wills Archives

Tees Law launches Make a Will Month campaign

Posted on 6 January 202529 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

Major regional legal and wealth management firm Tees Law is to offer Will writing services with waived fees across February 2025 in the launch of ‘Make a Will Month’.

The initiative aims to highlight the importance of estate planning and provides an opportunity to create Wills and support the local community. This step helps participants secure their legacy and honour their wishes.

The only request from Tees is that those taking up the opportunity donate to the firm’s Better Future Fund which is set up to support local communities to a better future by funding local community projects and organisations.

The Better Future Fund offers grants of up to £5,000 for projects that focus on learning and education and/or health and wellbeing, including supporting mental health for young people, children and families.

Peace of mind starts with a plan

Creating a Will is about more than just dividing assets—it’s about providing peace of mind and leaving a legacy for those you care about. Through early planning, you can protect your family members, and even contribute to causes that are meaningful to you.

Why writing a Will is essential

Tees encourages everyone to take this important step toward safeguarding their future. Here are some key benefits of creating a well-structured will:

Secure your family’s future

Ensure your assets are distributed according to your wishes, providing financial security for your loved ones and avoiding potential disputes.

Minimise tax burdens

Careful estate planning can reduce the tax burden on your family and make the probate process smoother and more efficient.

Appoint guardians for your children.

A Will allows you to designate trusted guardians for your children, ensuring they are cared for by those you choose, should the need arise.

Organise your legacy

Including charitable donations in your Will allows you to make a meaningful difference to the causes you care about, extending your positive impact beyond your lifetime.

10 great financial advice tips for efficient money management

Posted on 12 December 202428 March 2025 by Sophie Soraf

As wealth management specialists, we are often asked, ‘Where and how do I start with my money?’ or told, ‘I never seem to have money when I need it’. Understanding how to hold and manage our hard-earned wealth is key to ensuring that we always have funds when needed.

Understanding the basics of money management is the key to finding financial freedom. Our funds fall into three main categories:

Short-term, hands-on money required for day-to-day expenses
An easily accessible ‘rainy day’ fund to cover unforeseen costs, or nice-to-have things like holidays
Long-term investments for life events, for example, saving for retirement, buying a house or paying for a child’s wedding

So, if you would like to manage your money better, read on to find out our 10 top tips for efficient money management.

1. Have a financial plan

Let’s consider the three categories of funds outlined above. Without a financial plan, how will you know how much you need in your current account to cover daily living expenses, how much you can afford to save or invest, or how much you can afford to pay towards your pension each month?

Common components of a financial plan will include:

Financial goals and objectives – where do you want to be in X years?
Income and outgoings – what are you bringing in and paying out? How much can you afford to spend without running out of money?
Protection needs – have you planned for life’s unexpected events, such as losing your job or being too ill to work for more than a few months?
Savings & investments – how much of your money do you have in savings accounts and investment portfolios? Are your savings and investments still offering strong returns? What changes might need to be made?
Retirement – are you currently saving enough for retirement?
Issues and problems – are there any weaknesses or problems that could affect your financial situation? How might these be rectified?

2. Draw up a budget

A budget is the answer if you’re continually running out of money before payday. Starting with your take-home income, first list the bare essentials – i.e., what must be paid out to keep your family sheltered, fed and warm – before moving on to those outgoings that are not so strictly necessary. In order of priority, these are the typical outgoings that feature on most budgets:

Housing costs – such as your rent or mortgage, bills and home insurance
Groceries – how much do you need to feed your family each month?
Other essential outgoings include shoes and clothing, school uniforms, car insurance and road tax, commuting costs, paying off debt, etc.
Savings – once you have prioritised your essential expenses, it is important to budget for savings, such as your emergency savings fund and pension contributions, before you budget for other daily expenses
‘Nice-to-haves’ – this category can include expenses such as eating out, leisure activities, hobbies or holidays

3. Focus on paying off debt

Nothing can derail your finances faster than accumulating high-interest debt, for example, on credit or store cards. If you use a credit card, it is essential to prioritise paying it off on time to avoid spiralling debt that can seriously harm your credit score.

