Give yourself peace of mind about your financial future

I am so relieved we have done it. It was good value for money and the two of us have peace of mind now. The service from ILAWS was superb, I’ve got no complaints.

Are you one of those people who have put off writing a Will? Or perhaps you have not even considered a Power of Attorney? Both legal documents are vital because they can help you organise your financial affairs – and protect yourself, your estate and your family – before it is too late. A Will prevents your family from experiencing huge delays and paying expensive legal fees when you are no longer here, while a Power of Attorney puts protection behind you should you become ill or unable to make medical or financial decisions. Once arranged, both documents bring peace of mind. Understandably, having these types of conversations with your loved ones can be daunting, so it is no wonder half of the population of Scotland put this off. However, they are necessary. And once they have taken place the next step is to contact financial planning experts, like the ones at ILAWS Scotland. For as little as £40 you can have your Will drawn up by experts at ILAWS, this will ensure that your estate, cash and belongings are distributed as you wish. If you already have a Will in place and would like to make changes, ILAWS can do this too. Often appointments take place in the comfort of your own home and while there, ILAWS can also organise a Power of Attorney for you. It took Ian Begg until his eighties to get around to writing his Will, but now he and wife Jane have this in place, they can rest assured that their four children will be looked after. If the Beggs, from Edinburgh, didn’t organise this legally, then their home could have been taken away if one or both of them went into a care home. It doesn’t bear thinking about for the elderly couple, so they were delighted to spot an advertisement for ILAWS Scotland’s ‘simple Will for £40 offer’. Despite knowing he needed a Will, Mr Begg postponed it for many years. He explained: “I am 82 and I have left it very late. I have been thinking about getting things in position for a while now. We don’t like to think that far ahead when we are younger, but we should have done this years ago! “After I contacted ILAWS Scotland, they sent a lovely lady called Elaine out to our home and she was here for around 40 minutes, during that time she really put us at ease. “We are really glad we have done it now. The thing that surprised me was that if one of us is left and goes into a home, then the house could have been seized – but now we have protected our home from care costs with the Wills and a Trust. Also, without a Will in place our family would have had to wait up to 18 months to finalise our estate, but now we have a Will, it will be done much quicker. “We have four children, three sons and one daughter, and before we organised our Wills, our family would have been left with nothing. “It really makes you think. I am so relieved we have done it. It was good value for money and the two of us have peace of mind now. The service from ILAWS was superb, I’ve got no complaints.” And while Elaine, from ILAWS, was out visiting the couple in their home, she also organised a Power of Attorney for each of them, which means one of their sons and their daughter can act on their behalf if either of them become ill and unable to make decisions about their finances or medical treatment.

There are many misconceptions about POA, but as Estate Planner Neil Jones explains, it is not as daunting as people think. He said: “Granting Power of Attorney is not about giving power away, like people think. You’re not putting someone else in charge of your life or your finances. It’s about putting protection behind you so your family member (or members) can make medical or financial decisions with your permission, or if you were unable to act for yourself.” A POA comes into play when a patient has lost capacity and is unable to make decisions about treatment or medication they may require. This may because they are too ill, too medicated or unconscious. Everyone hopes they will never need a Power of Attorney… but it is difficult to argue against everyone having this protection in place. Clients of ILAWS speak very highly of the service, one said: “I only have one close family member. Therefore, it is important to me that the remainder of my estate goes to an appropriate cause.” Another said: “I would like to thank you for your help with the disposition and for your patience explaining the issues involved in more detail last week.” A couple from Ayrshire said they received the “very sensible advice” from ILAWS Scotland and can now relax knowing that they have sorted everything for them. Here are two case studies that share their estate planning experience with us.

Seeing the words ‘Last Will and Testament’ one so final, but why not make things easier for your family when you are not around?

If you are approaching 70 years old and don’t yet have a Will in place, then it is perhaps something that should be given your full attention – that’s exactly what Murdo Macdonald thought. And now that he has a Last Will and Testament in place for both himself and his wife, he is confident that their wishes will be carried out when they are no longer here as they have been outlined in the legally-binding document. Mr Macdonald, from Falkirk, said: “Once I hit 70 last June that is when I thought I should finally organise a Will. It is something I had thought about for such a long time. It’s not the sort of thing you have a chat about in the pub, but it is one of those things that needs to be done.

“At last my wife and I have now formalised things, and we’ve got what we wanted. It’s all signed and sealed.” After the father-of-two spotted an advertisement promoting ILAWS Scotland’s simple Will deal for £40, he contacted the Will and estate planning experts. The process was fairly straightforward, he said. During a half-hour meeting in their Falkirk home with a member of the ILAWS team, both Mr and Mrs Macdonald’s Wills were drawn up. Murdo, 70, admitted: “A couple of days after our meeting with ILAWS, the paperwork was sent out and once we had our paperwork signed by two witnesses (who are not beneficiaries), we filed our Wills in a safe place. “Now everything goes to our two daughters, a 50-50 split, and if I go first, my wife gets everything, and vice versa. “It was relatively simple, and a very good service. “Seeing the words ‘Last Will and Testament’ are so final, but why not make things easier for your family when you are not around? In my opinion, the thought of writing a Will is more daunting that the actual process. “Now I have done it, I am relieved and it gives us peace of mind. It was also a great deal (£40 for a simple Will) as I know people who have paid between £200 and £300 to organise theirs.”