A will, a plan, and a tidy estate — in that order.

If you own property, have children, are unmarried but in a long-term partnership, have step-children, run a business, or simply care who inherits what, yes — and the cost of getting one in place is small compared with the mess intestacy creates. Without a will, the intestacy rules apply: they don’t recognise unmarried partners, they distribute estates in fixed proportions that may not match your wishes, and they create long delays for surviving family.

Two near-identical wills made by a couple, leaving everything to each other on first death and then to the chosen beneficiaries on second death. The simplest form of joint planning and what most couples need. Mirror wills are not legally binding on the survivor (a survivor can change their will), so for blended families or specific protection needs we’d usually look at mutual wills or a trust-based structure instead.

A document that lets you appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity. There are two types: Property and Financial Affairs (managing money, paying bills, selling assets) and Health and Welfare (medical decisions, care arrangements). Setting them up while you’re healthy takes a few weeks and a modest fee; setting up a deputyship after capacity is lost takes months and meaningful cost.

Each individual has a nil-rate band — currently £325,000 — plus a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 where a main home passes to direct descendants. Married couples can combine allowances. Above the combined threshold, inheritance tax is generally 40% on the excess. Sensible planning uses the available allowances, the spouse exemption, the seven-year rule on lifetime gifts, gifts out of normal expenditure, and — for larger estates — trust-based planning. We coordinate the planning with the wider wealth picture rather than treating IHT in isolation.

Almost never. Schemes that promise to ‘shelter’ the family home from care-fee assessment by transferring it into trust are usually treated by local authorities as deliberate deprivation of assets, with the value still counted toward the assessment. Genuine, legitimate planning is more nuanced and depends on individual circumstances; we’ll be honest about what works and what doesn’t.

[TO BE CONFIRMED.] Will writing is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Estate planning that involves regulated investment or pension products is subject to FCA rules. The exact regulatory permissions for this work at Mortgage Broker Derby will be confirmed under the new principal firm before this service is publicly launched.