To avoid debt, stick closely to your budget. If your budget says you don’t have the money to buy something this month, don’t use your credit card to do so. The repayments will eat into next month’s money and make it increasingly challenging to stay on track.

4. Save for the future

Setting aside any savings before moving on to non-essential expenses is important. To help you prioritise your savings, consider what would happen if you faced an unforeseen expense. Could you afford to pay out for a new boiler if yours broke down? Or a large veterinary bill? What if you lost your job? A general rule of thumb is to build up three months’ worth of essential outgoings in an instant access savings account for emergencies.

However, instant access accounts typically offer lower interest rates, meaning the return on your money will be minimal. If you already have sufficient emergency savings, it may be worth putting further savings away in a fixed-term savings account, which offers higher interest in exchange for locking your money away for a set period or looking into investment.

5. Invest for higher returns

With interest rates at rock bottom, savings accounts offer minimal interest on savers’ hard-earned cash. Investing is a way of getting higher returns in exchange for a certain level of risk. Stock markets can go up and down, so your investments can fall and rise; however, a financial adviser can assist you in building an investment portfolio that reflects your risk profile. This means you can choose the level of risk you want to accept (although lower risk often means lower returns).

6. Protect your loved ones

According to Royal London, just two in five people say they’d be able to cope for more than three months if they lost their income. If your situation is similar, then it’s important to put in place protection policies, such as life insurance (which pays out a lump sum to your family if you die), critical illness cover (which pays out if you develop a serious or terminal illness) or income protection insurance (which pays a percentage of your monthly income if you are too unwell to work), to safeguard your loved ones against unexpected financial blows.

7. Start contributing to your pension as soon as you start work

When you start work in your late teens or early 20s, retirement seems a lifetime away. But with living expenses rising and even the full State Pension inadequate to fund a comfortable retirement, the sooner you start saving, the more opportunity your investments will have to grow.

According to research, savers, on average earnings, will need to build a pension pot of at least £300,000 to retire well – which is likely to increase. With all employers now obliged to offer a workplace pension under the auto-enrolment scheme and to make contributions for all employees, it’s never been easier to start saving. Your contributions will be taken out of your salary along with tax and national insurance contributions, so you won’t have to worry about making space in your budget. If you are self-employed, you must contribute into a personal pension to avoid a compromised financial situation later in life.

8. Take full advantage of tax allowances

You can keep more of your hard-earned money by making the most of your yearly tax allowances. For example, you can save up to £20,000 annually into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) and pay no Income Tax on the interest or dividends received. You will not have to pay any capital gains tax on profits from investments in a stock and shares ISA. You can also pay up to £60,000 per year into your pension and benefit from pension tax relief.

Other useful tax allowances include:

Tax-free allowances on financial gifts
Capital Gains Tax annual allowance
Personal Savings Allowance

9. Make a Will

We work closely with our legal team to ensure all clients have a valid, up-to-date Will in place, recording how you would like your assets, such as property, savings and investments, to be distributed when you die. If you die intestate (i.e., without a Will), your assets will be distributed according to intestacy law, a set of rules that dictates how assets should be dealt with without a Will. If you are not married to your partner, for example, they may be unable to inherit. Having a Will also means you can plan to pass down your money in the most tax-efficient way possible.

10. Seek professional financial advice

There’s a great deal to consider when dealing effectively with your finances, so it’s no wonder many people feel overwhelmed. Seeking professional financial advice will help you manage your money better on a day-to-day basis and help you with life’s big financial decisions. Picking the best mortgage for your circumstances; putting in place adequate protection cover to keep your family safe; calculating the retirement income you’ll need and ensuring you have a solid plan in place to achieve it; helping you clear your debt and get your finances in better shape for the future… a financial adviser can help you achieve all of this and more.

To contact our financial specialists, please call 0808 231 1320, and we will be delighted to assist you.

This material is intended to be for information purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. It is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for accounting, legal or tax advice, or investment recommendations. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns and all investments involve risks including the risk of possible loss of capital. Some information quoted was obtained from external sources we consider to be reliable.

