{
  "meta": {
    "name": "Simply Estate",
    "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk",
    "description": "Simply Estate is a UK estate-planning firm: wills, lasting powers of attorney, trusts and inheritance-tax planning for families in England & Wales. Free first review, fixed fees, no commission.",
    "regulatory": "Estate planning (wills, LPAs and trusts) is not regulated by the FCA. Information here is general, not personal advice.",
    "disclaimer": "General information based on 2025/26 England & Wales rules — an illustrative estimate, not personal legal or financial advice and not a regulated service. Simply Estate is an estate-planning firm (wills, lasting powers of attorney and trusts are not regulated by the FCA). Your actual position depends on your full circumstances. For a free, no-obligation review, use the request_consultation tool.",
    "contact": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/contact",
    "tools_mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
    "tools_json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/{tool_name}"
  },
  "services": [
    {
      "slug": "estate-planning",
      "name": "Estate Planning",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/services/estate-planning",
      "summary": "Wills, lasting powers of attorney and a clear plan, arranged remotely by our own team, with one of our advisers alongside you.",
      "stats": [
        {
          "value": "40%",
          "label": "Inheritance Tax charged on the value of an estate above the available thresholds"
        },
        {
          "value": "£325k",
          "label": "Nil-rate band per person, frozen until April 2030 while house prices rise"
        },
        {
          "value": "2027",
          "label": "When most unused pensions start counting towards your estate for IHT"
        }
      ],
      "deliverables": [
        {
          "title": "A will that actually reflects your wishes",
          "description": "Our team drafts a clear, legally sound will so the right people inherit the right things, guardians for children, specific gifts, and a structure that avoids the chaos of intestacy."
        },
        {
          "title": "Lasting Powers of Attorney, both types",
          "description": "We prepare and register your property & financial affairs LPA and your health & welfare LPA with the Office of the Public Guardian, so trusted people can act for you if illness or age ever takes that ability away."
        },
        {
          "title": "A clear inheritance tax position",
          "description": "We calculate your likely IHT exposure across property, savings, investments and, from 6 April 2027, pensions, then map out the nil-rate band, residence nil-rate band and spousal exemptions you may be able to use."
        },
        {
          "title": "A practical lifetime gifting and exemption strategy",
          "description": "Where it suits you, we explain the 7-year rule, taper relief and the £3,000 annual exemption, so any gifts you choose to make are done sensibly and on the record."
        },
        {
          "title": "Trusts where they genuinely add value",
          "description": "If appropriate, we explain how trusts can protect assets from divorce or creditors, provide for vulnerable or young beneficiaries, and control when and how an inheritance is received."
        },
        {
          "title": "A single, organised plan your family can find",
          "description": "We pull wills, LPAs, beneficiary nominations and key documents into one coherent plan, so your affairs are in order and your executors know exactly where to look."
        }
      ],
      "faqs": [
        {
          "question": "How much Inheritance Tax might my family actually pay?",
          "answer": "IHT is charged at 40% on the value of your estate above your available allowances. Each person has a £325,000 nil-rate band, frozen until April 2030, plus a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 when a main home passes to direct descendants (this tapers away for estates over £2,000,000). A married couple or civil partners can typically combine these to pass on up to £1,000,000. Our team can calculate your specific position, the figure is always plan-dependent, never fixed."
        },
        {
          "question": "What changes for pensions on 6 April 2027?",
          "answer": "Until now, most unused pension funds have usually sat outside your estate for IHT. From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits are expected to be included in the value of your estate. For many families with a property and a pension, this could be the single biggest reason to review their plan now rather than later, because it may pull an estate into the 40% band that previously sat below it."
        },
        {
          "question": "What happens if I die without a will?",
          "answer": "Your estate is distributed under the intestacy rules, which follow a fixed legal order, not your wishes. An unmarried partner may inherit nothing, regardless of how long you were together, and the outcome for blended families is often not what people expect. A will lets you decide who inherits, appoint guardians for children, and make the whole process far simpler for those you leave behind."
        },
        {
          "question": "Why do I need a Lasting Power of Attorney if I already have a will?",
          "answer": "A will only takes effect after death. A Lasting Power of Attorney protects you while you're alive but unable to manage your own affairs, through illness, an accident or age. There are two types: property & financial affairs, and health & welfare. Both are registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. Without one, your family may have to apply to the Court of Protection, which is slower, costlier and stressful at an already difficult time."
        },
        {
          "question": "Can gifting really reduce the tax bill?",
          "answer": "It can, when done correctly. You can give away £3,000 each tax year under the annual exemption, and larger gifts are usually free of IHT if you survive seven years (the potentially exempt transfer rule), with taper relief reducing the tax between years three and seven. Any benefit is plan-dependent, gifting needs to fit your wider plan and your own financial security, so our team will look at it in the round rather than in isolation."
        },
        {
          "question": "Do I need a trust?",
          "answer": "Many people don't, and a good specialist will tell you so. But trusts can be genuinely valuable in the right circumstances: protecting assets from a beneficiary's divorce or creditors, providing for a vulnerable or young beneficiary, or controlling when an inheritance is received. Some trusts have their own tax treatment, such as the relevant property regime, so they should only be used where the benefit clearly outweighs the cost and complexity."
        },
        {
          "question": "Is this regulated advice, and who will I actually deal with?",
          "answer": "We're an estate planning firm. Our own team handles your will, LPAs and planning, gives you a fixed-fee quote upfront, and is accountable for the work. Wills, LPAs and trusts are not regulated by the FCA. You're free to walk away after the initial review with no obligation."
        },
        {
          "question": "I'm, does location matter?",
          "answer": "Estate planning law is the same across England and Wales, but local property values matter a great deal to your IHT position, and many people prefer our team who understands their area. We match you with someone suited to your circumstances, with the option of meeting locally or reviewing things remotely, whichever suits you."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "iht",
      "name": "Inheritance Tax Planning",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/services/iht",
      "summary": "From April 2027 most pensions fall inside your estate for inheritance tax. For a larger estate, a review by our team could make a substantial difference, depending on your circumstances.",
      "stats": [
        {
          "value": "40%",
          "label": "The rate of Inheritance Tax charged on everything above your thresholds"
        },
        {
          "value": "6 Apr 2027",
          "label": "When most unused pension funds start counting towards your estate for IHT"
        },
        {
          "value": "£325k",
          "label": "The nil-rate band per person, frozen until April 2030"
        }
      ],
      "deliverables": [
        {
          "title": "Map your full estate and likely IHT exposure",
          "description": "Our team totals your home, pensions, investments, business interests and gifts, applies your nil-rate and residence nil-rate bands, and shows you a clear figure for what your estate could owe today and after the 2027 pension change."
        },
        {
          "title": "Build a gifting and allowance strategy",
          "description": "We structure use of your £3,000 annual exemption, gifts out of surplus income, and larger potentially exempt transfers under the 7-year rule, so wealth can pass down in a way that may reduce the eventual bill, with timing planned around taper relief between years three and seven."
        },
        {
          "title": "Advise on trusts where they fit",
          "description": "Where appropriate, our team explains how trusts could ring-fence assets from divorce or creditors, provide for young or vulnerable beneficiaries, and control when and how an inheritance is received, while being clear about each trust's own tax treatment, such as the relevant property regime."
        },
        {
          "title": "Re-plan your pensions around the 2027 change",
          "description": "We review how the 6 April 2027 inclusion of most unused pension funds and death benefits affects your estate and the order in which you draw income, so your retirement and your legacy are considered together rather than in isolation."
        },
        {
          "title": "Get your wills and powers of attorney right",
          "description": "We coordinate with solicitors so your will reflects the plan, your residence nil-rate band is preserved, and both types of Lasting Power of Attorney are in place and registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, avoiding the costly default of intestacy."
        },
        {
          "title": "Hand you a written plan and review rhythm",
          "description": "You receive a clear, plain-English plan you actually understand, plus a schedule to revisit it as thresholds, rules and your circumstances change over the years ahead."
        }
      ],
      "faqs": [
        {
          "question": "What is actually changing with pensions in April 2027?",
          "answer": "From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits are expected to be included in the value of your estate for Inheritance Tax. Until now these have usually sat outside the estate, which is why pensions have often been used to pass wealth on tax-efficiently. The change is expected to pull many more families, including a good number, into IHT or into a higher bill, so it is worth reviewing how your pensions fit your overall plan well before the date."
        },
        {
          "question": "How much can my family inherit before Inheritance Tax applies?",
          "answer": "Each person has a nil-rate band of £325,000, frozen until April 2030. On top of that, a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 can apply when a main home passes to direct descendants such as children or grandchildren. Because unused allowances can pass between spouses and civil partners, a couple can potentially pass on up to £1,000,000 in total. Anything above the available thresholds is generally taxed at 40%. The residence nil-rate band tapers away for estates over £2,000,000."
        },
        {
          "question": "How does the 7-year rule on gifts work?",
          "answer": "Many lifetime gifts are treated as potentially exempt transfers. If you live for seven years after making the gift, it usually falls outside your estate entirely. If you die within seven years, the gift may be brought back into the calculation, though taper relief can reduce the tax on gifts made between three and seven years before death. There is also a £3,000 annual gift exemption, and gifts out of genuine surplus income can qualify too. The detail matters, which is where our team helps."
        },
        {
          "question": "Could a trust help my family?",
          "answer": "Trusts can be useful for protecting assets from divorce or creditors, providing for young or vulnerable beneficiaries, and controlling when and how an inheritance is received. Some trusts have their own tax treatment, such as the relevant property regime, so they are not automatically the right answer for everyone. Our team will only suggest a trust where it genuinely fits your goals and explain the cost and tax position clearly first."
        },
        {
          "question": "Do I really need a will and a power of attorney as well?",
          "answer": "Yes. Dying without a will means the intestacy rules decide who inherits, which may not match your wishes and can increase the tax bill. A well-drafted will is also what lets your estate use the residence nil-rate band properly. Separately, two types of Lasting Power of Attorney, one for property and financial affairs and one for health and welfare, let people you trust act for you if you lose capacity. They must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, so it is worth doing in good time."
        },
        {
          "question": "Is anything here personal advice?",
          "answer": "Wills, LPAs and trusts are not regulated by the FCA, and nothing here is personal financial or legal advice. Any figures you see here are illustrative and educational. Your actual plan and any numbers would come from our team after reviewing your full circumstances, and nothing here is promised as a guaranteed saving or outcome."
        },
        {
          "question": "When is the right time to start planning?",
          "answer": "Generally, the earlier the better. Several of the most effective tools, particularly lifetime gifting under the 7-year rule, work best with time on your side, and the 6 April 2027 pension change adds a clear reason not to wait. Planning earlier also means decisions are made calmly rather than under pressure. If you are 50 or older with a property and pensions, a review now is rarely wasted."
        },
        {
          "question": "What happens at the first consultation?",
          "answer": "It is a no-obligation conversation to understand your estate, your family and what you want to achieve. The specialist will give you an initial sense of your likely IHT exposure and whether planning is worthwhile for you, then a clear fixed-fee quote if you choose to go further. There is no commission and no pressure to proceed."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "trusts",
      "name": "Trust Planning",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/services/trusts",
      "summary": "Keep assets in the family, protect vulnerable or young beneficiaries, and stay in control. Set up properly by our own trust team.",
      "stats": [
        {
          "value": "40%",
          "label": "Inheritance Tax charged on everything above your thresholds"
        },
        {
          "value": "6 Apr 2027",
          "label": "Date most unused pensions are pulled into your estate for IHT"
        },
        {
          "value": "£325k",
          "label": "The nil-rate band per person, now frozen until April 2030"
        }
      ],
      "deliverables": [
        {
          "title": "Map your estate and exposure",
          "description": "Our team reviews your home, savings, investments and pensions, applies your available nil-rate band and residence nil-rate band, and shows where your estate sits against the 40% threshold today and after the 2027 pension change."
        },
        {
          "title": "Recommend the right trust structure",
          "description": "Where it genuinely helps, they explain which trust fits your aim, whether that is protecting assets, providing for a vulnerable or young beneficiary, or controlling when and how money is released, and how each is treated for tax."
        },
        {
          "title": "Protect against divorce and creditors",
          "description": "We structure inheritances so that, where appropriate, money can be ring-fenced for your children and grandchildren rather than passing outright and becoming exposed to a future divorce settlement or creditor claim."
        },
        {
          "title": "Coordinate wills, LPAs and gifting",
          "description": "Trust planning rarely stands alone. Our team aligns your will, Lasting Powers of Attorney and any lifetime gifting strategy, including the 7-year rule and annual exemptions, into one coherent plan."
        },
        {
          "title": "Handle the paperwork and registration",
          "description": "We draft the trust deed, advise on funding the trust correctly, register it with HMRC where required, and explain the trustees' ongoing duties so nothing is left half-finished."
        },
        {
          "title": "Build a plan that adapts",
          "description": "Because thresholds are frozen and rules change, a good specialist documents the reasoning and flags when your plan should be reviewed, for example after the 2027 pension rules take effect."
        }
      ],
      "faqs": [
        {
          "question": "What is a trust, in plain English?",
          "answer": "A trust is a legal arrangement where you (the settlor) hand assets to people you choose (the trustees) to look after for the people you want to benefit (the beneficiaries). It lets you separate control of an asset from the enjoyment of it, so you can decide when, how and to whom money is released rather than leaving it outright. That control is what makes trusts useful for protecting young, vulnerable or at-risk beneficiaries."
        },
        {
          "question": "Will a trust definitely reduce my Inheritance Tax bill?",
          "answer": "Not automatically. Some trusts can help reduce or defer IHT, but many have their own tax treatment, such as the relevant property regime, with potential entry, ten-year and exit charges. Whether a trust saves tax is entirely plan-dependent and depends on the type of trust, the assets and your wider estate. Our team will model this for your situation before recommending anything."
        },
        {
          "question": "How does the April 2027 pension change affect me?",
          "answer": "From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits are expected to be included in your estate for Inheritance Tax, where previously they usually sat outside it. For families with sizeable pension pots, this could pull an estate over the threshold for the first time, or increase an existing bill. It is a key reason many people are reviewing their plans now rather than waiting."
        },
        {
          "question": "Can a trust really protect my child's inheritance from divorce or creditors?",
          "answer": "It can help. If an inheritance passes outright, it generally becomes your child's own asset and can be exposed in a divorce settlement or to creditors. Holding it in a properly structured trust can keep it ring-fenced for their benefit while reducing that exposure. No structure is absolute, and the courts retain discretion, so our team will explain realistically what protection a given trust can and cannot offer."
        },
        {
          "question": "Do I still need a will if I set up a trust?",
          "answer": "Almost always, yes. Trusts and wills do different jobs and usually work together. Without a will, intestacy rules decide who inherits, which may not match your wishes and can complicate any trust planning. Most plans also include both types of Lasting Power of Attorney, for property and financial affairs and for health and welfare, registered with the Office of the Public Guardian."
        },
        {
          "question": "Isn't a DIY or high-street will much cheaper?",
          "answer": "A template will is cheaper upfront, but it typically captures only who inherits, not how to shelter assets, plan for tax, or protect a vulnerable or young beneficiary. Trusts that are drafted but never correctly funded often fail to work as intended. A fixed-fee specialist makes sure the structure is right and actually does what you need, which is usually far less costly than getting it wrong."
        },
        {
          "question": "How much does trust planning cost?",
          "answer": "We quote a fixed fee agreed before any work begins, so there are no surprises and no hourly meter running. We're paid for advice, not commission, so there is no incentive to sell you products you do not need. Your first conversation is a no-obligation review, and if a trust is not right for you we'll say so."
        },
        {
          "question": "What about the gifting and the 7-year rule I have heard about?",
          "answer": "Outright gifts can fall outside your estate if you survive seven years (potentially exempt transfers), with taper relief reducing the tax between years three and seven, and there is a £3,000 annual gift exemption. Gifting and trusts are often used together as part of one plan. Our team will weigh gifting against keeping control through a trust, depending on what matters most to you."
