Sarah McGuire, Patron Wills Ltd

Patron Wills Ltd Will Writing and Estate planning
Chatham
Clients wanting a will or LPA. Those looking to ensure the correct people benefit and additionally helping to protect against future care costs

Business Description

I offer quality advice in the comfort and privacy of your own home, or, if you prefer, I can do consultations via phone or video call. 

I can help you with  your wills, trusts, lasting power of attorney, living will or funeral plan and offer advice on probate. 

Make sure only the people you want to protect, benefit from your will. The right will can also help protect your assets against possible future care fees. No matter how complicated your situation may be I can guarantee a solution that ensures protection for you and those you care about. 

Last Will & Testament

With a Will you decide who receives what out of your house, savings and investments, any insurance and your sentimental items. You can ensure your loved ones are protected and that your final wishes are secured.

A standard Will can, for most people, take care of basic wishes such as who your executors are, who will benefit from your Estate and any simple funeral wishes. However, everybody’s needs and circumstances are different and that’s where our qualified consultants step in, providing expert advice tailored to your exact needs and wishes.

With a Will, you can ensure that:

  • Somebody you trust is appointed to manage your Estate
  • Any young children you have are looked after by guardians you know and trust
  • Your family and loved ones can receive as much of your Estate as possible
  • You have total peace of mind knowing your final wishes are in order, and your loved ones are looked after

Making a Will really is one of the most thoughtful things you can do for those you care about. We can ensure everything you have worked hard for is protected by your Will and that your final wishes are carried out, down to the last T!

 

Probate

Grief is a powerful emotion, and when you lose a loved one it can be a harrowing experience. There can be a great deal of work involved in sorting out the affairs of the deceased, and all this comes at a time of great loss. I can help you sort through these. 

 

Asset Protection Trust (APT)

An APT is a specialist trust which you can set up to safeguard your home and other assets, protecting them from being sold against your wishes.

With an APT, you retain control over the things you value and can also enjoy all the benefits they provide you for the rest of your life.

You can access the capital at any time and you can receive an income from the trust.

An APT is fully reversible. You are free to change your mind whenever you choose and put things back just the way they were before.* (subject to fees)

 

Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows you to choose who will take over your affairs if you lose capacity. Most people think about loss of capacity as being purely a result of old age. However, we can all lose capacity at any time as a result of an accident, illness or stroke.
The implications of not having LPAs are substantial costs, long delays and potential loss of control to a court appointed Deputy.
Our consultants can help you to set up your LPAs with straightforward, professional advice, all from the comfort of your own home

A Property and Affairs LPA


This allows your nominated person to:
• Manage your finances and property
• Make sure your bills are paid
• Make decisions about your assets

A Health and Welfare LPA


This allows your nominated person to:
• Make decisions about your medical treatment
• Decide whether it’s best for you to continue to live at home or whether residential care would be more appropriate
If you haven’t set up an LPA, your loved ones may have to pay out a lot of money on your behalf. The Court of Protection would have to appoint a deputy to manage your affairs, which is both time-consuming and costly.

 

Secure Document Storage

It's easy to lose or misplace documents which are kept at home, especially if you move house. 

For this reason, storage of your will is always advised

 

Secure storage of your Will and associated documents


Irreplaceable paperwork is safe and remains confidential so it can’t be invalidated by accident or viewed against your wishes by family and friends

 

 

Choosing an executor

Every person must nominate an executor or executors in their Will, to carry out their wishes after death. Up to four people can be chosen, but most people have two executors.

Being an executor is a job with a lot of responsibility, which might go on for months or sometimes even years, depending on how long probate takes.

Probate is the process of proving that a will is valid. During that time, the executors may be called upon to deal with many administrative tasks, such as:

  • Interpreting the legal clauses in the Will
  • Ensuring all debts and other liabilities are finalised
  • Contacting people named in the Will
  • Gathering detailed information for the estate valuation
  • Dealing with paperwork for the Probate Registry, Land Registry and Tax Office
  • Claiming entitlements
  • Administering the distribution of assets, as set out in the Will

For all this hard work, an executor is personally liable, meaning that if a mistake is made, he or she may end up paying costs – for example, additional tax and penalty payments.
…and all this at a time of grieving for the loss of a loved one.

These days, personal estates can be complex. For your own peace of mind, you can use the services of Estate Planning Solutions Ltd
 

Living Will

Advance Directive

Many clients choose to detail the level of care that they wish to receive should they suffer a catastrophic medical emergency.

A Living Will (or Advance Directive) allows you to leave clear instructions for your doctors in the case of a life threatening or terminal medical emergency.

One of the primary reasons for this is to remove the decision-making responsibility from family or friends.

 

 

Laws of Intestacy

If you don’t have a Will, your assets will be distributed by the authorities according to some rules which were put in place over 80 years ago. These are known as the Laws of Intestacy (1925).

Needless to say these don’t bear much relation to modern personal and family situations and they can have an extremely damaging effect – especially in the event of unmarried partners, especially if they have children.

These Laws can also mean that a surviving spouse may have to share a large proportion of the Estate with children rather than having outright use of it themselves.

If you are unmarried with no close relatives the Laws stipulate that that your Estate will pass to the Crown if you don’t have a Will in place.

 

Estate Planning for Same Sex Partners

The Civil Partnership Bill came into force on 5th December 2005. Its arrival heralded the introduction of a new rights for same sex partners meaning that they move broadly in line with married couples.

The two main areas of interest from an Estate Planning perspective were the fact that a Civil Partner is now treated equitably from an Inheritance Tax perspective as well as being recognised under the Laws of Intestacy.

As a result more same sex partners are taking the opportunity to write or update their Wills to feature a new Civil Partner – or simply making provisions in anticipation of an impending Civil Partnership.

 

Setting up Trusts in your Will

Establishing a Trust in your Will can be extremely valuable in Estate Planning terms for a number of different reasons.

When it comes to protecting assets and controlling the distribution of your Estate, Trusts are essential and we provide a variety of different solutions depending upon your objectives.

Despite changes in Taxation policy in October 2007 there are still very valuable reasons for establishing Trusts in your Will.

Furthermore having certain assets ring fenced in a Trust environment can ensure that your children are not disinherited through remarriage after your death, and ensure that they are protected from subsequent divorce settlements too.

Should a surviving partner become infirm and need to go into long term care funds in Trust would not feature in terms of Local Authority means testing.

In terms of saving Inheritance Tax, by putting funds into a Trust on your death you can ensure that your children benefit without running the risk of the fund creating an additional Inheritance Tax burden in the future.

In addition to Will Trusts we offer a variety of lifetime Trusts such as Discretionary Trusts (Relevant Property Trusts) and Interest in Possession Trusts. We are also able to act as a Professional Trustee so we can administer the schemes that we set up for clients

 

 

 

 

My Recommendations

I have recommended Sarah to a number of my clients and have been very impressed by her patience and assistance. If you need Will or Power of Attorney advice, Sarah is the expert you need.

from Steven Hall

Having recently seen Sarah to start my own will, I can safely say I was more than impressed with her professionalism, attention to detail and knowledge. Sarah was brilliant and I would definitely recommend her.

from Rikki Lear

Accreditations & Qualifications

Member of the Society of Will Writers

BSc(Hons), Technology (First)

CIH level 4 in Housing Management