Tax Efficient Wills

Your Will is one of the most important legal documents you will ever enter into. Primarily it is about succession, that is, what you want to happen to your property and assets following your death. But alongside this there are normally more or less tax efficient ways of achieving your objectives. So your Will is also about tax planning and tax efficiency.

The purpose of this note is to flag up some of the tax issues which commonly arise in connection with preparation of wills and which need to be taken into account alongside the succession issues.

Gifts by will between spouses or civil partners

Outright or on trust?

Does the person making their Will ("the testator") want to leave their property and assets to their surviving spouse or civil partner1 outright and absolutely, for the survivor to do with as he/she wishes? Or alternatively does the testator wish to give only a life interest to his/her spouse, with gifts following that to, say, the children. This is