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "guides": [
    {
      "slug": "pension-inheritance-tax-2027",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/pension-inheritance-tax-2027",
      "title": "Your pension and the 2027 inheritance tax change: what's actually happening",
      "category": "IHT",
      "excerpt": "From April 2027, most unused pension pots will fall inside your estate for inheritance tax purposes. Here is what that means for your family.",
      "datePublished": "2026-01-08",
      "dateModified": "2026-01-08",
      "body": "If you have a pension, the rules around what happens to it when you die are about to change significantly. From April 2027, unused pension funds will generally be included in your estate for inheritance tax purposes. For many families, this could be the biggest tax change in a generation.\n\nRight now, most defined contribution pensions sit outside your estate. That has made them one of the most tax-efficient assets you can pass on. That advantage is set to disappear.\n\nWhat is actually changing?\n\nUnder the current rules, if you die before age 75, your beneficiaries typically receive your unused pension pot free of income tax and free of inheritance tax. If you die after 75, they pay income tax on withdrawals, but there is still no inheritance tax. From April 2027, the pension pot itself will be counted as part of your estate and could attract inheritance tax at 40%.\n\nThe practical effect is that your beneficiaries could face both income tax on withdrawals and inheritance tax on the underlying fund. In some scenarios, the combined charge could exceed 60p in every pound.\n\nWho is most affected?\n\nThe change matters most if your combined estate, including your pension, takes you over the inheritance tax thresholds. Those thresholds are £325,000 per person (the nil-rate band) plus up to £175,000 if you are passing a family home to direct descendants. For a married couple, that could mean up to £1 million before inheritance tax applies on the rest.\n\nBut here is where many people are caught off guard. You might look at your estate, see a house worth £400,000 and savings of £100,000, and feel comfortable. Add in a pension pot of £300,000 and the picture looks quite different.\n\n- Those with SIPPs or personal pensions built up over a working life\n- Anyone who has been drawing down from their pension but has a significant pot remaining\n- People who planned to pass their pension to children or grandchildren as a core part of their estate plan\n- Couples whose combined estate plus pension pots will exceed the thresholds\n\nWhy acting before April 2027 may matter\n\nThe window before April 2027 is a genuine planning opportunity, but it is not unlimited. Any restructuring, whether that means reviewing how much you draw down, considering how gifts interact with your estate, or looking at trusts, takes time to set up properly.\n\nSome strategies, like making gifts and waiting for the seven-year clock to run, require years to have their full effect. Advice sought in early 2027 is simply less useful than advice sought in 2025 or 2026.\n\nIt is also worth reviewing your pension death benefit nominations. These are separate from your will, and many people have outdated nominations in place. Changing who receives your pension on death does not by itself solve the tax position, but it is a foundational step.\n\nWhat this does not mean\n\nThe April 2027 change does not make pensions a bad place to save. Pensions still offer significant income tax relief on contributions and tax-free growth. The change simply removes one particular exit advantage.\n\nIt also does not mean you should rush into any single solution. Drawdown strategies, gifting, and trust arrangements each have different implications depending on your age, income needs, and family situation. There is no universal answer.\n\nWhere to start\n\nThe most useful first step is getting a clear picture of your total estate, including your pension. Many people have not done this calculation with the post-2027 rules in mind. Once you know where you stand, you can weigh the options with a specialist.\n\nThe earlier you do this, the more options are available to you. Some planning steps simply cannot be rushed without losing their effectiveness.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can assess how the April 2027 pension changes affect your situation. Visit our inheritance tax planning page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "reduce-inheritance-tax-uk",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/reduce-inheritance-tax-uk",
      "title": "Five ways to reduce inheritance tax on your estate",
      "category": "IHT",
      "excerpt": "Inheritance tax at 40% is one of the most predictable bills your family could face. These five approaches could reduce what they pay.",
      "datePublished": "2026-01-22",
      "dateModified": "2026-01-22",
      "body": "Inheritance tax is charged at 40% on the value of your estate above the nil-rate band thresholds. For many families, this is a substantial and avoidable bill. Most of the main ways to reduce it are well-established, legal, and accessible.\n\nNone of these approaches is guaranteed to produce a specific saving. The right combination depends on your circumstances, your age, your assets, and what matters most to your family. But knowing the options is the starting point.\n\n1. Make gifts while you are alive\n\nAny gift you make that you survive by seven years falls outside your estate for inheritance tax purposes. This is the most widely used and often most effective strategy, but it requires time.\n\nThere are also exemptions you can use immediately without waiting seven years. You can give away up to £3,000 per year as a tax-free annual exemption, and this can be carried forward one year if unused. Each tax year you can also give up to £250 to any number of people, provided you have not used the annual exemption for the same person.\n\nRegular gifts from surplus income, provided they are genuinely out of income and not capital, can also be immediately outside your estate under the normal expenditure from income exemption. This one is underused and worth asking an adviser about if you have regular income you do not need to spend.\n\n2. Use trusts for long-term protection\n\nPlacing assets in certain types of trust can remove them from your estate, though the rules are complex and the inheritance tax treatment depends on the type of trust and how long you live after the transfer.\n\nDiscretionary trusts are commonly used for IHT planning. They allow a group of beneficiaries to benefit at the trustees' discretion, rather than giving assets outright. This can be useful where you want to pass on wealth but retain some control over how and when it is distributed.\n\n3. Review your pension before April 2027\n\nUntil April 2027, most defined contribution pensions sit outside your estate. This means a pension pot could be passed to your beneficiaries without inheritance tax. From April 2027, this is set to change, and unused pension funds are likely to be counted as part of your estate.\n\nIf you have a meaningful pension pot and were relying on this as part of your estate plan, revisiting your strategy before 2027 could make a significant difference.\n\n4. Take out a life insurance policy written in trust\n\nA life insurance policy can be used to cover the inheritance tax bill your estate will face, rather than eliminating it. If the policy is written in trust, the payout goes directly to your beneficiaries and does not itself form part of your estate, so it does not attract further inheritance tax.\n\nThis does not reduce the tax owed. It means your family has the cash to pay the bill without needing to sell assets, including the family home, under time pressure.\n\n5. Give to charity\n\nGifts to registered UK charities in your will are exempt from inheritance tax. Beyond that, if you leave at least 10% of your net estate to charity, the inheritance tax rate on the rest of your estate may reduce from 40% to 36%.\n\nFor larger estates, this could mean that a charitable gift costs you less than it appears at face value, because it both generates a direct exemption and lowers the overall rate.\n\nA note on planning ahead\n\nSeveral of these approaches require years to take full effect, particularly gifting and trusts. The earlier you begin planning, the more options are available. Leaving it until your late seventies or a health diagnosis significantly narrows what is possible.\n\n- Gifting requires the seven-year clock to run from the date of the gift\n- Trust transfers may involve an upfront inheritance tax charge if they exceed the nil-rate band\n- Life insurance premiums depend on age and health at the time you apply\n- Pension restructuring before 2027 takes time to review and implement properly\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own IHT team can assess which approaches suit your estate. Visit our inheritance tax planning page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "inheritance-tax-advice-when-you-need-it",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/inheritance-tax-advice-when-you-need-it",
      "title": "When do you actually need inheritance tax advice?",
      "category": "IHT",
      "excerpt": "Not everyone needs a specialist. But if any of these signs apply to your situation, getting advice early can make a real difference to what your family keeps.",
      "datePublished": "2026-02-05",
      "dateModified": "2026-02-05",
      "body": "Most people do not need a full inheritance tax review. If your estate is modest, your affairs are straightforward, and your family is unlikely to face a significant tax bill, a basic will and some clear record-keeping may be enough.\n\nBut a meaningful number of families do need specialist input, and many of them do not realise it until it is too late to take the most effective action.\n\nYour estate is above, or close to, the nil-rate band\n\nThe inheritance tax nil-rate band is £325,000. If your estate, including property, savings, investments, and personal possessions, is above or approaching this threshold, inheritance tax may be owed when you die.\n\nIf you are leaving your home to your children or grandchildren and your estate including that property is worth more than £500,000, the residence nil-rate band of £175,000 may also apply. But it has conditions, and not all estates qualify automatically.\n\nMarried couples and civil partners can combine thresholds, potentially sheltering up to £1 million from inheritance tax. But this only works if the first estate is structured correctly and the survivor does not inadvertently use the allowance in a way that reduces what is transferred.\n\nYou have a pension worth over £100,000\n\nFrom April 2027, most unused pension funds are expected to be included in your estate for inheritance tax. If you have a SIPP or personal pension with a significant balance that you were planning to pass on, this changes your planning significantly.\n\nAnyone with a combined estate and pension above the relevant thresholds should take advice before April 2027. The options available are wider the earlier you act.\n\nYou own a business or shares in one\n\nBusiness Property Relief can exempt qualifying business assets from inheritance tax at either 50% or 100%, depending on the nature of the asset. But the relief does not apply automatically, and there are conditions around how the business is structured and how long you have held the asset.\n\nIf you own a trading business, shares in an unlisted company, or agricultural land and property, specialist advice is worth getting. The relief can be substantial, but it requires careful structuring.\n\nYou have assets in another country\n\nUK inheritance tax applies to your worldwide assets if you are domiciled in the UK. If you own property abroad, have overseas investments, or have lived in multiple countries, the interaction of UK and foreign tax rules can be complex.\n\nDouble taxation treaties exist between the UK and some countries, but they do not cover all situations. A specialist who understands cross-border estates is worth consulting if you have significant overseas assets.\n\nYour family situation is not straightforward\n\nBlended families, stepchildren, cohabiting partners, and estranged family members all add complexity. Inheritance tax thresholds and reliefs are built around a relatively traditional model of family structure, and they do not always map cleanly onto real lives.\n\n- Cohabiting partners do not benefit from the spousal exemption\n- Stepchildren are treated differently to biological children for some reliefs\n- Gifts between former spouses may not receive the treatment you expect\n- Children from a previous relationship may have competing claims on the estate\n\nWhen you probably do not need specialist advice\n\nIf your estate is clearly well below the thresholds, your family situation is simple, and you have no unusual assets, a good solicitor who handles wills should be enough. You do not necessarily need a dedicated IHT specialist.\n\nThe test is really whether the potential tax saving from specialist advice is likely to outweigh the cost of getting it. For many families with estates over £500,000, it will.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can give you an honest assessment of where you stand. Visit our inheritance tax advice page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "inheritance-tax-threshold-explained",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/inheritance-tax-threshold-explained",
      "title": "The inheritance tax threshold: what it is, what it isn't, and why it keeps catching people out",
      "category": "IHT",
      "excerpt": "The nil-rate band has been frozen while house prices have risen, quietly pulling more families into inheritance tax. Here is how the thresholds actually work.",
      "datePublished": "2026-02-19",
      "dateModified": "2026-02-19",
      "body": "Inheritance tax feels like a tax on the wealthy. In practice, it catches a growing number of ordinary families, mainly because of rising house prices and a threshold that has not kept up with them.\n\nUnderstanding how the thresholds work, and where your estate stands against them, is the first step in any sensible estate plan.\n\nThe nil-rate band: the basic threshold\n\nEvery person has a nil-rate band of £325,000. This is the amount that can pass from your estate free of inheritance tax. Anything above it is taxed at 40%.\n\nThe nil-rate band includes everything in your estate: property, savings, investments, vehicles, jewellery, and anything else you own outright. It is not just cash.\n\nThe residence nil-rate band: an extra allowance for homeowners\n\nIf you own a home and leave it to your children or grandchildren (including stepchildren and adopted children), a further allowance of up to £175,000 may apply. This is the residence nil-rate band.\n\nCombined with the standard nil-rate band, this gives a potential threshold of £500,000 per person, provided the conditions are met. The main conditions are that you own a home, or did until recently, and that it passes directly to qualifying descendants.\n\nThe residence nil-rate band is tapered for larger estates. If your total estate exceeds £2 million, the residence nil-rate band reduces by £1 for every £2 above that figure, and disappears entirely at £2.35 million.\n\nHow the thresholds work for couples\n\nMarried couples and civil partners can pass assets to each other free of inheritance tax on first death. They can also transfer any unused nil-rate band to the surviving spouse.\n\nIn practice, this means a couple can have a combined threshold of up to £650,000 in nil-rate band, and up to £350,000 in residence nil-rate band, giving a potential total of £1 million before inheritance tax applies.\n\nBut this is not automatic. The residence nil-rate band transfer, in particular, requires the estate to be structured properly and for HMRC to be given the right information. It is worth checking that your will and estate plan support this outcome rather than assuming it will happen.\n\nThe freeze: a silent tax rise\n\nThe nil-rate band has been frozen at £325,000 since 2009. It was set to remain frozen until at least 2030 under current government plans. The residence nil-rate band has also been frozen.\n\nOver the same period, UK house prices have risen substantially. A home that was comfortably below the threshold in 2009 may now, combined with savings and investments, push an estate well into inheritance tax territory.\n\nThis is sometimes described as a stealth tax. You have not done anything differently. Your estate has just grown in value while the thresholds have stood still.\n\nWhat actually counts towards your estate\n\n- Your share of any property you own, including jointly held property\n- Savings accounts and ISAs (ISAs lose their tax-free status on death)\n- Shares, funds, and investment portfolios\n- Business assets, unless Business Property Relief applies\n- Life insurance proceeds that are not written in trust\n- Gifts made in the last seven years, depending on their size\n- From April 2027, most unused pension funds\n\nWhat does not count\n\n- Assets passing directly to a spouse or civil partner\n- Gifts to registered UK charities\n- Most business assets that qualify for Business Property Relief\n- Currently, most pension funds (changing in April 2027)\n\nMany families do not know their estate total until a solicitor or financial planner works through it with them. It is a useful exercise even if the answer turns out to be reassuring.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can map your estate against the current and future thresholds. Visit our inheritance tax page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "gifting-money-and-the-7-year-rule",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/gifting-money-and-the-7-year-rule",
      "title": "Gifting money to your family: the 7-year rule and what most people get wrong",
      "category": "IHT",
      "excerpt": "Giving money to your children or grandchildren during your lifetime is one of the most effective ways to reduce inheritance tax. But the rules catch many people out.",
      "datePublished": "2026-03-05",
      "dateModified": "2026-03-05",
      "body": "Giving money away during your lifetime can reduce the inheritance tax your estate owes when you die. The principle is simple: assets that have left your estate cannot be taxed as part of it.\n\nBut the rules around gifting are more detailed than many people realise, and the mistakes tend to be discovered only after death, when nothing can be done to fix them.\n\nHow the seven-year rule works\n\nIf you make a gift and survive for seven years after making it, that gift is outside your estate for inheritance tax purposes. These are called potentially exempt transfers.\n\nIf you die within seven years of making a gift, it may still be taxed, depending on its size. Gifts made in the last three years before death are taxed at the full 40% rate. Gifts made between three and seven years before death benefit from taper relief, which reduces the rate.\n\n- 3-4 years before death: 32% tax rate\n- 4-5 years before death: 24% tax rate\n- 5-6 years before death: 16% tax rate\n- 6-7 years before death: 8% tax rate\n- More than 7 years before death: 0% tax rate\n\nTaper relief only applies to the amount of the gift that exceeds the nil-rate band. For most people, the nil-rate band will be used up by their estate first, so taper relief may not reduce the tax as much as it initially appears.\n\nAnnual exemptions you can use immediately\n\nCertain gifts are immediately outside your estate, without any seven-year wait. These are the most accessible and underused planning tools.\n\n- Annual exemption: £3,000 per year, per person giving. Unused allowance can be carried forward one year only.\n- Small gifts: up to £250 per person per year, to any number of people, provided no other exemption has been used for that same person\n- Wedding gifts: £5,000 to a child, £2,500 to a grandchild, £1,000 to anyone else, given on or shortly before the wedding\n- Regular gifts from surplus income: immediately exempt if they are genuinely out of income, regular, and do not reduce your standard of living\n\nThe normal expenditure from income exemption\n\nThis exemption is one of the most valuable and least understood. If you have regular income above what you need to live on, you can gift the surplus to family members and those gifts are immediately outside your estate.\n\nThe gifts must be regular, come from income rather than capital, and must not affect your normal standard of living. If you can demonstrate a pattern of regular payments, this can be a powerful tool over time.\n\nCommon mistakes\n\n- Not recording gifts with dates and amounts\n- Gifting a home but continuing to live there without paying rent\n- Assuming taper relief wipes out the tax entirely\n- Confusing the annual exemption amount with the nil-rate band\n- Forgetting that annual exemptions cannot be carried forward more than one year\n\nThe importance of timing\n\nThe earlier you start gifting, the more of your estate you can move outside the inheritance tax net. A gift made today starts the seven-year clock immediately. A gift made in ten years will not.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can help you build a gifting strategy that fits your circumstances. Visit our inheritance tax planning page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "make-a-will-uk",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/make-a-will-uk",
      "title": "You probably need a new will. Here is why the one you wrote years ago may not do what you think",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "Wills go out of date faster than most people realise. Marriage, divorce, new property, and changing family structures can all undermine a will you wrote years ago.",
      "datePublished": "2026-03-19",
      "dateModified": "2026-03-19",
      "body": "Most people who have a will feel reassured by the fact that they have one. That reassurance is sometimes misplaced.\n\nWills are not set-and-forget documents. They are written at a point in time, reflecting your circumstances and your wishes at that moment. If your life has changed significantly since you wrote yours, your will may not reflect what you actually want.\n\nMarriage revokes your existing will\n\nIn England and Wales, getting married automatically revokes any will you made before the marriage. Unless you made your will in contemplation of that specific marriage, it is no longer valid.\n\nThis catches more people than you might expect. Someone who wrote a will in their forties, got married in their fifties, and never updated the will may believe their affairs are in order. They are not. They are effectively dying without a will.\n\nDivorce does not remove your ex-spouse from an old will\n\nAfter a divorce, gifts to a former spouse and any appointment of them as executor are treated as if the former spouse had died on the date of the decree absolute. This sounds protective, but it can create gaps.\n\nIf your entire estate was left to your former spouse and there is no substitute gift, those assets may pass under the intestacy rules rather than to the person you would now choose. A separation that has not yet resulted in a formal divorce also offers no protection: your spouse retains their full entitlement.\n\nNew children and grandchildren may not be covered\n\nA will written before you had children, or before certain grandchildren were born, may not include them. Some wills are drafted broadly enough to catch future descendants, but many are not.\n\nStepchildren are not automatically treated as your own children under the law unless they have been formally adopted. If you want to include stepchildren or other family members who are not biological relatives, your will needs to say so explicitly.\n\nProperty you bought after making your will\n\nIn most cases, your will covers all the assets you own at the time of death, not just those you owned when you wrote it. So buying a new property does not necessarily require a new will.\n\nBut if you bought a property jointly with someone, the way it is held matters significantly. Property held as joint tenants passes automatically to the surviving co-owner, regardless of what your will says. Property held as tenants in common passes according to your will. Many couples do not know which arrangement they have.\n\nYour executors and guardians may no longer be the right people\n\nExecutors handle the administration of your estate. Guardians care for your minor children. Both appointments should reflect the people you trust most right now, not a decade ago.\n\nWhen to review your will\n\n- When you get married or enter a civil partnership\n- When you separate or divorce\n- When you have or adopt a child\n- When a named beneficiary or executor dies\n- When your financial situation changes significantly\n- When you buy or sell a major asset\n- Every five years as a general check\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own estate-planning specialists can review or update your will. Visit our will writing page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "will-and-lpa-together",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/will-and-lpa-together",
