Whether you live abroad and hold assets in the UK or live in the UK but hold assets abroad, you may be uncertain about how best to protect your assets and ensure that they are inherited by those by writing a Will take covers all of your assets. Read on to see how you can protect your assets and ensure that your wishes are followed.
Why do I need a Will for assets that I own overseas?
When it comes to any of your assets, if they are not mentioned in your Will, or you don’t have a Will at all, there is always a risk that the assets will not pass to those that you wish to inherit them. Writing a Will is the best way to ensure that your wishes are followed. However, you should be wary of any local rules in foreign countries, such as forced heirship, when you write your Will. Forced heirships mean that the country rather than your Will decides which assets are passed to who in your family. Because these forced heirships only apply to the assets you hold in the countries with these rules, you can anticipate the effect of forced heirships on your Will and make plans accordingly.
Why should I have a Will in the UK?
Even if you hold assets overseas, if you live in the UK or hold any assets in the UK, you should have a UK Will. A UK Will ensures that those assets you hold in the UK pass to those you want to inherit them upon your death. If you have a UK Will, you can also elect for the Law of England and Wales to apply to your estate. This means that the forced heirship in a number of countries does not apply to your Will. The new European Succession Regulation in Europe (commonly known as Brussels IV) allows you to elect the law that applies as long as it is written into your Will.
When you have a UK Will, it is also much easier for your assets in the UK to be admitted to probate once you die so that they can be distributed without unnecessary delay.
Is it best to have separate Wills for my UK and Foreign Assets?
No blanket answer applies to having one Will or having several Wills when it comes to overseas assets. What it comes down to is the assets that you hold and where those assets can be found? For example, if you have assets in Singapore, then a valid Will for the assets there is the same as an English Will. But if you hold assets in Thailand, a foreign Will is only accepted if it has been translated into Thai, authorized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and finally approved by the Courts in Thailand. It is best to contact us if you have any questions about separate Wills.
Does the format of the Will affect it?
In the UK, a Will can be typed or hand-written. However, this is not true for every country. Many overseas Wills must be hand-written or have to have been written by a notary public in the country that your assets are held in. A UK Will that covers your overseas assets is accepted by a number of different countries as long as it is valid and complies with English and Welsh Law. For this reason, it is often easier to only hold a UK Will.
Need help with your Will? Contact our experts today to see how we can help you ensure your assets, both home and abroad, are protected by a UK Will.