Tees is a trading name of Tees Financial Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered number 211314. Tees Financial Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered number 4342506.

What to do when someone dies

Posted on 8 September 202020 March 2025 by Sophie Soraf

When someone dies, there are lots of practical issues to be dealt with, at what will inevitably be a very difficult time for the person’s family and friends. Here we outline the main things that will need to be done during those difficult early days.

Family and friends can usually deal with most of the practical things that need doing immediately after a death. Solicitors normally get involved a little later. If there is no family member or friend to deal with the practical matters, then a solicitor can help with some or all of these things.

Security and insurance for property

If the person who has died lived alone, someone should go to their home on the day of the death to do urgent things which cannot wait. The more common steps that may need to be taken are as follows:

Security: take the security precautions that you would take when leaving your own home empty for a while, such as locking all doors and windows, stopping deliveries of papers and milk and moving valuable items, so that passers-by cannot easily see them.
Pets: if the person had a pet, make temporary arrangements for it to be looked after by family or friends or through an animal rescue charity.
Guns: if you know that the person had a gun licence and kept firearms at the property, report the death to the police so that they can make arrangements for the guns to be kept safely.
Insurance: look for papers relating to the insurance of the property and its contents. Ring the insurers, tell them about the death and make sure that there is adequate home and contents cover in place. Keep a note of your conversation with the insurers with the paperwork. If you can’t find insurance documents, the insurance company name will often be found in a recent bank statement.

Everything that is in the home of the person who has died should remain there where possible. This makes it easy to arrange for all the person’s property to be valued where necessary for inheritance tax purposes.

If there are very valuable items and you believe they are not adequately insured or secure, consider moving them to a more secure place, but consult the personal representatives or close relatives of the person who has died or the person’s solicitors before you do this.

Registering the death

When someone dies, a doctor issues a medical certificate which states the cause of death. The death needs to be recorded formally on the register for births, deaths and marriages. A death must be registered within five days after the date of the death.

The death must be registered at the register office for births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships for the district where the person died. If you do not know where this is, contact the local authority or visit here. A relative should, if possible, register the death but the registrar allows certain non-relatives to register if no relative is available. The registrar will be able to provide information on who can act. Ring the register office first to find out if it has an appointment system.

The following papers contain information needed for registering the death:

birth certificate
marriage or civil partnership certificate
death certificate of former wife, husband or civil partner
state pension or allowance book
passport

Even if you cannot find these papers, you can register the death if you have all the necessary information. Whoever registers the death should also take to the register office the medical certificate from the doctor and the following information:

date of death
place of death
full name of the person who has died
any former names
occupation
last address
name, date of birth and occupation of the person’s spouse (including a same-sex spouse for marriages on or after 13 March 2014) or civil partner (whether living or dead); and
information about any state benefits the person was receiving.

If you do not know all the details about the person who has died that you need for the registrar, you should be able to find them in his or her birth certificate, marriage or civil partnership certificate and state pension or allowance book.

The registrar issues an official copy of the register, called a certified copy death certificate, after the person registering the death signs the register. You can obtain any number of certified copy death certificates. You do have to pay for them; the price varies from one local authority to another. You can claim back the cost from the estate in due course.

You need several copy certificates to send out when giving notice of the death to banks, insurance companies and so on. You will also need a copy for the person’s pension provider, and it is sensible to get one or two spare copies while you are at the register office as it is less convenient to order additional copies later.

The registrar also issues a certificate for burial or cremation. Give this to the funeral director who is making the funeral arrangements.

What if the death is reported to the coroner?

Unexpected deaths are reported to the coroner, sometimes by the police but usually by the doctor who was called when the person died.

When a death is reported to the coroner, the coroner usually arranges for a post-mortem. This normally establishes the cause of death. If the death is from natural causes, it can be registered, and the funeral can go ahead.

There is only an inquest if the cause of death is in doubt, even after the post-mortem, or the post-mortem shows that death was not from natural causes. Even if there is to be an inquest, the coroner usually allows the funeral to be held after the post-mortem.

