“At least that way you can see your loved ones benefit from the kind gift you have made them.”
Ms Crookes says: “Making a will is really important – it’s your way of saying who you would like to benefit from your estate and what you would like them to have.
“Without a will, rules known as the intestacy rules apply and your intended beneficiaries may have no entitlement.”
She continues: “It is easy to overlook IHT as an issue – it’s not a liability that you have to consider paying during your lifetime and, when you are gone, do you care if there is tax to pay and not quite so much left for your beneficiaries?
“When you’ve worked hard all your life to build up your estate, why would you want to give 40 per cent of it to the government in what is commonly considered a ‘voluntary tax’?”
She adds: “With careful planning, this can be avoided.”
Victoria Ticha is a features writer at Financial Adviser and FTAdviser.com