      "title": "Why most people sort their will and lasting power of attorney at the same time",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "A will and a lasting power of attorney solve different problems. Most people only discover the LPA gap when a parent can no longer make decisions for themselves.",
      "datePublished": "2026-04-02",
      "dateModified": "2026-04-02",
      "body": "Most people understand, in broad terms, why they need a will. Fewer understand that a will only operates after death. It does nothing to protect you or your family if you lose mental capacity while you are still alive.\n\nThat gap is what a lasting power of attorney fills. And the reason most people sort both documents at the same time is simple: it is much harder to arrange an LPA later than it is to do it now.\n\nWhat a will does and does not do\n\nA will sets out how your assets should be distributed after you die. It can appoint executors to administer your estate, name guardians for minor children, and create trusts for beneficiaries.\n\nIt cannot authorise anyone to manage your bank accounts, sell your property, or make decisions about your medical care if you become unable to make those decisions yourself. For that, you need an LPA.\n\nWhat a lasting power of attorney does\n\nAn LPA appoints one or more people you trust to act on your behalf. There are two types: one covering property and financial affairs, and one covering health and welfare.\n\nWithout either document in place, no one, including your spouse, has the legal authority to manage your finances or make health decisions on your behalf. Your family would need to apply to the Court of Protection, which is a lengthy and costly process.\n\nThe capacity requirement\n\nAn LPA must be made while you have mental capacity. If you lose capacity before registering an LPA, the option is gone. Your family is then left with the Court of Protection route, which can take months, cost thousands of pounds, and imposes ongoing reporting requirements.\n\nThis is the part that surprises families most. They often assume they can sort the paperwork once a parent becomes unwell. By that point, it may already be too late.\n\nWhy doing both at once makes practical sense\n\n- The legal work overlaps. Your solicitor will already know your circumstances, your family structure, and your assets. Handling both documents together avoids going through that process twice.\n- The cost is lower combined. Many solicitors offer a reduced fee for handling a will and LPA in the same instruction.\n- The mindset is the same. You are thinking about what happens if things go wrong. It makes sense to cover both scenarios, incapacity and death, at the same time.\n\nWhat to think about before you see a solicitor\n\nFor your will, you will need to think about who benefits from your estate, who acts as executor, and whether you want to set up any trusts. For your LPA, you will need to think about who you want to act as your attorney and whether there are any specific instructions you want to include.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can handle both a will and an LPA in one appointment. Visit our will and LPA page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "dying-without-a-will-uk",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/dying-without-a-will-uk",
      "title": "What actually happens to your estate if you die without a will in the UK",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "Dying without a will means the intestacy rules decide who inherits. Cohabiting partners, unmarried parents, and stepchildren can all be left with nothing.",
      "datePublished": "2026-04-16",
      "dateModified": "2026-04-16",
      "body": "If you die without a valid will in England or Wales, you are said to have died intestate. The intestacy rules set out who inherits your estate and in what order. Those rules are fixed by statute, and they may not match what you would have wanted.\n\nFor some families, the intestacy rules will produce a roughly sensible outcome. For others, particularly those with more complex family structures, the result can cause real hardship.\n\nThe order of inheritance under intestacy\n\nThe intestacy rules follow a strict hierarchy. Your spouse or civil partner comes first. If you are survived by a spouse and children, the spouse receives the first £322,000 of the estate plus all personal possessions and half of anything above that. Your children share the other half.\n\nIf you have no surviving spouse or civil partner, your estate passes in this order: children, grandchildren, parents, siblings, half-siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles. If no relatives can be found, the estate passes to the Crown.\n\nCohabiting partners inherit nothing\n\nThis is the most common and most painful outcome. In England and Wales, there is no such thing as a common law spouse in the eyes of the law. If you are not married or in a civil partnership, your partner has no automatic right to inherit anything from your estate under the intestacy rules.\n\nA couple who have lived together for twenty years, raised children together, and share a home can find that the surviving partner has no legal claim to the property or savings they built together. They may be able to bring a court claim, but this is far from guaranteed.\n\nChildren inherit at 18, outright\n\nUnder intestacy, children inherit at 18 with no conditions attached. There is no trust, no oversight, no ability to defer the inheritance until they are older or better placed to manage it.\n\nFor a parent who would have preferred their children to receive an inheritance at 25, or gradually, or only for specific purposes, this is a significant loss of control. A properly drafted will allows you to set whatever conditions you think appropriate.\n\nStepchildren and close friends are excluded\n\nStepchildren who have not been formally adopted have no right to inherit under intestacy. Neither do close friends, unmarried partners of your children, or anyone else who is not a blood relative or legally recognised spouse.\n\nThe practical complications of dying intestate\n\n- The estate cannot be dealt with quickly. Without a named executor, someone must apply to the court for letters of administration.\n- Jointly held property may still pass outside the estate, depending on how it is held, but other assets are frozen until administration is granted.\n- Disputes between family members are more likely when there is no written record of your wishes.\n- Minor children may need a court-appointed guardian if both parents die without naming one in a will.\n\nA straightforward problem to solve\n\nWriting a will is one of the most practical things you can do for your family. It does not have to be complex or expensive, and for most people, a standard will drafted by a solicitor or qualified specialist is enough.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own will-writing specialists can help you put a valid will in place quickly. Visit our will writing page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "lasting-power-of-attorney-guide",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/lasting-power-of-attorney-guide",
      "title": "Lasting power of attorney: the two types, what they cover, and why waiting is the main risk",
      "category": "LPA",
      "excerpt": "An LPA must be set up while you have mental capacity. Once that window closes, your family faces the Court of Protection instead, which is slower, costlier, and more stressful.",
      "datePublished": "2026-04-30",
      "dateModified": "2026-04-30",
      "body": "A lasting power of attorney is a legal document that gives someone you trust the authority to make decisions on your behalf. It is one of the most protective documents you can put in place for yourself and your family.\n\nThe Office of the Public Guardian registers LPAs in England and Wales. Scotland has a similar document called a continuing power of attorney, and Northern Ireland uses an enduring power of attorney.\n\nThe two types of LPA\n\nThe property and financial affairs LPA authorises your attorney to manage your bank accounts, pay bills, deal with your property, collect your pension, and make financial decisions generally. With your permission, this LPA can be used while you still have capacity.\n\nThe health and welfare LPA authorises your attorney to make decisions about your medical treatment, care arrangements, and daily welfare. This one only comes into effect when you lack capacity to make those decisions yourself.\n\nThe registration process\n\nAn LPA is not valid until it has been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. Registration currently takes around ten weeks. There is a registration fee of £92 per LPA, reduced for those on low incomes.\n\nBefore registration, the LPA must be signed by you (as the donor), your attorneys, and an independent witness called a certificate provider, who confirms you understand what you are signing and are not being pressured.\n\nThe capacity window\n\nThe most important thing to understand about LPAs is that you must have mental capacity when you sign the document. Once you lose capacity, it is too late to make an LPA.\n\nCapacity is not all-or-nothing. Someone in the early stages of dementia may still have sufficient capacity to make an LPA. By the time a parent shows obvious signs of cognitive decline, it may already be too late to act.\n\nThe alternative: the Court of Protection\n\nIf someone loses capacity without having made an LPA, their family has no automatic right to manage their affairs. The only route is to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as a deputy.\n\n- Deputyship applications typically take six months or more to complete\n- The court fees and legal costs can run to several thousand pounds\n- A deputy must file annual reports and accounts with the OPG\n- The court may impose restrictions on what a deputy can do\n- Financial decisions are monitored throughout, which can feel intrusive\n\nChoosing your attorneys\n\nYour attorney should be someone you trust absolutely with your money and your wellbeing. Most people choose a spouse, adult child, or close friend. You can appoint more than one attorney and specify whether they must act together or can act independently.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can help you put both types of LPA in place. Visit our lasting power of attorney page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "lpa-cost-uk",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/lpa-cost-uk",
      "title": "How much does a lasting power of attorney cost in the UK?",
      "category": "LPA",
      "excerpt": "The OPG registration fee is £92 per LPA, but that is only part of the picture. Here is what you should expect to pay and why.",
      "datePublished": "2026-05-07",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-10",
      "body": "One of the most common questions about lasting powers of attorney is how much they cost. The honest answer is that it depends on how you set them up and whether you use a professional.\n\nThe OPG registration fee\n\nThe Office of the Public Guardian charges £92 (increased from £82 in November 2025) to register each LPA in England and Wales. Since most people make both types of LPA, the standard registration fee is £184 per person. A couple making both types of LPA each would typically pay £368 in OPG fees.\n\nThose whose income and savings fall below a certain threshold may qualify for a fee exemption or remission. You can check eligibility on the gov.uk website.\n\nSolicitor and specialist fees\n\nBeyond the OPG fee, most people use a solicitor or specialist LPA provider to help prepare and submit the documents. A solicitor drafting both LPAs for one person might charge between £300 and £600 in professional fees, in addition to the OPG fees. Some will offer a combined package for couples.\n\nThere is no single regulated price, so it is worth getting two or three quotes if cost is a factor.\n\nThe cost of DIY LPAs\n\nIt is possible to complete an LPA yourself using the government's online service. You would pay only the OPG registration fee, which makes it appear much cheaper.\n\nThe problem is that LPAs have specific formal requirements, and errors can cause the OPG to reject the document. A rejected LPA must be resubmitted, which means paying the registration fee again. If you lose mental capacity before a rejected LPA is corrected, you may lose the opportunity to have an LPA at all.\n\nWhy couples should do both types together\n\nMost people need two LPAs: one for property and finance, one for health and welfare. Most couples should have both types in place. Doing all four documents together is almost always more cost-effective than doing them separately.\n\nThe cost of not having an LPA\n\nIf you lose mental capacity without an LPA, your family must apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship. The court fees, legal costs, and ongoing supervision requirements typically cost several thousand pounds in the first year alone, plus annual reporting costs thereafter.\n\n- OPG registration: £92 per LPA (£184 for both types per person)\n- Solicitor fees: typically £300-£600 per person depending on complexity\n- Couples package: often available at a discount\n- DIY route: OPG fees only, but higher risk of rejection\n- Court of Protection deputyship if no LPA: typically £3,000 or more in year one\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can give you a clear quote for your situation. Visit our lasting power of attorney page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "lpa-for-elderly-parent",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/lpa-for-elderly-parent",
      "title": "Setting up a lasting power of attorney for an elderly parent: what families get wrong",
      "category": "LPA",
      "excerpt": "The most common mistake families make with an elderly parent's LPA is waiting too long. Here is what you need to know before it becomes urgent.",
      "datePublished": "2026-05-14",
      "dateModified": "2026-05-14",
      "body": "Most families think about a lasting power of attorney for an elderly parent only when a health crisis makes it feel necessary. By that point, the options are often more limited than they should be.\n\nThe LPA must be made while the person making it has sufficient mental capacity. That window can close faster and less predictably than most families expect.\n\nThe capacity requirement explained\n\nMental capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 means the ability to understand information relevant to the decision, retain that information, weigh it up, and communicate a decision. Capacity is decision-specific: someone may have capacity for some decisions but not others.\n\nA diagnosis of dementia does not automatically mean your parent lacks capacity to make an LPA. In the early stages, many people retain sufficient capacity. But it needs to be assessed carefully, and a solicitor may ask for supporting evidence from a GP or specialist.\n\nWhat happens if your parent has already lost capacity\n\nIf your parent no longer has the mental capacity to make an LPA, the option is closed. The only route to formal legal authority over their finances and care is through the Court of Protection.\n\nApplying for a deputyship typically takes six months or more to complete. During that time, bank accounts may be inaccessible and care arrangements may be difficult to formalise. Once appointed as a deputy, you must file annual accounts and reports with the Office of the Public Guardian.\n\nHow to raise the conversation\n\nMany families delay because they do not know how to raise the topic without it feeling like a threat. There is no perfect script, but the most useful framing is usually practical rather than medical.\n\nExplaining that an LPA protects your parent's wishes, rather than taking control from them, tends to land better than talking about dementia or incapacity. Pointing out that making an LPA while healthy means the person making it is in charge of all the choices tends to help.\n\nWhat the process looks like in practice\n\n- Your parent chooses their attorneys and any restrictions\n- A certificate provider confirms capacity and understanding\n- The LPA is signed and submitted to the OPG\n- Registration takes around ten weeks and costs £92 per LPA\n- The registered LPA can then be used when needed\n\nThe right time to act\n\nThe right time to start this conversation with an elderly parent is before there is any cause for concern about their mental capacity. Not because you expect anything to go wrong, but because the document is most useful when there is no urgency.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team is experienced in supporting elderly clients and their families through this process. Visit our lasting power of attorney page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "family-trust-uk",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/family-trust-uk",
      "title": "What a family trust actually does (and when it's worth it)",
      "category": "Trusts",
      "excerpt": "Trusts are not just for the very wealthy. A discretionary trust can protect assets from divorce, creditors, and inheritance tax in ways a straightforward will cannot.",
      "datePublished": "2026-05-21",
      "dateModified": "2026-05-21",
      "body": "The word trust carries a lot of baggage. It sounds like something reserved for landed gentry or offshore wealth managers. In practice, family trusts are a straightforward legal tool used by many ordinary families in the UK.\n\nThey are not magic, and they are not right for everyone. But for families where the value of an estate is significant, or where there are specific concerns about how assets might be used or lost, a trust may be worth considering.\n\nWhat a trust actually is\n\nA trust is a legal arrangement in which assets are held by trustees for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries. The key point is that the assets are no longer legally owned by the person who created the trust. They belong to the trust.\n\nThe settlor is the person who puts assets into the trust. The trustees manage the assets. The beneficiaries receive the benefit. In a family trust, these roles often overlap: you might be both the settlor and an initial trustee, with your children as beneficiaries.\n\nDiscretionary trusts: the most common type for families\n\nA discretionary trust gives the trustees flexibility to decide how and when the beneficiaries receive assets. Rather than leaving money directly to your children at a fixed age or in fixed shares, the trustees can respond to changing circumstances.\n\nWhat a trust can protect against\n\n- Divorce: assets held in a well-structured discretionary trust are generally outside the matrimonial pot if a beneficiary divorces, though this is not an absolute guarantee\n- Creditors: trust assets are not directly available to a beneficiary's creditors in most circumstances\n- Inheritance tax over time: once assets have been in a discretionary trust for long enough, they may be outside your taxable estate\n- Loss of control: rather than a beneficiary receiving a lump sum at 18 under intestacy, the trustees can distribute at the appropriate time\n\nWhat a trust cannot do\n\nA trust is not a tax avoidance scheme. Transfers into a discretionary trust may attract an immediate inheritance tax charge if they exceed the nil-rate band at the time of transfer. The trust itself pays tax on income and capital gains.\n\nA trust created solely to avoid care fees, or to deliberately defeat a creditor's claim, can be challenged.\n\nThe costs and compliance involved\n\nTrusts must register with HMRC's Trust Registration Service and have their own tax returns. Trustees have legal responsibilities and can be held personally liable for breaches of trust. The cost of setting up a trust varies depending on complexity, but it is rarely cheap.\n\nFor a modest estate with no particular concerns about how assets will be managed or protected, a trust may add cost and complexity for limited benefit. For larger or more complex estates, the protection may outweigh those costs significantly.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can assess whether a family trust makes sense for your situation. Visit our trusts page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "asset-protection-trust-care-fees",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/asset-protection-trust-care-fees",
      "title": "Can a trust protect your home from care home fees?",
      "category": "Trusts",
      "excerpt": "A trust set up well in advance and for legitimate reasons may provide some protection. But a trust created specifically to avoid care costs is likely to be treated as deliberate deprivation.",
      "datePublished": "2026-05-28",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-08",
      "body": "Care home fees are one of the largest financial risks facing families in later life. With residential care costs in the UK running to tens of thousands of pounds per year, many families ask whether a trust can protect their home from being used to pay those fees.\n\nThe answer is nuanced and depends significantly on the timing and purpose of any arrangement. It is an area where getting proper advice is essential, because the rules are more complex than many people realise.\n\nHow care funding assessments work\n\nLocal authorities carry out means tests to determine how much of your care costs you are expected to fund yourself. Your capital and assets are assessed, with the main threshold currently being £23,250 in England. If your assets exceed this, you are expected to contribute to the cost of your care.\n\nYour home is generally included in this assessment if you move into residential care and no qualifying relative remains living there.\n\nDeliberate deprivation of assets\n\nLocal authorities have the power to treat you as still owning assets that you have transferred away if they conclude that the transfer was made with the intention of avoiding care fees. This is called deliberate deprivation.\n\nCrucially, there is no fixed look-back period for deliberate deprivation in the same way as the seven-year rule for inheritance tax. Local authorities can look back as far as they consider relevant if there is evidence of intentional deprivation.\n\nWhat a properly structured trust may be able to do\n\nA trust that was set up for legitimate reasons, well in advance of any care needs arising, may provide some protection. The key factors are the purpose of the trust, the timing of its creation, and the circumstances at the time.\n\nSetting up a trust in your fifties in good health, for reasons including asset protection from divorce or inheritance tax planning, is a very different situation from setting up a trust at 80 when you are already receiving a care needs assessment.\n\nWhat an asset protection trust cannot do\n\n- It cannot guarantee protection from care fee assessments in all circumstances\n- A trust created specifically to avoid care costs is likely to be treated as deliberate deprivation\n- Timing matters: the closer the transfer to a care need, the more likely it will be scrutinised\n- You cannot continue to live in your home rent-free after putting it in trust without gift with reservation of benefit applying for inheritance tax purposes\n- Local authorities have experienced financial assessment teams who look at trust arrangements carefully\n\nTaking the right approach\n\nIf asset protection is a genuine concern for your family, a conversation with a qualified specialist who understands both trust law and local authority care funding rules is worth having early. The earlier you plan, the more genuine options are available.\n\nBe cautious of any adviser who tells you a trust will definitively protect your assets from care fees. The legal position is more uncertain than that, and local authorities have successfully challenged many such arrangements.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own trust team can give you an honest assessment of the options. Visit our asset protection trusts page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "capital-gains-tax-property-sale",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/capital-gains-tax-property-sale",
      "title": "Selling a buy-to-let or second home: what you'll pay in capital gains tax and how to reduce it",
      "category": "Tax",
      "excerpt": "CGT on residential property applies at 18% or 24% depending on your income. The annual exemption is now just £3,000. Here is what you can and cannot do to reduce the bill.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-04",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-04",