Arrangements for payment of ongoing bills

Bank accounts and other assets in the sole name of the person who has died are usually “frozen” from the death until the personal representatives obtain a grant of probate or letters of administration.

If the person who has died paid household bills, then the other members of the household may be worried about how to manage between the death and the grant. There are various ways of dealing with this problem, for example:

if a member of the household had a joint account with the person who has died, that account can be used to pay bills
it may be possible to borrow from a family member or from the bank
if the person who has died had life insurance or was a member of a pension scheme, a lump sum may be payable soon after the death.

It’s a good idea to obtain professional advice on the different options as there may be relevant tax or financial circumstances which need to be considered.

Dealing with state pension and benefits arrangements

The registrar will give you a form (form BD8) to complete. This is used to tell the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Bereavement Service of the death so that it can deal with the state pensions and benefits arrangements of the person who has died.

The personal representatives or family can complete this form or ask a solicitor to complete it and send it to the DWP. Alternatively, you can call the DWP Bereavement Service or search the government website.

A number of local councils offer the DWP’s “Tell us once” service which is a way of letting a number of government departments know that someone has died, by just making one contact. If this is available in your area, the registrar will either use the service for you or give you a unique service reference number so that you can use the service over the telephone or online. The service can be used to contact the government departments that deal with the deceased person’s benefits, state pension, tax, passport and driving licence.

Locating any Will

It’s best to find the latest Will of the person who has died (or at least a copy) as soon as possible after the death because:

they may have said in the Will what kind of funeral they wanted
the administration of the estate goes more smoothly if the executors (the person or people appointed in the Will as the personal representatives of the estate) are involved from the start.

People who get solicitors to make their wills for them often keep a copy of the will with their important papers. The original is usually kept by the solicitors’ firm: the address and phone number of the firm is often on the cover of the copy will. It’s important that a thorough search is made to check whether the deceased left a will and to make sure that the most up to date Will is located.

If you cannot find a Will (or a copy) in the home of the person who has died, ask the person’s bank and their solicitors if they know where it is. There are also certain searches and advertisements which can be made for a Will – a solicitor can advise on these.

If the person who has died left a Will which does not appoint you as an executor, but you know the people who are appointed executors, make sure they know about the death. You and the executors can then decide who is to register the death, if this has not already been done, and who is to arrange the funeral.

If you have registered the death and obtained copy death certificates but you are not an executor, hand the copy certificates over to the executors or to their solicitors. If you are not going to deal with the DWP, hand over the form relating to social security benefits too. If the executors are arranging the funeral, give them the certificate for burial or cremation.

If, because you cannot find a Will, you do not know who the personal representatives are, you can still arrange and hold the funeral.

Only the executors appointed in a will are entitled to see the will before probate is granted. If you are not an executor, the solicitors of the person who has died or the person’s bank, if it has the will, cannot allow you to see it or send you a copy of it, unless the executors agree. However, they can tell you who the executors are. They can also let you know what the will, or a note kept with it, says about the kind of funeral the person wanted.

Arranging the funeral and organ donation

It’s desirable to find the following documents before the funeral but the funeral can go ahead even if you do not find them:

the most recent will of the person who has died, or a copy of it
any note saying what kind of funeral the person wanted
papers relating to life insurance or pension arrangements.

Many people leave notes saying what kind of funeral they would like, or they express their wishes in their wills. You are not legally obliged to follow the wishes of a person who has died but usually relatives and friends prefer to do so. It can be distressing to discover after the funeral that it was not arranged as the person wished, so look as soon as possible for a note and for the will.

If you know that the person who has died wanted to leave his or her body for medical research, look for the relevant consent form. The form may be stored with the person’s important papers or with the will. The form will have details of the relevant research institution: contact it and follow the procedure it recommends.

It may also be relevant to consider whether the person who has died made any decision regarding giving or refusing consent to organ donation, either by recording a decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register or by speaking to friends and family. In England the law relating to organ donation changed on 20 May 2020 to a new “opt out” system, whereby consent to organ donation can be assumed in some circumstances. Further information about the new system can be found here.

