Your home is likely to be the most significant purchase you will make during your lifetime.

It will probably be the most valuable asset in your estate when you pass away. It is therefore important to think about what you want to happen to your home when you pass away.

What happens to your home when you do pass away will depend on a number of things. If you hold the legal title to the property with another person, perhaps your spouse or civil partner, then it may be that your home will pass to that person under what is known as the ‘Rule of Survivorship’.

This will happen if you hold the property as ‘joint tenants’. What this means is that you both own the whole of the property together. When one of you dies, the other is then the sole owner of the whole of the property.

The other way you may hold property with other people is as ‘tenants in common’. This is where you each have a divisible share of the property. In this case, if you were to die first, your share forms part of your estate and will pass to your beneficiaries according to the wishes expressed in your will (if you have made one).

There are a number of issues to think about when deciding what to do with your property.

You may, for instance, be the sole owner of a house which you share with your significant other, who is not your spouse or civil partner. If you have children, you may to allow your significant other to stay in the property when you die, but ultimately you want your children to inherit it.

At Hutton’s, our experts will discuss your individual circumstances with you and carefully consider all of your options when advising you on what to do with your home and all of the other important issues concerning the preparation of your will.

As we grow older, many of us will start to struggle with the more demanding aspects of daily life. Sadly, some of us will lose the capacity to make important decisions about matters that can have a far-reaching effect.

If there is someone you care about who hasn’t made a will and they have reached a stage in life where they are no longer able to understand the implications of making one, there are steps which you might be able to take to help them.

An application can be made to the Court of Protection for a Statutory Will to be made on behalf of your loved ones if they lack the capacity to make a will themselves.

The terms of any such will must be in the best interests of the person on whose behalf the application is made. If that person has expressed any wishes or feelings about what they would like to happen to their assets in the event of their death, the court will take this into account in deciding what should be done.

A similar procedure applies if a person who lacks the necessary capacity has made a will, but an application is required in order to make an amendment which is felt necessary.

At Hutton’s, we have the required knowledge and experience to assist you with making a Statutory Will for a loved one, and will guide you through the process every step of the way.