      "body": "Selling a buy-to-let property or second home triggers capital gains tax on the profit you have made. With the annual exempt amount now reduced to £3,000 and rates unchanged, most sellers will face a meaningful tax bill.\n\nUnderstanding how the tax is calculated and what can legitimately reduce it is worth doing before you put a property on the market.\n\nThe CGT rates on residential property\n\nCapital gains on residential property are taxed at 18% if your total income and gains keep you within the basic rate income tax band, or 24% on any gain that falls into the higher rate band.\n\nYour income tax band for the year of disposal is calculated first, and the capital gain is layered on top. If your salary uses up most of the basic rate band, much of your gain may be taxed at 24% even if you are not otherwise a higher rate taxpayer.\n\nCalculating the gain\n\n- Allowable costs include stamp duty paid on purchase, solicitor and estate agent fees on both purchase and sale, and the cost of capital improvements\n- Routine maintenance, repairs, and mortgage interest are not allowable deductions for CGT purposes\n- If you owned the property jointly, each owner calculates their own gain on their share\n- The annual exempt amount of £3,000 is deducted from your gain before tax is applied\n\nCapital improvements vs maintenance\n\nCapital improvements that added to the value of the property, such as a new extension or loft conversion, could qualify as allowable costs. Repainting or replacing a like-for-like boiler does not count. Keeping records of capital work done during your ownership is worth doing from the moment you buy an investment property.\n\nWhat lettings relief no longer covers\n\nLettings relief, which previously gave landlords up to £40,000 relief on a property that had been their main home, was significantly restricted from April 2020. It now only applies where the owner and tenant are in the property at the same time, which covers very few modern letting arrangements.\n\nApproaches that may reduce the bill\n\nTiming the sale to straddle two tax years can allow you to use two annual exempt amounts, though the gain must genuinely fall in different years and not be artificially split.\n\nIf your property is owned jointly with a spouse or civil partner, each of you has a separate annual exemption and separate rate band. Capital losses from other disposals in the same tax year can also be offset against your gain.\n\nReporting and payment\n\nCGT on residential property must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion, using HMRC's online property disposal service. This deadline is strict.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own tax team can review your position before you sell. Visit our property tax planning page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "selling-business-capital-gains-tax",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/selling-business-capital-gains-tax",
      "title": "Selling your business: the tax you need to plan for before you sign anything",
      "category": "Tax",
      "excerpt": "Business Asset Disposal Relief can apply a 10% capital gains tax rate to up to £1 million of qualifying gains, but only if the conditions are met before exchange, not after.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-11",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-11",
      "body": "Selling a business is one of the largest financial events most people experience. The tax implications are substantial, and the planning that matters most happens before you sign, not after.\n\nBusiness Asset Disposal Relief, the main relief available to business owners, can be the difference between paying 10% capital gains tax and paying 24%. On a significant sale, that is a very large number.\n\nWhat Business Asset Disposal Relief is\n\nBusiness Asset Disposal Relief, previously called Entrepreneurs' Relief, reduces the rate of capital gains tax to 10% on qualifying gains from the sale of a business or business assets. The relief applies up to a lifetime limit of £1 million of qualifying gains.\n\nGains above £1 million are taxed at the standard CGT rate, currently 24% for higher rate taxpayers. The lifetime limit is cumulative across all qualifying disposals.\n\nHow to qualify\n\n- You must be an employee or officer of the company\n- You must hold at least 5% of the ordinary share capital\n- Your 5% shareholding must carry at least 5% of the voting rights\n- You must be entitled to at least 5% of the distributable profits and assets on a winding up\n- The company must be a trading company, or the holding company of a trading group\n\nThe two-year qualifying period must be met before the date of disposal. If you restructured your shareholding, changed your role, or the company changed its activities in the two years before sale, you may not qualify even if you expected to.\n\nWhy timing matters so much\n\nThe qualifying conditions are tested at the point of disposal, not at the point of planning. If issues are identified before exchange, they can often be addressed. After exchange, they cannot.\n\nA tax adviser who reviews your position before heads of terms are signed can identify and, in many cases, resolve issues while there is still time to act.\n\nThe difference planning makes\n\nOn a £500,000 gain, the difference between 10% and 24% is £70,000. On a £1 million gain, it is £140,000. These are not marginal differences. They are worth the cost of specialist advice many times over.\n\nWhat happens to the proceeds\n\nOnce you have sold your business and paid the CGT, the proceeds sit in your estate. If the proceeds are significant, they could substantially increase your inheritance tax exposure, particularly after April 2027 when pension planning becomes less effective as an offset.\n\nThinking about what to do with the proceeds from an estate planning perspective, alongside the CGT planning, means you avoid creating a new problem while solving an existing one.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own tax team can review your qualifying position and structure your sale efficiently. Visit our business tax planning page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "estate-planning-unmarried-couples",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/estate-planning-unmarried-couples",
      "title": "Estate planning for unmarried couples: why a will is even more important",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "Cohabiting partners have no automatic inheritance rights and cannot claim on each other's pensions. A clear plan is essential to protect each other and children.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "Unmarried couples face a significant legal gap that married couples do not. If you are cohabiting or in a committed relationship but not married, the law treats you as legal strangers for inheritance purposes.\n\nThis means that if your partner dies, you have no automatic right to their estate, regardless of how long you have been together or how committed the relationship is.\n\nThe inheritance rights gap\n\nIf your partner dies without a will, their estate is divided under the intestacy rules. These rules follow a strict legal order that ignores unmarried partners entirely.\n\n- A spouse inherits automatically; an unmarried partner inherits nothing unless explicitly named in a will\n- Children inherit ahead of unmarried partners, even if the partner was the primary carer\n- If there are no children and the partner dies without a will, the estate goes to parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives\n- An unmarried partner can make a claim under the Inheritance Act, but this is slow, expensive, and uncertain\n\nWhy wills matter more for unmarried couples\n\nA will is the only way to ensure your partner inherits what you intend them to have. Without a will, your partner has no legal claim unless they can prove a financial dependency and that the intestacy rules have treated them unfairly.\n\nA clear, properly drafted will can also name your partner as a guardian for minor children, control who has access to your digital assets, and appoint an executor you trust to handle your estate fairly.\n\nPensions and life insurance\n\nYour pension death benefits do not pass under your will. Instead, the pension scheme trustees decide who receives the money based on the beneficiary nomination form. If your nomination is out of date or names someone else, your partner will not receive the funds, regardless of what your will says.\n\nThe same applies to life insurance policies. A policy that names the wrong beneficiary does not pass to your estate; it passes directly to the named person.\n\nReviewing who is named on your pension and life insurance is as important as reviewing your will, and the documents must be kept in step with each other.\n\nLasting powers of attorney\n\nAn unmarried partner cannot automatically make decisions on your behalf if you lose capacity. If you do not have a Lasting Power of Attorney in place naming your partner, your family must apply to the Court of Protection, which is slow, costly, and distressing at a time of crisis.\n\nInheritance tax and unmarried couples\n\nAn unmarried partner has no inheritance tax relief when you leave them money in your will. A spouse or civil partner can inherit your entire estate free of inheritance tax. An unmarried partner must pay 40% on any inheritance above their individual nil-rate band.\n\nThis creates a specific planning problem: if one partner has built up significant assets and dies first, the survivor could face a substantial inheritance tax bill that a married couple would avoid entirely.\n\nWhat unmarried couples need to do\n\n- Create separate wills that clearly name each other as beneficiary and guardian for any children\n- Update pension and life insurance beneficiary nominations to reflect current intentions\n- Set up a Lasting Power of Attorney naming each other for both property/financial and health/welfare decisions\n- Ensure beneficiary nominations are kept in step with your will as circumstances change\n- Consider whether you want to own your home jointly and on what terms (joint tenancy vs tenancy in common)\n\nThe earlier you do this, the simpler it is. Delaying creates risk for the person left behind and potential disputes between children and a surviving partner.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own team can help unmarried couples create a clear, legally robust plan that protects each other. Visit our estate planning page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "when-do-you-need-a-trust",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/when-do-you-need-a-trust",
      "title": "When do you need a trust? The honest answer (spoiler: you might not)",
      "category": "Trusts",
      "excerpt": "Trusts can be valuable for asset protection and control, but they are not the answer for everyone. Here is when a trust makes sense and when it does not.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-11",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-11",
      "body": "Trusts are often presented as a cure-all for estate planning. In reality, a trust makes sense for some situations and adds unnecessary complexity to others.\n\nThe right approach starts with understanding what a trust actually does, who benefits from it, and what the real costs are.\n\nWhat a trust actually does\n\nA trust is a legal arrangement that separates the ownership of an asset from the right to benefit from it. You (the settlor) transfer an asset to a trustee, who then holds it for the benefit of named beneficiaries according to rules you set out.\n\nThis structure can achieve things a simple will cannot: it can control how and when money is distributed, protect assets from a beneficiary's creditors or former spouse, and create flexibility for changed circumstances.\n\nWhen a trust is genuinely useful\n\n- You have a vulnerable or young beneficiary and want to protect money until they are old enough or mature enough to manage it themselves\n- You are concerned that a beneficiary might face challenges in a divorce or from creditors, and you want to protect their inheritance\n- You have a business or significant assets and want control over succession planning\n- You want your assets held for multiple generations with flexibility about how they are used\n- You have a sizeable estate and want to use a trust for inheritance tax efficiency\n\nWhen a trust creates more problems than it solves\n\nA trust is not necessary if you simply want to leave money to adult children or a spouse. A straightforward will is simpler, cheaper, and easier to administer.\n\nA trust is also not a substitute for proper financial planning or a shortcut to asset protection. A trust set up for the wrong reasons can be challenged by creditors or the local authority if you have care needs.\n\nThe real costs of a trust\n\n- Setup: professional fees to draft a deed of trust, typically £500 to £1,500 depending on complexity\n- Administration: ongoing annual accounting, tax returns, and trustee responsibilities\n- Complexity: a trust is more difficult to administer than a simple estate, and mistakes can have serious tax consequences\n- Ongoing professional fees: tax advice, compliance reviews, potential disputes between trustees and beneficiaries\n\nFor many families, the ongoing complexity and cost of administering a trust outweighs the benefits of a simple will with clear instructions.\n\nQuestions to ask before setting up a trust\n\n- What specific problem am I trying to solve? Is a trust really the answer, or would a clear will and a named guardian or executor be enough?\n- Who will be the trustee? Is the person I have in mind willing and capable of taking on the role?\n- How much will it cost to set up and administer, and does that cost justify the benefit?\n- What will happen if my circumstances or my beneficiaries' circumstances change? Can the trust be updated or dissolved?\n- Have I thought through the tax treatment? Different types of trust have different inheritance tax rules, and a trust set up without professional tax advice can be expensive\n\nThe right approach\n\nA specialist estate planner can review your situation and tell you honestly whether a trust is a good fit or unnecessary complexity. Many families do not need one. Those that do benefit significantly from having one properly set up.\n\nThe key is not to start with the answer (I need a trust) and work backwards to justify it. Instead, start with the problem you are trying to solve and see what structure actually addresses it.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own trust team can give you an honest assessment of whether a trust is right for your situation. Visit our trusts page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "lasting-power-of-attorney-timing",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/lasting-power-of-attorney-timing",
      "title": "When should you get a lasting power of attorney? Don't wait until it's an emergency",
      "category": "LPA",
      "excerpt": "An LPA must be created while you have mental capacity. Waiting until a health crisis or diagnosis could leave your family with no choice but the costly Court of Protection.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-13",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-13",
      "body": "The single biggest mistake families make with lasting powers of attorney is waiting too long. An LPA is only valid if it is signed when you have the mental capacity to understand what you are doing. Once you lose capacity, it is too late to create one.\n\nThis is not a theoretical problem. Thousands of families every year find themselves unable to access a parent's bank account, make medical decisions, or manage property because no LPA exists and the parent is no longer capable of creating one.\n\nThe capacity window closes without warning\n\nCapacity is not a switch that flips on age, diagnosis, or a specific medical event. It is functional and can fade gradually. You might notice your parent or a family member becoming forgetful before losing capacity completely. But you might also have no warning at all.\n\nA stroke, a fall, dementia, or another sudden event can leave someone unable to sign an LPA overnight. If that happens, there is no power of attorney option: only the Court of Protection.\n\nWhat happens without an LPA\n\nIf someone loses capacity and there is no LPA in place, anyone needing to manage their affairs (pay bills, access bank accounts, make medical decisions) must apply to the Court of Protection.\n\n- The process takes weeks or months\n- It costs £400-800+ in court fees and solicitor costs\n- It requires evidence from doctors and assessments of capacity\n- The court decides who will manage the person's affairs, which may not be who the person would have chosen\n- The whole process is formal, public, and distressing for families already dealing with a health crisis\n\nAn LPA avoids all of this\n\nA Lasting Power of Attorney, created while you have capacity, means the people you trust can make decisions and manage your affairs immediately if you lose capacity. There is no court, no delays, no uncertainty.\n\nThere are two types: one for property and financial affairs, and one for health and welfare. Most people set up both.\n\nWhen to set one up\n\n- Ideally in your 50s, while capacity is not in question and you are thinking clearly about long-term planning\n- Certainly before any diagnosis or health event suggests capacity might be at risk\n- For older people with no LPA in place, immediately — do not wait for a crisis\n- If you have a family history of dementia or other conditions affecting capacity, act earlier rather than later\n\nThere is no age at which an LPA becomes urgent. But there is a threshold beyond which the risk of losing capacity increases, and you should act before you reach it.\n\nThe cost is modest\n\nThe Office of the Public Guardian charges £92 per LPA when you register it. Professional fees to have an LPA drafted and registered typically range from £300 to £600 per person.\n\nCompare that to the cost of the Court of Protection if capacity is lost without one: £400-800+ in fees alone, plus months of stress and delay.\n\nHow to raise the conversation\n\nMany people feel awkward suggesting an LPA to a parent or older family member. But it is not a reflection on their current state: it is insurance for both of you.\n\nFraming it as part of a broader estate planning conversation (alongside a will and lasting power of attorney together) makes it less about capacity and more about being organised.\n\nDo not wait for a crisis\n\nOnce capacity is gone, it cannot be recovered for the purpose of making an LPA. A health event that takes capacity away is almost always unexpected. The time to set one up is now, while there is no question about capacity and no pressure.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our own LPA team can help you set one up quickly and simply, either for yourself or to help a family member act in time. Visit our lasting power of attorney page to book your free review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "unmarried-couples-inheritance-tax",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/unmarried-couples-inheritance-tax",
      "title": "Unmarried and inheritance tax: why your partner could face a 40% bill a married couple would never see",
      "category": "IHT",
      "excerpt": "Cohabiting couples get no spouse exemption and no transferable nil-rate band. A married couple in the same situation could pass on up to £1 million tax-free. The honest position.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "Many cohabiting couples in the UK assume that years of shared life carry some legal weight when one of them dies. They do not. The day a partner dies, the survivor can find themselves in a tax position that a married couple would never see.\n\nThis is the most under-discussed inheritance tax issue we come across in practice, and it tends to surface only when it is too late to fix it.\n\nThe common-law marriage myth\n\nCommon-law marriage is not a legal concept in England and Wales, and has not been since 1753. Living together, raising children together, or sharing a home for decades creates no automatic legal status between you. Surveys regularly find that around half of cohabiting couples still believe otherwise.\n\nFor most of life, the distinction may not matter much. It matters acutely when one partner dies, because the inheritance tax system gives married couples and civil partners reliefs that unmarried partners simply cannot use.\n\nNo spouse exemption\n\nThe most important relief is the spouse exemption. Anything you leave to a spouse or civil partner on death passes free of inheritance tax, regardless of value. An estate of any size left entirely to a spouse generates no IHT.\n\nFor unmarried partners, that exemption does not exist. Assets you leave to your partner count towards your estate for IHT in the normal way. Above the £325,000 nil-rate band, the rate is 40%.\n\nNo transferable nil-rate band\n\nThere is a second hidden cost that families often miss until they hit it. When the first spouse in a married couple dies and leaves everything to the survivor, any unused nil-rate band can later be transferred to the survivor's estate.\n\nThis is what allows a married couple's combined inheritance tax threshold to reach up to £1 million: two nil-rate bands of £325,000 plus two residence nil-rate bands of £175,000, on a qualifying family home left to direct descendants. Both bands are frozen at these figures until April 2031.\n\nUnmarried couples have only their own thresholds. There is no transfer between them, no doubling up, no sheltering of the first estate against the second.\n\nA worked example\n\nAnna and Ben have been together for 25 years and own their family home in joint names worth £700,000. They each have savings and investments of £100,000. Their combined estate is £900,000. They have two adult children together.\n\nIf Anna and Ben were married, the first death would pass everything to the survivor free of inheritance tax under the spouse exemption. On the second death, the family would have both nil-rate bands (£650,000) and both residence nil-rate bands (£350,000), a combined threshold of £1 million. No inheritance tax would be due on either death.\n\nAnna and Ben are not married. When Anna dies first and leaves her half of the home and her £100,000 to Ben, her estate of £450,000 is covered by her own £325,000 nil-rate band and £175,000 residence allowance. No IHT is due on her death.\n\nWhen Ben later dies, his estate is everything: the house at £700,000 plus the combined savings of £200,000, a total of £900,000. He has only his own threshold of £500,000. The remaining £400,000 is taxed at 40%, generating an inheritance tax bill of £160,000.\n\nThat is £160,000 a married couple would not have paid on the same assets, leaving the same children.\n\nThe forced home sale\n\nInheritance tax has to be paid before the estate can be fully distributed. The deadline is broadly six months from the end of the month of death, often before probate is granted and frequently before the family home can be marketed.\n\nFor families where most of the estate is held in the home, finding a six-figure cash sum that quickly is rarely possible. The result is that bereaved adult children, who are usually the beneficiaries, sell the family home under time pressure to clear the bill. This is exactly the scenario most families assume inheritance tax planning is supposed to avoid.\n\nWhat unmarried couples can do\n\nThis is not a problem with a single clean fix. But there are several steps that may help, and the right combination depends on your circumstances.\n\nA well-drafted will is the starting point. Without one, the intestacy rules give a surviving cohabiting partner nothing automatically, regardless of how long you have lived together. The partner may have a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, but that is a court process, not a right.\n\n- Lifetime gifting can reduce the size of your estate. Gifts you survive by seven years fall outside it; smaller annual allowances are immediately exempt.\n- Life insurance written in trust is widely used to provide a tax-free lump sum on death, so the bill can be paid without selling the home.\n- Some couples formalise their relationship, by marriage or civil partnership, specifically because the tax position is so different.\n- Trust planning may help in the right circumstances, though transfers into trust have their own IHT consequences and need specialist advice.\n- How the property is owned matters. Property held as joint tenants passes by survivorship; property held as tenants in common passes under the will. Either may help or hinder the wider plan.\n\nWhy this catches people out\n\nMost families never expect to see a six-figure inheritance tax bill. They look at the home, see house prices that feel ordinary to them, and assume the nil-rate band absorbs the estate. For a married couple, the combined £1 million threshold often does. For an unmarried couple, the threshold is half of that, the spouse exemption is missing, and the bill arrives on the second death rather than being deferred indefinitely.\n\nThis gap is not new, and it is not particularly hidden in the rules. But because the cost lands on the survivor at the worst possible time, it is rarely fixable once you get there. The honest answer is that this is one of the few areas of inheritance tax where the right time to plan is genuinely now, not later.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our team can map your situation against the current inheritance tax thresholds and walk you through the options that fit unmarried couples specifically. Visit our inheritance tax page to book a free, no-obligation review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "contesting-a-will-uk",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/contesting-a-will-uk",