When you have confirmed that the body is to be buried or cremated rather than given for medical research (if this is the case), give the certificate for burial or cremation to the funeral director. The funeral director will discuss the arrangements with you and guide you through the process leading up to the funeral and the burial or cremation.

By taking on the responsibility for arranging the funeral, you are also taking on the responsibility of paying for it. You will eventually be able to reimburse yourself from the estate of the person who has died, if there is enough money in the estate to cover the funeral expenses.

You, or other family members, may be willing to pay the funeral expenses, on the basis that you will claim repayment from the estate later. However, there are other ways of paying for the funeral:

look through the papers of the person who has died for anything relating to a pre-paid funeral plan. If you find that the person subscribed to a plan, contact the provider and follow the procedure it recommends.
a bank where the person who has died had an account, may be prepared to release money from the account. The bank “freezes” an account when it learns about the account-holder’s death, making no further payments out. However, it may make an exception for funeral expenses. Contact the bank to ask whether it will release money to pay for the funeral.
look through the papers of the person who has died for anything relating to life insurance or pensions and contact the providers. If the person had a job at the time of the death, contact the employer’s HR department. Lump sum payments can often be made from life insurance policies and pension schemes very soon after a death. However, you should take professional advice before using lump sums of this type to pay funeral expenses as there may be a more tax-efficient way to use the money.
If you are arranging a funeral for a partner or close relative and you are on a low income, you may qualify for help in paying for it. You may have to repay some or all of it from the estate of the person who has died. For more information, see https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/overview.
In some instances, the funeral provider may be willing to wait until probate has issued for settlement of the invoice.

People to notify

Anyone else with whom the person who died had a business connection should be notified of their death as soon as possible. Some of the more common persons to be notified are listed below.

Anyone with whom they had a business connection
Banks and building societies
Private or local authority landlord
Employer
Private pension providers
DVLA
Passport Office
Royal Mail: it may be appropriate to arrange for the deceased’s mail to be redirected to another address.

Utility companies and other service providers. For example:

utility companies supplying gas, electricity and water.
broadband, phone and satellite TV providers.
the TV licensing authority.
the local council tax authority.
suppliers of other regular services, such as gardening and cleaning.

Administering the estate

What is estate administration?

Very broadly, administering an estate involves collecting in all the assets of the deceased, settling any liabilities, attending to all tax, accounting and reporting matters and distributing any net estate to the correct beneficiaries.

Who administers the estate?

If the deceased left a valid Will then it will generally appoint executors who are entitled to administer the estate. If there is no Will or no executors appointed (or the executors are unwilling or unable to act) then the law specifies who can administer the estate (“administrators”).

The executors or administrators dealing with the estate are known as the “personal representatives”. It will be important to check that the Will located is the most up to date Will of the deceased and a solicitor can advise on how to do this.

Is a grant of probate/letters of administration required?

A grant of probate or letters of administration is a document confirming who has formal authority to administer the estate of the deceased (known as the “personal representatives”). In many cases a grant will be required, however a grant is not always necessary where the estate is very straightforward. A solicitor will be able to advise you whether a grant is needed and who is entitled to apply.

The benefits of using a solicitor

The personal representatives need to decide whether to ask a solicitor to help them deal with the estate. For very straightforward estates of modest value, the personal representatives may feel comfortable dealing with the estate without legal advice. However, they do need to be aware that even a simple estate is time consuming and that personal representatives can be personally liable to various parties e.g. estate beneficiaries, creditors or HMRC, if they distribute the estate incorrectly, do not settle all liabilities, or do not comply with all requirements. Also, if there is an inheritance tax liability, this can sometimes be reduced, or even eliminated, with appropriate planning. Hence the personal representatives will often wish to instruct a solicitor to ensure that the estate is dealt with appropriately and for their own protection.

If the personal representatives decide to instruct solicitors to advise them in relation to the estate, they should arrange a meeting as soon as possible to take matters forward.

If the person who has died seems not to have left a Will, then one or more of the person’s closest relatives (wife, husband or civil partner, father or mother, brother or sister, son or daughter) should contact a solicitor for advice on making further searches for the Will and explain what to do if the person did not leave a Will.