How You Can Change a Will after Death to Save IHT

7th November 2006 

Many families are caught in a classic "property rich" but "cash poor" situation. As such their property assets exceed by some way the current nil rate band of £285000 (2006/7) (£312,000 - 2008/9) resulting in a liability of 40% tax on the balance over this sum but they have little in the way of liquid funds to alleviate the situation simply.

It is, of course, possible to prepare a suitably drawn professional Will to improve the situation but what happens if no such Will has been made by the date of death.

This is a situation that is encounter on a fairly regular basis and the good news is that at the time of writing the law allows the Will of the deceased to be re-written for a period of up to 2 years after the date of death by way of a Deed of Variation.

In simple terms this means that so long as the beneficiary(s) of the original Will are agreed on the variation, the original Will can effectively be re-written to make the estate tax effective. At the current time this can enable an Inheritance Tax saving of up to £114,000, which is not to be sneezed at.

We are expert Inheritance Tax Solicitors in Bournemouth with solutions to all your Inheritance Tax problems. Simply contact  us today on 01202 802 807.