      "title": "Can someone contest a will in the UK? The Inheritance Act 1975 and how to make a will harder to challenge",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "Most wills are never challenged. The ones that are tend to involve blended families, vulnerable testators, or beneficiaries who feel cut out. Knowing the grounds is part of writing a will that holds up.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "Most wills are never challenged. But the wills that are challenged tend to be in families where someone feels left out, treated unfairly, or excluded. Knowing who can challenge a will, on what grounds, and what makes a will harder to argue with, is part of writing one that holds up.\n\nThis is general information rather than legal advice on any specific dispute. If you are already in the middle of one, the right next step is a contentious-probate specialist.\n\nWho can challenge a will\n\nIn England and Wales, several categories of person can bring a claim against an estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. Broadly, the people the law recognises as potentially entitled to financial provision from an estate are:\n\n- The spouse or civil partner of the deceased\n- A former spouse or civil partner who has not remarried, in some circumstances\n- A cohabiting partner who lived with the deceased as if married for the two years immediately before death\n- A child of the deceased, regardless of age\n- A person treated by the deceased as a child of the family (typically stepchildren raised by the deceased)\n- Anyone else who was being maintained financially by the deceased immediately before death\n\nA claim under the 1975 Act has to be brought within six months of the grant of probate, with limited exceptions.\n\nThe blended-family flashpoint\n\nThe single most common contentious-will scenario is a second marriage or blended family. A surviving spouse inherits the estate on the first death; children of the first marriage worry they may never see anything. Wills written without thinking about that dynamic create problems.\n\nChildren of a first marriage can bring a claim under the 1975 Act if the will does not make 'reasonable financial provision' for them. What is reasonable depends on their financial circumstances, the size of the estate, and their relationship with the deceased. A young adult who has been financially supported until the death has a much stronger position than an adult with their own established income.\n\nThe other grounds for challenging a will\n\nSeparately from a 1975 Act claim, a will can be challenged on the grounds that it is not valid in the first place. These claims aim to set the will aside entirely, so that an earlier valid will applies or, if there is none, the intestacy rules apply.\n\nLack of testamentary capacity\n\nTo make a valid will, the person making it must understand what they are doing, the extent of their property, and who might reasonably expect to benefit. They must also not be suffering from any disorder of the mind that prevents them from acting rationally on these matters.\n\nWhere a will is made in the later stages of dementia, or under the shadow of a serious illness, capacity becomes the central question. A doctor's contemporaneous note that the person was capable, or a formal capacity assessment, can be decisive.\n\nLack of knowledge and approval\n\nThe person making the will must know its contents and approve them. If a will appears to have been drafted in unusual circumstances, for example by someone who benefits significantly from it, the court may require evidence that the testator actually understood what they were signing.\n\nUndue influence\n\nUndue influence is conduct that overpowers the will of the testator, going beyond legitimate persuasion. The legal bar is high. It is sometimes raised where an isolated, ageing relative leaves their estate to a more recently arrived carer or partner in ways that exclude long-term family.\n\nLack of proper execution\n\nA will must be signed by the testator in the presence of two independent witnesses, who must also sign in the testator's presence. A witness who benefits under the will (or whose spouse does) cannot validly take the gift. Errors in execution are one of the most common reasons DIY wills fail.\n\nHow to make a will harder to challenge\n\nA challenge succeeds where there is something doubtful to attack. A well-drafted will makes those doubts hard to raise.\n\n- Use a solicitor or qualified will writer who can evidence the instruction-taking process, including a note of why specific choices were made.\n- Consider a contemporaneous letter of wishes explaining your reasoning. It does not bind the executors but it speaks loudly to a court if a dispute follows.\n- Where capacity might be questioned, ask a doctor for a contemporaneous capacity assessment. The 'golden rule' is to have one before a will is made when there is any doubt.\n- Be precise about beneficiaries. Use full legal names, dates of birth where useful, and clear gifts. Vague descriptions are an open door to disputes.\n- If excluding a likely claimant, address it directly. A clause explaining the reasons can make it harder to argue the omission was an oversight or undue influence.\n- For complex family situations, particularly second marriages with children from earlier relationships, consider a trust within the will. A life interest trust can give a surviving spouse the use of an asset for life while preserving the underlying value for children of an earlier marriage.\n\nTrusts inside wills\n\nFor blended families, a trust inside a will is often the cleanest solution. The trustees, not the surviving spouse, control the asset. The surviving spouse may receive income, or the right to live in the family home for life, while the underlying value is preserved for the children of the earlier marriage on the survivor's later death.\n\nThis is not free, and trusts have their own ongoing administration. But for families that would otherwise face a real risk of disputed inheritance, the trust route is often the difference between a will that holds and a will that ends in court.\n\nWhen to revisit\n\nWills age. The circumstances of beneficiaries change. Marriages happen, divorces happen, children are born, and beneficiaries sometimes predecease the testator. A will written ten years ago and not reviewed since is likely to need a fresh look. Reviewing a will is not the same as starting again; in many cases a codicil or a short replacement does the job.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our team writes wills designed to reflect your wishes and stand up when it matters. Visit our estate planning page to book a free, no-obligation review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "appointing-guardians-for-your-children",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/appointing-guardians-for-your-children",
      "title": "Appointing guardians for your children: who raises them, who controls the money, and what happens if you don't choose",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "If both parents die without naming guardians, the court decides. A well-drafted will appoints guardians, separates care from money, and uses a trust so the inheritance is not handed to an 18-year-old all at once.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "Most parents make a will because they want to control what happens to their assets. For parents of young children, an even more important question is who would look after the children themselves if both parents died. This is the part of the will many people put off because the scenarios involved are painful to think about.\n\nBut the alternative, leaving it to the courts to decide, is one of the few outcomes worse than thinking about it now.\n\nWhat happens if you do not appoint a guardian\n\nIf both parents die without a will, or with a will that does not name guardians, the family courts decide who looks after the children. The court will consider applications from family members and others, weigh the welfare of the child, and decide. The process is not quick, the outcome is not always the one the parents would have chosen, and during the gap the children sit in a legal limbo.\n\nIn the worst cases, this is precisely the moment when family disagreements about how the children should be raised come to the surface. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, and step-relatives may all hold strong and conflicting views. The court adjudicates between them. The children are at the centre of an argument they did not start.\n\nAppointing guardians in your will\n\nThe guardian appointment is one of the simplest parts of a will. Both parents (assuming both hold parental responsibility) can nominate one or more guardians to take parental responsibility on their deaths. The appointment takes effect when the second parent dies, provided no other person with parental responsibility is alive.\n\nThe choice is rarely obvious. Most parents end up choosing between a sibling, a parent, or a close friend. Each option carries different practical implications. Siblings may be the natural choice but they are often raising children of their own. Grandparents may be willing, but their age matters; a 70-year-old grandparent stepping in to raise a five-year-old is taking on a long commitment. Close friends can be the right choice for continuity if they live nearby and know the children well, but they are sometimes overlooked in favour of blood relatives.\n\nThe right answer is not the same as the obvious answer. It is worth talking to whoever you have in mind before naming them. A guardian who is surprised by the appointment is in a much weaker position to step in well.\n\nSeparating care from money\n\nOne of the most useful things a will can do for a family with young children is separate the question of who raises the children from the question of who manages the money. These are different jobs and different skills, and putting them in the same hands can create a conflict of interest.\n\nThe will appoints guardians to take care of the children. Separately, it can appoint trustees, who manage the assets in a trust for the children's benefit. The guardians and the trustees can be the same people, but in many families it makes more sense for them to be different.\n\nThis avoids a situation where, for example, a guardian decides to spend trust money on a larger home or different schooling without anyone independent weighing those decisions against the children's longer-term financial interests.\n\nWhy 18 is usually the wrong age to hand over money\n\nUnder the intestacy rules, children inherit at 18 absolutely, with no further protection. Many parents, when they think about it concretely, are uncomfortable with that. An 18-year-old who has just lost both parents, dealing with grief and a transition out of school, may not be the right person to manage a six-figure inheritance well.\n\nA will can defer that. The most common arrangements either set an age later than 18 (often 21 or 25), or place the money in a discretionary trust where the trustees decide what to release and when. Discretionary trusts give flexibility to respond to the actual circumstances of each child rather than locking in a date now.\n\nThis is not about distrusting your children. It is about acknowledging that grief, youth, and a sudden lump sum is a difficult combination, and giving the next generation a buffer.\n\nA letter of wishes\n\nAlongside the will, a letter of wishes lets you explain to the guardians and trustees what you would like to happen in practice. The letter is not legally binding, but it gives the people doing the job a clear picture of your thinking.\n\n- Where should the children live? In the family home, or with the guardians? Both are possible and each has implications.\n- What schools, religious upbringing, or extended family relationships matter to you?\n- How should the trustees think about funding the guardians' expenses? Should they pay a contribution towards the household, school fees, or holidays?\n- At what ages should the children receive larger amounts of capital?\n- Are there specific gifts or memories you want preserved?\n\nNone of these answers are obvious in the moment. A letter of wishes gives you the space to think them through now, while you can.\n\nSpecial considerations\n\nSome situations need more care than the standard arrangement.\n\n- Where the children's parents are separated or divorced, both parents still need to think about guardian appointments. If both die in close succession, both wills matter.\n- Where one child has additional needs and may not be able to manage an inheritance independently, a discretionary trust is often the right structure, and means-tested benefits can be considered properly.\n- Where the family has assets in another country, the guardian and trust arrangements may interact with foreign legal systems. This is worth flagging with a specialist.\n\nThe honest case for doing this now\n\nThe reason most parents do not have guardians named is not that they cannot decide. It is that the decision feels distant and uncomfortable. The discomfort is real, but the gap it leaves is far worse for the children involved.\n\nDrafting this part of a will is straightforward. The conversation with the proposed guardians is the harder part, and the part you cannot delegate. Done well, it puts the people you trust most in a position to step in cleanly if the worst happens. Done not at all, it puts the family courts in that position instead.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our team can draft a will that names guardians, sets up a trust to protect your children's inheritance until they are ready for it, and gives clear effect to your letter of wishes. Visit our will writing page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "how-long-does-probate-take-uk",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/how-long-does-probate-take-uk",
      "title": "How long does probate take in the UK? A plain-English guide to timelines, costs and the home you may not be able to sell yet",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "Probate typically takes six to twelve months. Without a will it takes longer. The wait can be a real problem when most of the estate is tied up in the family home and the bills keep arriving.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-10",
      "body": "Probate is the legal process by which someone's estate is administered after they die. It is one of the most common reasons families end up speaking to a solicitor for the first time, often at a moment when no one wants to deal with administration.\n\nThis guide is general information about how the process works in England and Wales. The actual administration of an estate is a reserved legal activity in many cases and we do not provide it. We aim only to help you understand the timeline, the costs, and what can make probate easier or harder before you get there.\n\nWhat probate actually is\n\nProbate is the legal authority to deal with someone's estate. Where there is a will, an executor named in the will applies for a grant of probate. Where there is no will, the next of kin (under set rules) applies for letters of administration. Together these are called grants of representation.\n\nThe grant gives the executors or administrators the legal authority to collect in the deceased's assets, pay off any debts and taxes, and distribute what remains to the beneficiaries.\n\nA realistic timeline\n\nThere is no statutory deadline for completing probate, but most straightforward estates take between six and twelve months. Some take far longer.\n\n- Gathering information about the estate (assets, liabilities, valuations): 4 to 8 weeks\n- Preparing and submitting the application: 1 to 4 weeks\n- Waiting for the grant from HM Courts and Tribunals Service: usually within 12 weeks of submitting the application, according to gov.uk, sometimes longer if there are queries\n- Collecting in assets and clearing liabilities: 1 to 6 months depending on what the estate holds\n- Final distribution: typically a final wait of at least six months from the grant before final distributions are made, to give any potential claimants time to come forward\n\nFor estates that include a property to be sold, the timetable extends until the sale completes. For estates with overseas assets, the process can take significantly longer.\n\nWhy dying without a will slows things down\n\nIntestacy adds complexity. Without a will:\n\n- There is no named executor. The next of kin in the statutory order applies for letters of administration, which can take longer to organise.\n- The intestacy rules decide who inherits. The administrators must establish family relationships, sometimes formally, before they can distribute.\n- Disputes are more common, particularly in blended families and where unmarried partners are involved.\n- The administrators may need to take additional steps (such as advertising for unknown creditors) to protect themselves from later claims.\n\nAll of this is doable, but it adds weeks or months and significant cost. The single most useful thing most people can do for their family is leave a clear, valid, current will, and make sure the named executors know they have been named.\n\nThe cost of probate\n\nThere is an application fee charged by HM Courts and Tribunals Service. As at 2026, the standard fee is £300 for estates above £5,000 and there is no fee for estates below that. There is no application fee for the deceased's surviving spouse where they apply themselves to a small estate, in some circumstances.\n\nProfessional fees vary widely. A simple estate handled by a solicitor on an hourly basis may cost a few thousand pounds. A complex estate, especially one involving foreign assets, business interests or inheritance tax, can run into tens of thousands. Some firms charge a percentage of the estate, often 1% to 5%; others charge fixed fees. It is worth comparing quotes and asking how they bill before you instruct.\n\nThe home and mortgage trap\n\nFor families where most of the estate is held in a property, the wait for probate can create real cash-flow problems.\n\nThe deceased's sole-name bank accounts are typically frozen on death until the grant is issued. If a mortgage was held jointly with someone still alive, the survivor remains responsible. If the mortgage was solely in the deceased's name, the lender will usually allow a grace period but ultimately wants to be paid.\n\nSelling the property to clear the mortgage and free up capital is rarely possible before the grant. The home may sit, costing money, while the family waits. If inheritance tax is also due, the bill can fall due before the home can be sold.\n\nThe Direct Payment Scheme allows banks and other institutions to release funds directly to HMRC to pay inheritance tax, which helps. But the gap between death and the grant can still be a difficult one for families holding a property they cannot yet sell.\n\nHow a will, a trust or an LPA make probate easier\n\nNone of these eliminate probate. They make it cleaner and faster.\n\n- A clear, current will avoids intestacy and gives the executors a clear set of instructions.\n- A property held in joint names as joint tenants passes by survivorship to the surviving owner and is outside the probate estate. This often matters more for couples than they realise.\n- Some assets nominated to specific beneficiaries (pensions, certain death-in-service payments) pass directly to the nominee and bypass probate altogether.\n- A trust set up during lifetime is owned by the trustees and is generally outside the probate estate.\n- A lasting power of attorney does not apply on death, but it allows the donor's finances to be managed in life. That means bank accounts and bills are not left frozen if the donor loses capacity, and the donor's affairs are usually in better order at the point probate is needed.\n\nWhen probate is not needed\n\nProbate is not always required. Where the estate is small (most banks have their own threshold, typically between £15,000 and £50,000), or where everything was held jointly with a spouse, the financial institutions may release funds without a grant. The executors are still responsible for any inheritance tax due, but the legal administration is much lighter.\n\nA note on the regulated work\n\nAdministering an estate in exchange for a fee is a reserved legal activity in many cases, and is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority or equivalent. We do not provide probate services. If you need an estate administered, you should instruct a solicitor or a regulated probate specialist.\n\nWhat we can do, before probate is ever needed, is help families put the structure in place that makes the estate easier to administer when the time comes: a current will, a clear letter to executors, the right ownership structure on the property, and an LPA in place.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. We help families put the foundation in place that makes probate cleaner when the time comes. Visit our estate planning page to book a free, no-obligation review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "no-lpa-lost-capacity-court-of-protection",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/no-lpa-lost-capacity-court-of-protection",
      "title": "What happens if you lose mental capacity without a lasting power of attorney",
      "category": "LPA",
