

Estate: Your total assets (everything you own and all your money) when you die. Usually, people make certain gifts from their assets in the first section of their Will, and then sign the remainder or residue of the estate over to whoever they choose.

Executor: A person or persons of your choice who will be responsible for carrying out the wishes contained in your Last Will and Testament. An Executor can be a beneficiary. It is important to let your Executors know that you have made a Will and where they can find it.

Guardian: A person appointed by you to look after your children or dependents, should both parents die whilst they are under 18.

Last Will and Testament: The document by which you make your final wishes known, as to what you would like to happen to your assets and estate.

Legacies: Used in the same manner as the word gifts, often the two are put together, such as in the Last Will and Testament section entitled "Legacies and Gifts".

Revoking your will: Revoking your Will simply means that you are cancelling it. You can do this in many ways. You may simply want to destroy the Will, in which case it will become revoked. Alternatively, you may wish to update or make a new Will in which case the old one likewise becomes revoked. Furthermore, if you marry, this will revoke a previous Will, unless you made it clear in that Will that you did not want marriage to alter it.

Spouse: The person to whom you are legally married.

Trust: A legal arrangement, whereby one person will hold either money or a property in trust for another person. Often used when you wish to leave money or a gift to a person under 18, and wish a parent or guardian to look after the money until they reach this or any other age.

Witness: You are required by law, that two people over 18 years of age and of sound mind should witness you sign your will for it to be legally binding. IMPORTANTLY, YOUR BENEFICIARIES SHOULD NOT WITNESS YOUR WILL AS IT MAY DEPRIVE THEM OF ANY GIFTS OR LEGACIES YOU LEAVE THEM.

Please note, any documents that you create can be revoked or updated by you at any time. This is with exception of the Enduring Power of Attorney, should it have been registered with the Court of Protection, which poses a slightly more difficult situation.

You should review your Will regularly, and especially if something alters in your financial or personal circumstances.

Should you require any further help or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Legalhelpers by any of the following methods:

Phone: 0870 321 9865

Fax: 0870 321 9866

e-mail: info@legalhelpers.co.uk

Post: Legalhelpers, FREEPOST MID23567, STOKE ON TRENT, ST1 5BR

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