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What Happens To Your Estate If You Die Without Making A Will

You may have seen daytime TV shows involving “heir hunters”.  These people aim to track down the heirs of people who’ve died intestate.  They then help them to claim their inheritance (for a fee). In the real world, intestacy isn’t usually so exciting.  In fact, it...

The Governments Vision For The Housing Sector

Assuming the UK sticks to its standard election pattern, the current parliament is almost halfway through its term.  This means politicians across the board will be starting to gear up to contest their seats.  The governments current raft of housing-related proposals...

Inheritance Tax

As the old joke goes, the only two certainties in life are death and taxes.  Inheritance tax is the tax taken out of a deceased person’s estate before the remainder is passed on to their heirs.  The way IHT currently works is that transfers between spouses/civil...

Income Drawdown

Income drawdown came about as the result of the “pension freedoms” legislation of April 2015.  Before that date, most of a pension fund had to be used to buy an annuity.  Annuities are basically guaranteed incomes for life.  The annuity system worked well when...

Pensions and Divorce

Dividing property during a divorce can be a complicated process.  The more assets a couple has, the more complicated it can become.  At present, the two highest-value assets the average couple is likely to own are a house and a pension fund, or funds.  Houses can be...

How Personal Pensions Work

The basic idea behind personal pensions is fairly simply.  You pay in money throughout your working life.  This is invested by your pension provider (or by you directly in the case of self-invested personal pensions) and when you retire the investment returns are used...