      "excerpt": "Without an LPA, no one (including your spouse) can step in automatically. Bank accounts freeze, care decisions stall, and the family is left applying to the Court of Protection. The cost and time are not subtle.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "Most people understand, in broad terms, what happens when someone dies. There is a will, an executor steps in, the estate is distributed. Far fewer people have thought about what happens when someone loses the mental capacity to make their own decisions but is still alive.\n\nThe honest answer is: without a lasting power of attorney already in place, your family is in for a hard, slow, expensive process. The myth that a spouse automatically takes over is one of the most damaging assumptions in estate planning.\n\nThe myth that a spouse can take over\n\nMany couples assume that, because they share a bank account, raised a family, and have lived together for decades, the spouse can simply step in to manage things if one of them loses capacity. They cannot.\n\nA spouse has no automatic legal authority to manage their partner's individual bank accounts, sell jointly owned property, or make decisions about their care. Joint accounts can sometimes be operated by one partner, depending on the bank's rules. Sole accounts cannot. The mortgage company will not accept a spouse's signature on a remortgage without the account holder's consent. The local authority will not accept a spouse's say-so on a care home placement without a legal route to authorise it.\n\nThe frozen-life scenario\n\nWithout an LPA, the practical consequences of lost capacity are immediate.\n\n- Bank accounts in the sole name of the person who has lost capacity are typically frozen. The bills they used to pay (mortgage, utilities, insurance) continue to fall due.\n- Investment platforms and pensions cannot be instructed by anyone else. Drawdown payments may stop.\n- Property cannot be sold or remortgaged in the absence of legal authority for the donor's signature.\n- Care home contracts cannot be signed on behalf of the person.\n- Decisions about medical treatment fall to the treating doctors and next of kin under the Mental Capacity Act, but with no documented authority for the family to direct longer-term care.\n\nFamilies discover this not in theory but on the day. A spouse trying to pay the mortgage from a frozen account, with no LPA in place, finds out at the worst possible moment that 'I am his wife' is not enough.\n\nThe Court of Protection\n\nThere is one alternative. The Court of Protection is the court that deals with people who lack capacity. Family members (typically) can apply to be appointed as a deputy, with authority to make decisions on the donor's behalf.\n\nThe process is real, it works, and many families end up using it. But it is the most expensive and time-consuming route to where an LPA would have got you in weeks.\n\nHow a deputyship works in practice\n\nAn application for a property and affairs deputyship typically takes six to nine months from start to grant. The court fees are several hundred pounds. The legal fees to prepare an application can run to a few thousand, particularly if it is contested or complex.\n\nDuring the application, the family is in limbo. The applicant's solicitor can sometimes obtain an interim order for emergency expenditure, but that is not the same as a full deputyship.\n\nOnce appointed, a deputy has to:\n\n- Provide a security bond (essentially insurance) before they can act\n- File an annual report and accounts with the Office of the Public Guardian\n- Pay an annual supervision fee (around £320 for general supervision, lower in smaller estates)\n- Operate within the terms of the order, with anything outside it requiring a fresh application\n- Justify decisions against the donor's known wishes and the Mental Capacity Act's best-interests test\n\nIt is workable, but it is intrusive in a way the donor never had to consent to.\n\nDeputy vs attorney: the difference that matters\n\nThe most important difference between a court-appointed deputy and an attorney under an LPA is that the donor chose their attorney.\n\nAn LPA donor selects who acts on their behalf, names replacements if their first choice cannot act, includes restrictions or preferences if they want to, and signs the document while they have the capacity to do so. The arrangement is theirs.\n\nA deputy is appointed by the court. The court tries to choose well, and usually does, but the donor has no say. Family members may end up disagreeing about who should act. In some cases the court refuses family applicants and appoints a professional deputy instead, at a higher cost to the donor's estate.\n\nFrom the family's perspective, the deputy route is also far more supervised. The Office of the Public Guardian checks the accounts, queries unusual transactions, and, in serious cases, can remove a deputy and refer matters for investigation. None of this is wrong, but it means the family is doing the same job an attorney would have done, under far more scrutiny.\n\nThe capacity window\n\nThe thing every family should understand is that an LPA can only be made by someone with the mental capacity to make it. Once capacity is lost, the LPA route is closed. The donor must have capacity at the time they sign the document, and a certificate provider has to confirm it.\n\nIn practice, this is a window that closes faster than families expect. The early stages of dementia, a sudden stroke, or a serious illness can take capacity in days. A diagnosis of dementia does not automatically remove capacity, and many people with an early diagnosis can still make an LPA validly. But that window is often shorter than people realise once it starts to close.\n\nThe two LPAs (property and financial affairs, and health and welfare) cost £92 each to register with the Office of the Public Guardian. Both, for both partners in a couple, is around £368. Compared with the several thousand pounds and many months of a deputyship application, the contrast is not subtle.\n\nWhen to act\n\nThe straightforward answer is: now, while you have the capacity to do it. There is no good reason to wait until you think you might need it. By the time you are sure, it is often too late. An LPA sits unused until it is needed, then it is invaluable.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our team can put both lasting powers of attorney in place properly, including registration with the Office of the Public Guardian. Visit our lasting power of attorney page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "cheap-wills-uk-false-economy",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/cheap-wills-uk-false-economy",
      "title": "The false economy of a cheap will: where £20 will kits go wrong (and when a simple will really is enough)",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "Cheap wills can work for the simplest estates. They tend to fail in trust drafting, blended families, IHT planning and guardianship. The cost of a flawed will lands on the family, twenty years later.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "There is no shortage of cheap wills available in the UK. High-street kits, online template services, and even free wills offered through charity schemes promise a valid will in minutes. For some people, they genuinely produce what is needed. For others, they produce a piece of paper that goes very wrong twenty years later.\n\nThis is not an argument that everyone needs a complex will. Most people do not. The question is whether the will you end up with does what you actually want it to do.\n\nWhat you get for £20 to £100\n\nAt the bottom of the market, a will kit gives you a fill-in-the-blanks template, basic instructions, and the legal requirement that the will be properly signed and witnessed. The cost reflects what is involved: there is no individual advice, no review of your circumstances, and no assurance that the result reflects your specific situation.\n\nOnline template services sit slightly above that, often with a guided questionnaire that produces a more tailored document. Some of these are well-built; others are alarmingly thin.\n\nMost will-writing companies and high-street solicitors charge between £150 and £500 for a single will, with packages for couples or for wills bundled with LPAs. Specialist estate planning firms charge more, typically reflecting the time spent on advice rather than the document itself.\n\nHow DIY wills go wrong\n\nThe legal requirements for a valid will are strict. A will can fail entirely if it is not properly executed. The most common DIY mistakes are:\n\n- Witnessing errors. The witnesses must be present at the same time when the testator signs, and must sign in the testator's presence. A signature added later is not valid.\n- Beneficiary witnesses. A witness who benefits under the will, or whose spouse benefits, loses their gift. The will is otherwise valid; the gift is voided.\n- Ambiguous gifts. 'My jewellery to my daughter' is fine if you have one daughter. With two, it is not. 'My grandchildren' depends on which grandchildren existed at the date of the will and the date of death.\n- Forgotten residue clauses. Many DIY wills carefully describe specific gifts and forget to say what happens to the rest of the estate. Anything not specifically gifted falls under the intestacy rules.\n- Out-of-date forms. Templates printed before a legal change may produce wills that look right but conflict with current rules, particularly on excluded clauses or trust language.\n- Marriage revocation. In England and Wales, marrying revokes any earlier will unless it was made in contemplation of that specific marriage. A DIY will written before a marriage and not refreshed is no will at all.\n\nThese mistakes are not caught by the kit. They are caught after death, by the family, when nothing can be done.\n\nWhere cheap wills fail by design\n\nEven a properly executed cheap will may fail to achieve what the testator actually wanted. The will is technically valid; it just does the wrong thing.\n\nTrusts\n\nIf you want to leave assets in trust for grandchildren until they are 25, or to a vulnerable adult on a discretionary basis, a template will is unlikely to handle that well. Trust drafting is the part of will-writing where small errors produce big consequences. A clause that does not properly create a trust may leave a beneficiary receiving a lump sum at 18 instead.\n\nBlended families\n\nSecond marriages with children from a first relationship are the most common contentious-will scenario. A template will, with no thought given to the dynamic, often produces an outcome that hurts one side of the family. Life interest trusts and other structures that work for blended families need specialist drafting.\n\nInheritance tax\n\nA will is the start of estate planning, not the end of it. Wills that do not consider the inheritance tax thresholds, the residence nil-rate band, charitable gifting at 10% to reduce the rate from 40% to 36%, and the interaction with lifetime gifts and trusts, can leave significant tax on the table. A simple will alone is not an inheritance tax plan.\n\nGuardians for minor children\n\nA template will lets you name guardians but typically does not separate the guardian role from the trustee role, and rarely contains a trust to defer the inheritance beyond 18. Where these matter, they need to be drafted properly.\n\nA twenty-years-later example\n\nA couple in their thirties draft DIY wills leaving everything to the survivor and then equally to their two children. They name no guardians. They include no trust. They never review the wills.\n\nTwenty-three years later, one of them dies. The will, technically valid, leaves the estate to the survivor. The survivor remarries within three years. The remarriage, in England and Wales, automatically revokes the existing will. The survivor never gets round to making a new one.\n\nThe survivor dies eight years later, intestate. Under the intestacy rules, the second spouse takes the first £322,000 plus all personal possessions plus half of the rest. The two children share the other half between them, alongside any children the survivor and second spouse had together.\n\nThe two original children, the intended beneficiaries of the original plan, may receive significantly less than their parents intended, possibly after litigation with their step-parent. The cost of the original DIY wills was about £40. The cost of the legal fees on the disputed estate is in the tens of thousands.\n\nWhen a simple will really is enough\n\nThis is not an argument that everyone needs a complex will. Many people genuinely do not.\n\nA simple will, drafted carefully, may be all you need if:\n\n- You are single or married, with no children from a previous relationship\n- Your estate is below the inheritance tax threshold including any pension to be passed on after April 2027\n- You are leaving everything either to your spouse or split equally between adult children\n- You do not need to defer the inheritance beyond 18\n- You do not have a business, foreign property, or any significant non-standard assets\n- You are willing to revisit the will every five years and after any life event\n\nFor everyone else, the difference between a cheap will and a well-drafted one tends to be invisible at the time of writing and very visible at the time of death.\n\nThe honest test\n\nAsk yourself: if you died tomorrow, would the people you trust to read your will be able to explain to a court, your family, and HMRC what you wanted and why? If yes, a simple will is probably fine. If the answer is unclear, the saving on a cheap will is rarely worth it.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our team will tell you honestly whether a simple will is enough for your situation, or whether you need something more. Visit our will writing page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "do-i-need-a-trust-uk",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/do-i-need-a-trust-uk",
      "title": "Do you actually need a trust? A decision guide, not a sales pitch",
      "category": "Trusts",
      "excerpt": "Trusts work brilliantly for some families and add cost without benefit for others. A clear test: are these assets you might need to spend yourself, or assets you intend to pass on intact?",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "Trusts have a reputation problem. Half the people who hear about them think they are something only the very wealthy use; the other half have been told by a marketing campaign that they should set one up immediately. Neither is right.\n\nA trust is a tool. Like any tool, it is useful for some jobs and a poor fit for others. This guide is a decision aid: when does a trust genuinely add value, when does it add cost for no benefit, and what other options exist that may do the job more cheaply.\n\nWhat a trust is, in plain terms\n\nA trust is an arrangement in which one or more trustees hold assets on behalf of one or more beneficiaries. The settlor (the person setting up the trust) places assets into it. The trustees become the legal owners. The beneficiaries are the people the assets are held for.\n\nThat separation between legal ownership and beneficial entitlement is the entire point of the trust. It means the trustees can hold and manage the assets for the benefit of the beneficiaries, on terms set by the settlor, without the assets being part of any one person's estate or being available to that person's creditors in normal circumstances.\n\nThe spend-vs-save test\n\nA useful first question, before you spend any money on advice, is: are these assets you might need to spend in your own lifetime?\n\nIf the answer is yes (you might draw on the savings for income, a care home, a major purchase, or to help a child with a deposit), putting them into an irrevocable trust is rarely a good idea. You lose access to your own money.\n\nIf the answer is no (these are assets you genuinely intend to pass on intact, and you do not need the income from them now or later), a trust may make sense as part of the wider estate plan.\n\nGenuinely good reasons to use a trust\n\nThere are several reasons families set up trusts that consistently survive scrutiny.\n\nControl over when and how a beneficiary receives an inheritance\n\nA trust can defer an inheritance beyond 18, give the trustees discretion to release funds when they consider it appropriate, and avoid lump-sum payments to young adults during periods of vulnerability. This is one of the most common and least controversial uses.\n\nProtection against external claims\n\nAssets in a discretionary trust are generally outside the reach of a beneficiary's creditors. They can also generally be excluded from the matrimonial pot in a beneficiary's divorce, though this is not absolute, and any specific divorce case looks at the substance of the trust rather than its label.\n\nInheritance tax planning over time\n\nAssets gifted into a discretionary trust during your lifetime are outside your estate once seven years have passed, subject to the rules on transfers into trust. For families with estates above £1 million who can afford to part with assets now, this can be one of the more effective routes to reduce inheritance tax over time.\n\nContinuity for vulnerable beneficiaries\n\nWhere a beneficiary has a disability, an addiction problem, or any other circumstance that makes managing money themselves difficult, a discretionary trust gives someone the family trusts the role of administering the inheritance in the beneficiary's interest. For a vulnerable beneficiary, this can be more important than the tax position.\n\nBlended family planning\n\nA life interest trust within a will can give a surviving spouse the use of an asset (income from investments, or the right to live in a home) while preserving the underlying capital for children of an earlier marriage. This is a common and effective solution for second marriages.\n\nReasons people are sometimes sold a trust that do not stand up\n\nThere are also reasons trusts get marketed that, on closer inspection, do not justify the cost and complexity.\n\n- To dodge care home fees by transferring the home into trust. The local authority's deliberate deprivation rules can override the transfer. A trust set up late and specifically to avoid care fees is the classic example of an arrangement that fails when tested.\n- To avoid probate. A trust set up in lifetime does avoid probate on the trust assets, but the cost of running the trust is usually more than the cost of the probate it avoids.\n- To save inheritance tax that would never have been paid anyway. If your estate is comfortably within the nil-rate band, a trust costs you in fees and administration without generating any meaningful tax benefit.\n- Because someone selling a 'family protection trust' said so. Some of the firms aggressively selling trusts are not regulated, do not offer real legal advice, and do not stay on the hook if it goes wrong.\n\nThe trade-offs of a trust\n\nEven where a trust is the right answer, it is not free. Some trade-offs worth being clear-eyed about:\n\n- Loss of access. Once assets are in an irrevocable trust, they are not yours to spend. You can sometimes be a beneficiary, but that brings its own restrictions.\n- Set-up cost and ongoing administration. A trust needs to be registered with HMRC's Trust Registration Service, files its own tax returns, and may need professional trustee support.\n- Tax inside the trust. Income tax and capital gains tax apply to trusts at different rates from individuals. Discretionary trusts in particular pay tax at higher rates on income.\n- Trustee duties. Trustees have legal responsibilities and can be personally liable for breaches of trust. Choosing trustees who are willing and able to take on that role is part of the work.\n- The 10-year periodic charge and exit charge on discretionary trusts above the nil-rate band. These are usually manageable but they are real.\n\nAlternatives that may do the job\n\nBefore assuming a trust is the answer, it is worth checking whether something simpler does the same job:\n\n- A well-drafted will with provisions to delay distributions to specific ages\n- Outright gifting to adult children, with the seven-year rule running\n- Regular gifts from surplus income, immediately outside the estate if structured properly\n- Life insurance written in trust, which is itself a small trust used for one purpose\n- Joint ownership structures on property\n\nRed flags meaning you should get advice\n\nIf any of the following apply, a trust may genuinely help, and it is worth speaking to a specialist:\n\n- Your estate is above £1 million and includes assets you can afford to part with\n- You have a blended family with children from a previous relationship\n- You have a beneficiary with a disability or other vulnerability\n- You have a business that needs continuity planning, including business property relief\n- You have minor children and want their inheritance deferred and managed\n\nIf none of these apply and your estate is comfortably under the inheritance tax thresholds, a trust is probably not what you need.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our trust team will tell you honestly whether a trust fits your situation, or whether something simpler does the job. Visit our trusts page to book a free, no-obligation review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "when-to-update-your-will",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/when-to-update-your-will",
      "title": "Your will isn't done forever: five life events that quietly leave it out of date",
      "category": "Estate Planning",
      "excerpt": "Marriage automatically revokes a will. Divorce leaves gaps. A new child may not be covered. A beneficiary or executor dying first creates problems. The five triggers that mean you should revisit it.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "A will is not a one-off transaction. It is a snapshot of what you wanted when you signed it. The world keeps moving after that, and so do you. Five quite ordinary life events can leave a perfectly valid will doing something completely different from what you intended, sometimes leaving it doing nothing at all.\n\nThe good news: a will review takes far less time than writing one from scratch, and in many cases it is a short conversation rather than a fresh draft.\n\n1. Marriage automatically revokes your will\n\nIn England and Wales, marriage or civil partnership revokes any existing will. From the moment you say 'I do', any earlier will is null and void unless it was made in contemplation of that specific marriage.\n\nThis catches more people than it should. A person who wrote a will in their forties, married in their fifties, and never revisited the will is, in legal terms, dying intestate. The intestacy rules then decide who inherits, and the result is often very different from what the original will said.\n\nIf you have recently married, or are about to, this is the single most important reason to write or update a will. A short conversation with a will writer or solicitor before or shortly after the wedding can prevent the gap.\n\n2. A new child or grandchild not mentioned in your will\n\nWills written before a child or grandchild was born do not automatically include them. Some wills are drafted broadly enough ('to such of my children as survive me') to catch later-born children, but many list children by name and exclude anyone born later by default.\n\nStepchildren and adopted children create their own issues. Adopted children are treated as biological children for inheritance purposes. Stepchildren are not, unless the will specifically includes them by name.\n\nA new child or grandchild is one of the clearest moments to refresh a will. A short codicil naming the new family member can usually do the job.\n\n3. Divorce and separation leave your ex in the will\n\nDivorce in England and Wales has a specific effect on an existing will. After the date the divorce is finalised, the will is read as if the former spouse had died. Gifts to them and their appointment as executor are treated as if they were not there. The will is not revoked, but it has holes in it.\n\nIn some cases, the holes can be filled by other clauses (substitute gifts, alternative executors). In many cases, they cannot, and the affected assets fall under the intestacy rules instead.\n\nSeparation creates a different problem. Until the divorce is finalised, the spouse is still the spouse for legal purposes. A will that leaves everything to a spouse who has moved out and is going through divorce proceedings still pays out exactly that way if the donor dies before the final order. Most people in this situation would not want that outcome, but unless they update the will, that is what happens.\n\n4. A beneficiary or executor predeceasing you\n\nWills typically name primary beneficiaries and may not always specify what happens if one of them dies before the testator. If a parent leaves their estate equally to three children and one dies first without any substitute provision, the surviving children may take a larger share, or the deceased child's share may pass to their own children, depending on the wording.\n\nThe same applies to executors. A will that names a single executor who has died, with no replacement named, leaves the family without a clear executor when the time comes. It is workable (the court will appoint an administrator), but it is more friction than the family needs at the worst possible moment.\n\nThis is a reason to keep executor and beneficiary appointments current. When someone close to you dies, it is worth taking ten minutes to think about whether they were named in your will and, if so, whether the will still works without them.\n\n5. A child marrying, divorcing or running into difficulty\n\nWills written when children are young and unmarried often need a second look once the children become adults. A simple equal split between children works fine when none of them are married. It can be complicated when a child's spouse is part of the picture.\n\nThe most common concerns:\n\n- A child's marriage is rocky and the parents do not want a future divorce settlement to take a chunk of the inheritance\n- A child has financial difficulties or has been bankrupt and a direct inheritance might be claimed by creditors\n- A child has a vulnerability (disability, addiction, mental health) that means a lump-sum inheritance is not in their best interests\n- A child has died, leaving young grandchildren who will need protected provision\n- A child has become much wealthier than their siblings and the equal split no longer reflects what the parents want\n\nIn each case, the right answer is usually a trust within the will, or a redistribution between siblings, or a discretionary clause that gives the executors some flexibility. None of these need to be in the original will if they did not apply when it was written. They can be added when the picture changes.\n\nThe rule of thumb\n\nMost people do not need to update their will every year. They do need to revisit it at every life event.\n\n- Marriage, civil partnership, separation or divorce\n- A new child, grandchild or stepchild\n- The death of a beneficiary, executor or trustee\n- A major change in your financial position (selling a business, retirement, an inheritance)\n- A major change in a beneficiary's circumstances (marriage, financial trouble, illness)\n- A new property purchase, particularly if it is held jointly with someone other than your spouse\n- Every five years as a default, even without a specific trigger\n\nA review does not have to mean a fresh will. Many updates can be made with a codicil, which is a short document that amends the existing will. Where the changes are extensive or the original will is old, it is often cleaner to redo it. Either way, the cost of a review is small compared with the cost of a will that does the wrong thing.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our team can review your existing will and tell you whether it still does what you want, or what needs to change. Visit our will writing page to get started."
