Nobody likes to think about 'what could happen', but when it comes to your estate you need to be prepared for every eventuality. What would happen if you were to be in the unfortunate circumstance of losing capacity in a catastrophic injury or from a devastating illness? What if you had a stroke and nobody could access your bank account? How would the bills be paid? Who would deal with the mortgage?
From a financial perspective, you may be insured – critical illness, sickness payments or even statutory sickness benefits might just keep the ship afloat - but what about practical access? Who will sign the cheques or set up direct debits? Thinking about these matters and having a power of attorney in place could be the difference between maintaining your standard of living after a difficult and life-changing event or struggling to prevent a catastrophic and devastating event. Careful planning allows your family to concentrate on caring for you and being with you, rather than spending time facing the stress of difficult personal and financial commitments.
What about insurance payments? Making sure that they are written in trust, where appropriate, so that they don't pay to your estate in the event of your death could be vital. Avoiding paying an unnecessary 40% in tax could make a huge difference for your beneficiaries, and who wouldn't want to leave 40% more in the way of provision for their family without any personal cost to them? Getting your insurance paperwork in order can be a pain-free way to maximise the benefits for your family.
Reviewing your will and making sure it's up-to-date with how you want your estate to be dealt with is essential and will provide you with peace of mind. Effective tax planning can also mean you leave more funds for those you care about; using your inheritance tax exemptions should be second nature for all of us, but often it's not.
Luton Borough Council was prosecuted by the HSE late last year following an incident at a high school in which an assistant headteacher was attacked by a pupil and left with life-changing injuries.
This ebriefing looks at the proposal to set out 'public procurement principles' in the proposed procurement legislation.
Happy New Year - our first newsletter of 2021! Throughout this year we will continue to bring you news and developments relating to the charities sector.
Local authorities should be wary of reserving contracts for local suppliers, as recommended by Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 11/20. Other contracting authorities may want to maximise their use of this
Most housing practitioners have perhaps been waiting for this news since the latest lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister on 4 January 2021.
Climate change and biodiversity is an area where significantly faster changes are needed on a global and local basis.
Chris Lloyd Smith, Adrian Leonard and Lisa Whitehouse discuss the planning opportunities available to owners of businesses and how to prepare for unforeseen events.
In their 3rd podcast of the series, Chris Lloyd-Smith and Maria Ramon discuss a number of problems with and difficulties that can arise in mediation and the mechanisms they use to overcome them.
Our previous round-up began by sharing the news that two vaccines had shown very promising test results. Here we are, not even a month later, and the first vaccines have already been administered!
The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated that there is great resilience and innovation in the housing sector across Greater Manchester, it has also brought shortfalls and other priorities sharply into foc
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