COMMENTARY OF YOUR WILL

This is an overview of your Will as prepared by Countrywide Tax & Trust Corporation Limited.

REVOCATION

This clause revokes (cancels) any previous Wills (including any made in foreign countries) and declares that this Will is your last Will

APPOINTMENT OF EXECUTORS

Appoints the people who are going to administer your estate on your death. The Executors' responsibilities are to:

  • locate and identify the assets and any liabilities of the estate,
  • deal with the administration of the estate according to law by collecting in theseassets
  • locate the beneficiaries
  • apply to the Court for a grant of Probate of the Will. (Probate is a formal documentthat confirms the Executors and gives them permission to administer the estate)
  • make sure all claims and debts are received, assessed and paid if substantiated
  • arrange for the distribution of the estate in accordance with the terms of the Will.
  • prepare accounts
  • deal with taxation returns

Your Executors can appoint a professional such as Countrywide, to deal with your estates administration.

Your Executors are also appointed as Trustees for any trusts within the Will and their responsibilities are as follows

  • managing any trust that might arise in your Will such as a Protective Property Trust
  • to hold funds for children on trust until the age specified in the Will, or until a child's 18th birthday.

Your Trustees are bound to act carefully and properly and in accordance with the various Trustee Acts. They will need various powers in relation to these trust funds, such as the power to pay monies for maintenance or education of a beneficiary. These powers are contained in your Will.

Executors and Trustees are entitled to have proper expenses paid out of the estate, so the task should not normally be a financial burden.

APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIANS

Records your appointment of guardians for your minor children i.e. those under the age of majority – 18 years old

It should be noted that it is only possible to appoint a guardian to those children for whom the law regards you as having "parental responsibility" for. To be able to make an appointment you must be one of the following:

  • either the mother or father of a child who were married to each other at the time of

the child's birth

  • the child's mother whether or not she was married to the father at the time of the child's birth
  • the father of the child if he marries the natural mother.
  • the father of a child, born since December 2003, who was not married to the mother

at the time of the child's birth but is named on the birth certificate

  • the father of a child who was not married to the mother at the time of the child's birth but who has been given parental responsibility by a valid parental responsibility agreement entered into with the child's mother
  • a person granted parental responsibility by a court
  • a properly appointed guardian.

By making a guardian appointment you cannot take away the rights of a person, surviving you, who also has parental responsibility for any child of yours.

CHATTELS

Directs to a specific individual your personal chattels not already gifted. Personal chattels include personal items such as cars, jewellery and other household goods. It does not include, for example, houses, land, bank accounts, investments or businesses

MONETARY LEGACIES

Records that you have bequeathed a specific sum of money absolutely to a specified individual(s)

SPECIFIC LEGACIES

Records that you have bequeathed a specific item absolutely to a specified individual(s)

LIFETIME INTEREST IN PROPERTY

This clause gives to your trustees your share of your home and allows your spouse to live in that home for the rest of their life. Your spouse and the trustees can sell the home and purchase another property for your spouse to live in, under the same terms. After second death the property can be sold and the proceeds distributed as per the residual clause.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESIDUE OF THE ESTATE

Defines what your estate means, including stating that the Will deals with all your assets wherever they may be, including abroad. This clause also defines any that debts on the estate must be paid before any further distributions are made. This includes any funeral costs. After the debts are repaid, the specific legacies are distributed and then the residue of the estate.

This is therefore the remainder of your estate after any debts and legacies have been paid and it passes absolutely to your nominated beneficiaries

Should the person named in the first sub clause die before you then your estate passes absolutely tothose named in the second sub clause and so on

EXECUTOR POWERS

States that your executors have the powers outlined in The Schedule of Administrative Powers

SURVIVORSHIP

Any person that does not survive you for 28 days will be treated as having died before you.

FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT

Adds some defining sentences to clarify the terms within the Will

THE SCHEDULE OF ADMINISTRATIVE POWERS

Outlines the powers of the Executors and Trustees as defined by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Ask your adviser for the full version if you wish to have a copy of this.

REQUESTS AND WISHES

EXCLUSIONS – You do not intend that the named individuals should receive any part of your estate on your death.

ORGANS – You have expressed a wish that your organs can be used for transplant

FUNERAL – You have expressed a wish regarding how you would like your body to be treated after your death

TESTIMONIUM AND ATTESTATION

It is essential that your Will is signed and witnessed correctly. Until it issigned and witnessed correctly it will not be valid.

If you are not storing your documents with Countrywide Tax & Trust Corporation, or have not opted to utilise our Document Checking Service, it is important that you follow the signingprocedure as set out in the accompanying instructions.

If once you have signed your Will, your address changes, or an address or name of a person you havereferred to in your Will changes, it is not necessary, for that reason alone, to change your Will.