    },
    {
      "slug": "how-much-can-you-put-in-a-trust-tax-free",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/how-much-can-you-put-in-a-trust-tax-free",
      "title": "How much can you put in a trust tax-free? The £325,000 limit, the 20% charge above it, and the 7-year reset",
      "category": "Trusts",
      "excerpt": "Up to £325,000 in any seven-year period can go into a relevant property trust with no immediate IHT charge. Above that, 20% applies as a lifetime charge. Then come the 10-year periodic and exit charges. The rules in one place.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "One of the most common questions about trusts is the simplest one: how much can you put into a trust without immediate inheritance tax? The answer is more nuanced than the question, but the headline number is clear.\n\nThe short version: up to £325,000 in any seven-year period, into a discretionary or other relevant property trust, with no immediate inheritance tax charge. Anything above that triggers a 20% lifetime charge. There are also charges every ten years and on exit. The £325,000 allowance resets every seven years.\n\nBelow is the longer version, and a worked example that shows how the rules play out in practice.\n\nThe £325,000 nil-rate band, applied to trusts\n\nEvery individual in the UK has a nil-rate band of £325,000 for inheritance tax. This is the amount you can give away on death, or transfer during your lifetime into a relevant property trust, without inheritance tax being charged. The band is frozen at £325,000 until April 2031 under current legislation.\n\nA relevant property trust is the technical category that covers most discretionary trusts and many other trusts that are not bare trusts or qualifying life-interest trusts. It is the most common type used for inheritance tax planning.\n\nWhen you transfer assets into a relevant property trust, the transfer is a chargeable lifetime transfer for inheritance tax purposes. Up to £325,000 in any seven-year period can be transferred this way with no immediate inheritance tax charge, provided you have not used the band on other chargeable transfers in that period.\n\nThe 20% lifetime charge on the excess\n\nIf you transfer more than £325,000 into a relevant property trust in any seven-year period, the excess is taxed at 20% as a lifetime charge. The 20% is paid at the time of transfer, typically by the trustees from the trust assets (or by the settlor, in which case the rate is grossed up because the tax itself is treated as a further gift).\n\nThis is not the only tax that can apply to the transfer. If the settlor dies within seven years of making the transfer, additional inheritance tax may be due at the full 40% rate, with credit for the 20% already paid.\n\nFor most families using trusts for estate planning, the practical effect is that they limit each transfer to the £325,000 nil-rate band amount, wait seven years, and then can transfer another £325,000 with the band reset.\n\nThe 7-year reset, explained simply\n\nThe nil-rate band for trust purposes looks back seven years. Transfers into trust over the previous seven years are added together, and the £325,000 allowance is applied to that combined total.\n\nSo a transfer of £325,000 today uses the entire allowance. A second transfer six years later would be added to the first, exceeding the band, and the excess would be taxed at 20%. A second transfer seven years and a day later, after the first has dropped out of the seven-year window, can use a fresh £325,000 allowance.\n\nThis is the reason long-term trust planning is often structured as a series of transfers, each spaced at least seven years apart, with each one staying within the nil-rate band.\n\nThe 10-year periodic charge\n\nDiscretionary trusts and other relevant property trusts are subject to a periodic charge every ten years. The charge applies to the value of the trust assets above the trust's available nil-rate band at that point.\n\nThe maximum rate of the periodic charge is 6%, but the effective rate in most cases is lower (often between 0% and 3%) because of how the calculation works. The actual rate depends on the value of the trust, the available nil-rate band, the size of the original transfer, and the time since the trust was set up.\n\nFor a trust that was funded at exactly £325,000 and where the value has not significantly increased, the periodic charge is often nil. The point of the charge is to recover the inheritance tax that would otherwise be deferred indefinitely by holding assets in trust rather than in personal ownership.\n\nExit charges\n\nWhen assets leave the trust (paid out to a beneficiary, for example), an exit charge may apply. The exit charge is a pro-rata version of the periodic charge, based on the time since the last ten-year anniversary.\n\nExit charges in the first ten years of a trust are based on the initial value transferred in. After the first ten-year anniversary, they are based on the rate calculated at that anniversary. Like the periodic charge, the effective rate is often modest, particularly where the trust was funded within the nil-rate band.\n\nA worked example\n\nFrank, aged 60, has an estate of £1.2 million. He decides to set up a discretionary trust for his children and grandchildren, funded with £325,000 from his investments.\n\nAt the point of transfer:\n\n- The £325,000 falls within the nil-rate band, so no immediate inheritance tax is due.\n- The £325,000 is now outside Frank's estate for inheritance tax purposes, subject to him surviving seven years.\n- If Frank dies within seven years, the £325,000 is brought back into the seven-year cumulation for his estate, but the nil-rate band still applies first.\n- If Frank survives seven years, the £325,000 has dropped out of his cumulative seven-year total. He could make another transfer of £325,000 into a separate trust, again within the band.\n\nAt the trust's first ten-year anniversary:\n\n- The trust assets are valued. If the value is still around the nil-rate band, the periodic charge is likely to be modest or nil.\n- The calculation applies a notional inheritance tax charge at the lifetime rate (20%) to the value above the trust's available nil-rate band, then takes 30% of that to give the periodic rate, with a maximum effective rate of 6%.\n- For a trust within the nil-rate band, the periodic charge is typically a small administrative cost rather than a major hit.\n\nIf the trustees make a distribution to Frank's grandson three years after the ten-year anniversary, an exit charge applies to the distribution, calculated as a pro-rata fraction of the rate set at the anniversary.\n\nUsing multiple trusts\n\nIt is sometimes possible to use multiple trusts to spread assets and benefit from separate nil-rate bands at each ten-year anniversary. The anti-avoidance rules around this (in particular the 'same-day addition' and 'related settlement' rules) mean that simply setting up several trusts on the same day rarely works as intended. The planning is real but it needs to be done properly.\n\nWhen to take advice\n\nTrust taxation is one of the areas where the rules are simpler in description than they are in practice. The interactions between the nil-rate band, the seven-year cumulation, the ten-year periodic charge, the exit charge, and the rest of the settlor's estate planning are detailed.\n\nFor straightforward family trusts funded within the nil-rate band, the position is usually manageable and the tax position predictable. For larger trusts, or where the family is also making lifetime gifts or planning around the residence nil-rate band, the calculations need someone who does this every day.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our trust team can run the numbers on a trust that fits your circumstances, including the periodic and exit charges over time. Visit our trusts page to book a free, no-obligation review."
    },
    {
      "slug": "leaving-money-to-charity-inheritance-tax",
      "url": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/blog/leaving-money-to-charity-inheritance-tax",
      "title": "Leave 10% to charity and your inheritance tax rate drops from 40% to 36%: how the reduced rate actually works",
      "category": "IHT",
      "excerpt": "On a meaningful estate, the 4-point rate cut means a charitable gift can cost the other heirs far less than the headline figure. The mechanics, the will wording that matters, and when this is genuinely worth doing.",
      "datePublished": "2026-06-09",
      "dateModified": "2026-06-09",
      "body": "If you leave at least 10% of your estate to charity, the inheritance tax rate on the rest of your estate drops from 40% to 36%. For some families, that 4-point reduction means the charitable gift effectively costs the other heirs far less than the gift itself.\n\nThis guide explains how the reduced rate actually works, why the maths is not as simple as it looks, and when it makes sense (and when it does not).\n\nThe basic rule\n\nThe inheritance tax main rate is 40%, applied to the value of your estate above the nil-rate band thresholds. A reduced rate of 36% applies if you leave at least 10% of your 'baseline amount' to qualifying charities.\n\nThe reduced rate applies to the entire taxable estate (excluding the charitable gift), not just to the portion above the 10% threshold. That is why the rule produces an unusual incentive: pushing a smaller charitable gift up to the 10% line can move the entire estate from 40% to 36%.\n\nThe baseline amount\n\nThe baseline amount is the figure the 10% is measured against. It is essentially your taxable estate after deducting the nil-rate band, the residence nil-rate band (if applicable), debts, and any reliefs (such as business property relief). It is not the same as your total estate.\n\nIn practice, this means a small estate may not benefit much from the reduced rate even with a 10% gift, because the baseline is small. A larger estate where most of the value is above the thresholds is where the 36% rate gets interesting.\n\nA worked example\n\nMargaret has an estate of £1.5 million. As a widow whose late husband's nil-rate bands transferred to her, she has a combined inheritance tax threshold of £1 million (£650,000 of nil-rate band and £350,000 of residence nil-rate band, assuming her home is left to her children). Her taxable estate is therefore £500,000.\n\nWithout a charitable gift\n\nAt the standard rate of 40%, the inheritance tax on £500,000 is £200,000. Margaret's heirs receive £1.5 million minus £200,000, or £1.3 million in total.\n\nWith a 10% charitable gift\n\nMargaret leaves 10% of her baseline amount (the £500,000 taxable portion) to charity. That gift is £50,000.\n\nThe remaining taxable estate is £450,000. The reduced 36% rate applies to that amount, generating inheritance tax of £162,000.\n\nTotal leaving the estate: £50,000 to charity plus £162,000 in inheritance tax, a total of £212,000.\n\nHeirs receive £1.5 million minus £212,000, or £1,288,000.\n\nThe headline number\n\nIn this example, the charity receives £50,000. The cost to the heirs of making that gift is £12,000 (the difference between £1.3 million and £1,288,000). The remaining £38,000 of the charitable gift is effectively funded by the reduced tax bill.\n\nThis is the structural reason the 36% rate is attractive for estates well over the nil-rate band: a meaningful charitable gift can be made with most of the cost coming out of what would otherwise have been inheritance tax.\n\nGetting the will wording right\n\nThe reduced rate only applies if the 10% test is met. The test is mechanical and the calculation has specific rules. Getting the will wording right matters.\n\nA clause that gifts a specific cash sum to charity may, by accident, fall just short of the 10% threshold if the estate value moves between drafting and death. A clause that gifts a defined percentage of the baseline amount automatically tracks the threshold and qualifies for the reduced rate regardless of the estate value at death.\n\nHMRC publishes guidance on the calculation, and many wills now include a 'qualifying charity clause' designed to top up the gift automatically to the level needed to qualify if it would otherwise fall short.\n\nThis is one of the cases where a proper will-drafting service earns its fee. The reduced rate is worth tens of thousands of pounds on a meaningful estate, and the wording is unforgiving.\n\nCombining the reduced rate with other planning\n\nThe 36% rate sits alongside the other inheritance tax tools rather than replacing them. It is most powerful when combined with:\n\n- Lifetime gifting under the seven-year rule, which reduces the size of the taxable estate before the 10% test is applied\n- Trust planning, which can move further assets outside the estate over time\n- Pension planning, which from April 2027 is changing significantly as most unused pensions are expected to fall within the estate\n\nThe starting point for any of this is a clear picture of where the estate sits against the nil-rate band thresholds. There is no point planning for the 36% rate if the estate is already comfortably below the thresholds anyway.\n\nWhen the 36% rate makes sense\n\nThe reduced rate is genuinely useful when:\n\n- The estate is comfortably above the nil-rate band thresholds, so there is a meaningful taxable portion\n- The testator has a real charitable intention and would have made some gift anyway\n- The heirs accept that the 4-point rate cut can stretch the gift, but only stretches it; it is not a free gift\n\nWhen it does not\n\nThe reduced rate is not always the right answer:\n\n- Where the estate is at or just above the threshold, the baseline amount may be too small to make the 10% gift worthwhile\n- Where there is no charitable intention at all, a gift made purely to game the rate is unlikely to feel right to anyone involved\n- Where there are competing claims on the estate (children, vulnerable beneficiaries), a 10% charitable gift may push the family below what they actually need\n\nA note on choosing the charity\n\nGifts to UK-registered charities qualify for the exemption. Gifts to charities in some EEA countries and certain other jurisdictions may also qualify under specific rules. Picking a recognised charity and identifying it precisely in the will (including registration number) avoids disputes at probate.\n\nSimply Estate is an estate planning firm. Our team can model the reduced rate against your specific estate and draft the will wording to qualify. Visit our inheritance tax planning page to book a free, no-obligation review."
    }
  ],
  "faqs": [
    {
      "question": "What does it cost?",
      "answer": "Fixed fees agreed up front, with no commissions and no surprises. You'll know the price before anything starts."
    },
    {
      "question": "What happens if I die without a will?",
      "answer": "Your estate is distributed under the intestacy rules, which follow a fixed legal order, not your wishes. An unmarried partner may inherit nothing, regardless of how long you were together, and the outcome for blended families is often not what people expect. A will lets you decide who inherits, appoint guardians for children, and make the whole process far simpler for those you leave behind."
    },
    {
      "question": "What happens at the first consultation?",
      "answer": "It is a no-obligation conversation to understand your estate, your family and what you want to achieve. The specialist will give you an initial sense of your likely IHT exposure and whether planning is worthwhile for you, then a clear fixed-fee quote if you choose to go further. There is no commission and no pressure to proceed."
    },
    {
      "question": "How much does trust planning cost?",
      "answer": "We quote a fixed fee agreed before any work begins, so there are no surprises and no hourly meter running. We're paid for advice, not commission, so there is no incentive to sell you products you do not need. Your first conversation is a no-obligation review, and if a trust is not right for you we'll say so."
    },
    {
      "question": "Is this regulated advice?",
      "answer": "We're an estate planning firm. Our own team handles your will, LPAs and the planning. Wills, LPAs and trusts are not regulated by the FCA."
