{"id":14653,"date":"2022-08-31T02:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T02:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/?p=14653"},"modified":"2025-09-10T09:20:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T09:20:46","slug":"the-benefits-of-having-a-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/","title":{"rendered":"The benefits of having a will"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-intestacy-rules\">The intestacy rules<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">If you die without a will, your estate is distributed under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-intestacy-rules\/\">intestacy rules<\/a>. However, the rules may not distribute your estate as you hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The rules of intestacy depend on your family tree and whether you have any surviving family members at the time of your death. Having a will in place ensures that you make provisions for your preferred friends and family members. They also allow you to cater for unforeseen circumstances, including the possibility that a beneficiary may die before you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Your family and financial circumstances may change as time goes by, and you should always keep your will under review. Many families are now complex and often referred to as \u201cblended\u201d. The intestacy rules can cause real problems for such families. For example, the death of one partner can create serious financial problems for the surviving partner, as unmarried partners cannot inherit from one another under the intestacy rules &#8211; only under a will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Life interest trusts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">You can create a life interest trust structure through a will, which gives someone the right to receive income or benefit from a property before passing it on to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Life interest trusts can protect your assets for your children whilst still making provisions for a new spouse or partner. They also protect against the surviving partner or spouse remarrying, changing their will and redistributing assets elsewhere after your death. Other trust structures are available for vulnerable beneficiaries or those with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Guardianship<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Parents can choose a suitable guardian for their children through a will, which is preferable to the Courts\/social services deciding where and who your children live with if you die without a will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Age of inheritance<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Having no will in place means the default age for children to inherit is 18. If you have a will, you can increase the inheritance age to 21 or 25. Parents with young children often raise the age of inheritance because they do not know whether their children will be financially responsible enough to manage an inheritance at 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Executors and trustees<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Choosing your executors and trustees through a will is also encouraged. You can appoint a specific person who is both responsible and good at managing finances to take over the administration of your estate after your death.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tax<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Having specialist legal advice when making a will allows you to distribute your assets tax-efficiently using the various inheritance tax allowances. Inheritance tax may be payable on an estate over the nil rate band threshold (currently \u00a3325,000). Gifts to spouses, civil partners, charities and political parties also reduce the value of an estate for inheritance tax purposes, as these are all exempt beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why use us?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Note: This article is not legal advice; it provides information of general interest about current legal issues.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A will gives you and your family peace of mind that your affairs are in order, putting less unnecessary stress on them during a difficult time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[26,28,29],"class_list":["post-14653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insight-article","tag-private-client","tag-tax-and-trusts","tag-wills"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The benefits of having a will | RIAA Barker Gillette UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A will gives you and your family peace of mind that your affairs are in order and puts less stress on them during a difficult time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The benefits of having a will\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A will gives you and your family peace of mind that your affairs are in order and puts less stress on them during a difficult time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RIAA Barker Gillette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RIAABGUK\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-31T02:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-10T09:20:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/05\/RBG.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Penny Dewar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@riaa_bg_uk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@riaa_bg_uk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Penny Dewar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Penny Dewar\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0e3d73d743e31ec07d49b93ad348a6c\"},\"headline\":\"The benefits of having a will\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-31T02:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-10T09:20:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Private Client\",\"tax and trusts\",\"Wills\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Insight Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\\\/\",\"name\":\"The benefits of having a will | RIAA Barker Gillette UK\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-31T02:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-10T09:20:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"A will gives you and your family peace of mind that your affairs are in order and puts less stress on them during a difficult time.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The benefits of having a will\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"RIAA Barker Gillette (UK)\",\"description\":\"Deeper insight makes us a valuable asset\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"RIAA Barker Gillette (UK) LLP\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"RIAA Barker Gillette UK\",\"alternateName\":\"RIAA Barker Gillette (UK) LLP\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/assets\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/eSignature-RBG-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/assets\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/eSignature-RBG-Logo.png\",\"width\":85,\"height\":72,\"caption\":\"RIAA Barker Gillette UK\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/RIAABGUK\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/riaa_bg_uk\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/riaa_bg_uk\"],\"foundingDate\":\"1982-01-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"51\",\"maxValue\":\"200\"},\"actionableFeedbackPolicy\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/client-reviews\\\/\",\"diversityStaffingReport\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/diversity-and-equality\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0e3d73d743e31ec07d49b93ad348a6c\",\"name\":\"Penny Dewar\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7af8caf3286d9c213254476dc6d0343c68aab9cf11d72412a03b6076d648d88d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7af8caf3286d9c213254476dc6d0343c68aab9cf11d72412a03b6076d648d88d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7af8caf3286d9c213254476dc6d0343c68aab9cf11d72412a03b6076d648d88d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Penny Dewar\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The benefits of having a will | RIAA Barker Gillette UK","description":"A will gives you and your family peace of mind that your affairs are in order and puts less stress on them during a difficult time.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The benefits of having a will","og_description":"A will gives you and your family peace of mind that your affairs are in order and puts less stress on them during a difficult time.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/","og_site_name":"RIAA Barker Gillette","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RIAABGUK\/","article_published_time":"2022-08-31T02:04:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-10T09:20:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/05\/RBG.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Penny Dewar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@riaa_bg_uk","twitter_site":"@riaa_bg_uk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Penny Dewar","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/"},"author":{"name":"Penny Dewar","@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d0e3d73d743e31ec07d49b93ad348a6c"},"headline":"The benefits of having a will","datePublished":"2022-08-31T02:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-10T09:20:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/"},"wordCount":452,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#organization"},"keywords":["Private Client","tax and trusts","Wills"],"articleSection":["Insight Article"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/","url":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/","name":"The benefits of having a will | RIAA Barker Gillette UK","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-08-31T02:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-10T09:20:46+00:00","description":"A will gives you and your family peace of mind that your affairs are in order and puts less stress on them during a difficult time.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/the-benefits-of-having-a-will\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The benefits of having a will"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/","name":"RIAA Barker Gillette (UK)","description":"Deeper insight makes us a valuable asset","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#organization"},"alternateName":"RIAA Barker Gillette (UK) LLP","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#organization","name":"RIAA Barker Gillette UK","alternateName":"RIAA Barker Gillette (UK) LLP","url":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/09\/eSignature-RBG-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/09\/eSignature-RBG-Logo.png","width":85,"height":72,"caption":"RIAA Barker Gillette UK"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RIAABGUK\/","https:\/\/x.com\/riaa_bg_uk","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/riaa_bg_uk"],"foundingDate":"1982-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"51","maxValue":"200"},"actionableFeedbackPolicy":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/client-reviews\/","diversityStaffingReport":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/diversity-and-equality\/"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d0e3d73d743e31ec07d49b93ad348a6c","name":"Penny Dewar","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7af8caf3286d9c213254476dc6d0343c68aab9cf11d72412a03b6076d648d88d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7af8caf3286d9c213254476dc6d0343c68aab9cf11d72412a03b6076d648d88d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7af8caf3286d9c213254476dc6d0343c68aab9cf11d72412a03b6076d648d88d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Penny Dewar"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14653"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23048,"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14653\/revisions\/23048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}