    },
    {
      "question": "Is this regulated advice, and who will I actually deal with?",
      "answer": "We're an estate planning firm. Our own team handles your will, LPAs and planning, gives you a fixed-fee quote upfront, and is accountable for the work. Wills, LPAs and trusts are not regulated by the FCA. You're free to walk away after the initial review with no obligation."
    },
    {
      "question": "How much Inheritance Tax might my family actually pay?",
      "answer": "IHT is charged at 40% on the value of your estate above your available allowances. Each person has a £325,000 nil-rate band, frozen until April 2030, plus a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 when a main home passes to direct descendants (this tapers away for estates over £2,000,000). A married couple or civil partners can typically combine these to pass on up to £1,000,000. Our team can calculate your specific position, the figure is always plan-dependent, never fixed."
    },
    {
      "question": "What changes for pensions on 6 April 2027?",
      "answer": "Until now, most unused pension funds have usually sat outside your estate for IHT. From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits are expected to be included in the value of your estate. For many families with a property and a pension, this could be the single biggest reason to review their plan now rather than later, because it may pull an estate into the 40% band that previously sat below it."
    },
    {
      "question": "Can gifting really reduce the tax bill?",
      "answer": "It can, when done correctly. You can give away £3,000 each tax year under the annual exemption, and larger gifts are usually free of IHT if you survive seven years (the potentially exempt transfer rule), with taper relief reducing the tax between years three and seven. Any benefit is plan-dependent, gifting needs to fit your wider plan and your own financial security, so our team will look at it in the round rather than in isolation."
    },
    {
      "question": "What changes in April 2027?",
      "answer": "Most unused pension funds and death benefits will be counted inside your estate for inheritance tax, pulling many more families into a 40% charge."
    },
    {
      "question": "What is actually changing with pensions in April 2027?",
      "answer": "From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits are expected to be included in the value of your estate for Inheritance Tax. Until now these have usually sat outside the estate, which is why pensions have often been used to pass wealth on tax-efficiently. The change is expected to pull many more families, including a good number, into IHT or into a higher bill, so it is worth reviewing how your pensions fit your overall plan well before the date."
    },
    {
      "question": "How much can my family inherit before Inheritance Tax applies?",
      "answer": "Each person has a nil-rate band of £325,000, frozen until April 2030. On top of that, a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 can apply when a main home passes to direct descendants such as children or grandchildren. Because unused allowances can pass between spouses and civil partners, a couple can potentially pass on up to £1,000,000 in total. Anything above the available thresholds is generally taxed at 40%. The residence nil-rate band tapers away for estates over £2,000,000."
    },
    {
      "question": "Do I need a trust?",
      "answer": "Many people don't, and a good specialist will tell you so. But trusts can be genuinely valuable in the right circumstances: protecting assets from a beneficiary's divorce or creditors, providing for a vulnerable or young beneficiary, or controlling when an inheritance is received. Some trusts have their own tax treatment, such as the relevant property regime, so they should only be used where the benefit clearly outweighs the cost and complexity."
    },
    {
      "question": "Could a trust help my family?",
      "answer": "Trusts can be useful for protecting assets from divorce or creditors, providing for young or vulnerable beneficiaries, and controlling when and how an inheritance is received. Some trusts have their own tax treatment, such as the relevant property regime, so they are not automatically the right answer for everyone. Our team will only suggest a trust where it genuinely fits your goals and explain the cost and tax position clearly first."
    },
    {
      "question": "What can a trust actually do?",
      "answer": "Keep an inheritance in your bloodline, protect it from divorce or creditors, provide for a vulnerable relative, and control when money is released."
    },
    {
      "question": "What is a trust, in plain English?",
      "answer": "A trust is a legal arrangement where you (the settlor) hand assets to people you choose (the trustees) to look after for the people you want to benefit (the beneficiaries). It lets you separate control of an asset from the enjoyment of it, so you can decide when, how and to whom money is released rather than leaving it outright. That control is what makes trusts useful for protecting young, vulnerable or at-risk beneficiaries."
    },
    {
      "question": "Can a trust really protect my child's inheritance from divorce or creditors?",
      "answer": "It can help. If an inheritance passes outright, it generally becomes your child's own asset and can be exposed in a divorce settlement or to creditors. Holding it in a properly structured trust can keep it ring-fenced for their benefit while reducing that exposure. No structure is absolute, and the courts retain discretion, so our team will explain realistically what protection a given trust can and cannot offer."
    },
    {
      "question": "Do I still need a will if I set up a trust?",
      "answer": "Almost always, yes. Trusts and wills do different jobs and usually work together. Without a will, intestacy rules decide who inherits, which may not match your wishes and can complicate any trust planning. Most plans also include both types of Lasting Power of Attorney, for property and financial affairs and for health and welfare, registered with the Office of the Public Guardian."
    },
    {
      "question": "Why do I need a Lasting Power of Attorney if I already have a will?",
      "answer": "A will only takes effect after death. A Lasting Power of Attorney protects you while you're alive but unable to manage your own affairs, through illness, an accident or age. There are two types: property & financial affairs, and health & welfare. Both are registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. Without one, your family may have to apply to the Court of Protection, which is slower, costlier and stressful at an already difficult time."
    },
    {
      "question": "Do I really need a will and a power of attorney as well?",
      "answer": "Yes. Dying without a will means the intestacy rules decide who inherits, which may not match your wishes and can increase the tax bill. A well-drafted will is also what lets your estate use the residence nil-rate band properly. Separately, two types of Lasting Power of Attorney, one for property and financial affairs and one for health and welfare, let people you trust act for you if you lose capacity. They must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, so it is worth doing in good time."
    },
    {
      "question": "Isn't a DIY or high-street will much cheaper?",
      "answer": "A template will is cheaper upfront, but it typically captures only who inherits, not how to shelter assets, plan for tax, or protect a vulnerable or young beneficiary. Trusts that are drafted but never correctly funded often fail to work as intended. A fixed-fee specialist makes sure the structure is right and actually does what you need, which is usually far less costly than getting it wrong."
    },
    {
      "question": "Do I have to travel anywhere?",
      "answer": "No. Everything is handled remotely by video and secure e-signing, convenient whether you're at home or away."
    },
    {
      "question": "I'm, does location matter?",
      "answer": "Estate planning law is the same across England and Wales, but local property values matter a great deal to your IHT position, and many people prefer our team who understands their area. We match you with someone suited to your circumstances, with the option of meeting locally or reviewing things remotely, whichever suits you."
    },
    {
      "question": "Could I really save that much?",
      "answer": "It depends entirely on your estate and circumstances. For larger estates, mitigations around gifting, trusts and allowances can be very worthwhile. Our team will model your actual position before you commit."
    },
    {
      "question": "How is it done?",
      "answer": "Remotely, by our own team. A review, a clear plan, and fixed fees agreed up front."
    },
    {
      "question": "Is anything here personal advice?",
      "answer": "Wills, LPAs and trusts are not regulated by the FCA, and nothing here is personal financial or legal advice. Any figures you see here are illustrative and educational. Your actual plan and any numbers would come from our team after reviewing your full circumstances, and nothing here is promised as a guaranteed saving or outcome."
    },
    {
      "question": "When is the right time to start planning?",
      "answer": "Generally, the earlier the better. Several of the most effective tools, particularly lifetime gifting under the 7-year rule, work best with time on your side, and the 6 April 2027 pension change adds a clear reason not to wait. Planning earlier also means decisions are made calmly rather than under pressure. If you are 50 or older with a property and pensions, a review now is rarely wasted."
    }
  ],
  "glossary": [
    {
      "term": "Annual exempt amount",
      "definition": "The slice of capital gains you can realise each tax year before Capital Gains Tax applies, currently £3,000 per person. It cannot be carried forward."
    },
    {
      "term": "Domicile",
      "definition": "Your long-term permanent home in the eyes of the tax system, often inherited from a parent and distinct from where you currently live. It heavily influences how your worldwide estate is taxed."
    },
    {
      "term": "Double-tax treaty",
      "definition": "An agreement between two countries that prevents the same income, gain or estate being taxed twice, usually through credits or exemptions that must be claimed correctly."
    },
    {
      "term": "Intestacy",
      "definition": "What happens when someone dies without a valid will. A fixed legal order decides who inherits, which often does not match what the person would have wanted."
    },
    {
      "term": "Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)",
      "definition": "A legal document letting people you trust act for you if you lose the ability to manage your own affairs. Two types exist, property & financial affairs, and health & welfare, both registered with the Office of the Public Guardian."
    },
    {
      "term": "Nil-rate band",
      "definition": "The amount of your estate taxed at 0% for Inheritance Tax, £325,000 per person, frozen until April 2030. Anything above your combined allowances is taxed at 40%."
    },
    {
      "term": "Pension funds within the estate (from April 2027)",
      "definition": "Most unused pension funds and death benefits, which from 6 April 2027 are expected to count towards your estate for IHT rather than sitting outside it."
    },
    {
      "term": "Potentially exempt transfer (the 7-year rule)",
      "definition": "A lifetime gift that becomes free of Inheritance Tax if you survive seven years from making it. Taper relief reduces the tax due if you die between years three and seven."
    },
    {
      "term": "Relevant property regime",
      "definition": "The tax framework applying to many trusts, which can carry entry charges, ten-yearly charges and exit charges. It is the main reason trust tax needs specialist modelling."
    },
    {
      "term": "Residence nil-rate band (RNRB)",
      "definition": "An extra allowance of up to £175,000 when your main home passes to direct descendants such as children or grandchildren. It tapers away for estates worth more than £2,000,000."
    },
    {
      "term": "Settlor, trustee and beneficiary",
      "definition": "The settlor puts assets into the trust, the trustees manage them under the trust's rules, and the beneficiaries are the people the trust is there to benefit. One person can hold more than one role."
    },
    {
      "term": "Taper relief",
      "definition": "A reduction in the IHT due on a gift made between three and seven years before death. It reduces the tax on the gift, not the gift's value itself."
    },
    {
      "term": "Tax residency",
      "definition": "Where you are treated as resident for tax in a given year, largely based on time spent in a country and your ties to it. You can be resident in more than one place at once."
    },
    {
      "term": "Trust",
      "definition": "A legal arrangement where assets are held by trustees for the benefit of others. Used to protect assets, provide for vulnerable or young beneficiaries, or control the timing of an inheritance; some trusts have their own tax treatment."
    }
  ],
  "tools": [
    {
      "name": "calculate_iht",
      "description": "Estimate a UK Inheritance Tax bill (2025/26 England & Wales rules). Models the nil-rate band, residence nil-rate band and its £2m taper, spousal doubling, the 40% charge, the 2027 pension change, plus optional debts, charity rate (36% at 10%+), transferred allowances and business/agricultural relief. Illustrative only — excludes lifetime-gift history.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/calculate_iht",
      "inputs": [
        "estateValue",
        "married",
        "leavingHomeToDescendants",
        "homeValue",
        "includePension",
        "pensionValue",
        "includeDebts",
        "debtsValue",
        "leavingToCharity",
        "charityPct",
        "transferredAllowance",
        "transferredNrb",
        "transferredRnrb",
        "includeRelief",
        "reliefAssetsValue"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "compare_pension_2027",
      "description": "Show the Inheritance Tax impact of the April 2027 change that brings most unused pensions into the estate: the IHT before vs after, and the extra tax. Exposure only — models nothing about pension products or what to do with a pension (that is FCA-regulated advice).",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/compare_pension_2027",
      "inputs": [
        "estateValue",
        "homeValue",
        "leavingHomeToDescendants",
        "married",
        "pensionValue",
        "pensionToSpouse"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "who_inherits_intestacy",
      "description": "Apply the England & Wales intestacy rules (dying without a will, rules from 26 July 2023): who inherits and how much. ALWAYS returns the warnings — e.g. a cohabiting partner inherits nothing, and jointly-owned assets usually pass outside these rules by survivorship.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/who_inherits_intestacy",
      "inputs": [
        "maritalStatus",
        "hasChildren",
        "estateValue",
        "jointlyOwnedValue",
        "hasPartialWill",
        "hasForeignAssets"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "compare_trusts",
      "description": "Recommend which UK trust types are worth discussing for a goal, with an HONEST note that always accompanies the recommendation (e.g. no trust simply avoids care fees — deliberate-deprivation rules apply with no time limit). Each trust lists what it does NOT do. 'No trust may be needed' is a valid answer.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/compare_trusts",
      "inputs": [
        "goal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "will_readiness_check",
      "description": "Score estate-planning readiness against a checklist. Pass `answers` as a map of item id → true/false (ids: has_will, will_recent, executors_named, guardians_named, lpa_property, lpa_health, wishes_recorded, assets_listed; advanced: pension_nominations, digital_assets, business_succession, foreign_assets, life_insurance_trust). Missing or false items count as gaps. Returns a band: covered / gaps / urgent.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/will_readiness_check",
      "inputs": [
        "answers",
        "hasChildren",
        "includeAdvanced"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "estimate_probate_cost",
      "description": "Estimate the cost of probate in England & Wales: the HMCTS application fee (£300 where the estate is over £5,000; no fee at £5,000 or below — the same with or without a will), sealed-copy costs, and — on the professional route — typical fee ranges across the UK market (NOT the firm's fees; most professional fees attract VAT on top). Guidance, not advice.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/estimate_probate_cost",
      "inputs": [
        "estateValue",
        "includesProperty",
        "hasWill",
        "professionalRoute"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "check_need_probate",
      "description": "Check whether a grant of probate (or letters of administration) is LIKELY to be needed in England & Wales, from what the person owned and how they owned it. Returns a guidance verdict — likely / maybe / unlikely — with per-asset reasons and next steps. Indicative only: every bank and institution sets its OWN probate threshold and decides asset by asset, so the honest answer always includes asking each one directly.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/check_need_probate",
      "inputs": [
        "soleProperty",
        "jointProperty",
        "largestBalance",
        "soleInvestments",
        "allToSpouse"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "calculate_lpa_cost",
      "description": "Calculate the Office of the Public Guardian fees to register Lasting Powers of Attorney in England & Wales: £92 per LPA (applications received from 17 November 2025), with a 50% remission where the donor's gross annual income is under £12,000 and a full exemption on certain means-tested benefits (both claimed with form LPA120). Registration fees only — nothing about drafting costs or whether an LPA is right for someone.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/calculate_lpa_cost",
      "inputs": [
        "lpaTypes",
        "couple",
        "incomeUnder12k",
        "qualifyingBenefits"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "estimate_care_cost",
      "description": "Project what care home fees could cost: typical self-funder weekly ranges (sourced 2026 estimates rounded from published averages) × 52 weeks × years, by region and care type. The educate-only means-test notes are ALWAYS included — England's capital limits and Wales's single limit are stated as facts for education; there is deliberately no 'how much could you protect' computation, because no arrangement simply avoids care fees.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/estimate_care_cost",
      "inputs": [
        "region",
        "careType",
        "years"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "gift_7_year_timeline",
      "description": "Map lifetime gifts onto the 7-year-rule timeline: which taper BAND each gift sits in and when it falls outside the estate. An EDUCATIONAL timeline of the bands and mechanics only — NOT a personal tax computation: taper relief reduces the rate of tax, never the gift's value, and it only matters where total gifts in the 7 years before death exceed the £325,000 nil-rate band (used up oldest gift first). No personal tax figures are computed.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/gift_7_year_timeline",
      "inputs": [
        "gifts"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "check_deed_of_variation",
      "description": "Check whether a deed of variation is available — guidance-only eligibility against the s.142 IHTA 1984 conditions: the hard two-year window from the date of death (HMRC does not extend it), adult beneficiaries with capacity, and the agreement of everyone whose share would reduce. Returns yes / no / depends with blockers, goal-mapped possibilities, and an honest note that ALWAYS accompanies the result. No tax outcome is promised — whether it helps depends on the whole estate.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/check_deed_of_variation",
      "inputs": [
        "deathTiming",
        "allAdults",
        "allAgree",
        "goal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "check_rnrb",
      "description": "Check residence nil-rate band eligibility and amount (England & Wales 2025/26): up to £175,000 per person where a home you own (or owned) passes to direct descendants, doubled for a married couple / civil partners, plus a late spouse's transferred allowance — capped at the home's value and tapered by £1 for every £2 the estate exceeds £2m. Illustrative check with plain-English reasons.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/check_rnrb",
      "inputs": [
        "ownsHome",
        "passesToDescendants",
        "homeValue",
        "estateValue",
        "married",
        "transferredAllowance",
        "transferredRnrb",
        "downsizedAfterJuly2015"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "lookup_glossary",
      "description": "Look up plain-English definitions of UK estate-planning terms (IHT, trusts, LPAs, probate). Omit `term` to list all.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/lookup_glossary",
      "inputs": [
        "term"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "search_guides",
      "description": "Search Simply Estate's estate-planning guides (wills, IHT, LPAs, trusts, probate) by keyword. Returns titles, URLs and excerpts to cite.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/search_guides",
      "inputs": [
        "query"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "get_faqs",
      "description": "Return Simply Estate's frequently-asked questions and answers (fees, regulation, IHT, trusts, wills/LPAs/probate). Optional keyword filter.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/get_faqs",
      "inputs": [
        "query"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "request_consultation",
      "description": "Submit a request for a FREE, no-obligation estate-planning consultation on the user's behalf. Use only with the user's explicit consent and real contact details. Returns a reference id; the Simply Estate team follows up. Estate planning here is not FCA-regulated.",
      "mcp": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/mcp",
      "json": "https://simplyestate.co.uk/api/ai/tools/request_consultation",
      "inputs": [
        "name",
        "email",
        "phone",
        "service",
        "county",
        "message"
      ]
    }
  ]
}