My British friend and his wife recently had mirror Wills drawn up after meeting a Will writer, they have told me the Wills states that if one of them dies in the surviving spouse has to go into a home, the house cannot be sold to pay for the fees. I have never heard of this kind of will and am worried that they have been given incorrect information.
Everyone should make a will, for those who have property in Bahrain it’s a good idea to take advice about a local will; British expatriates should also have Wills drawn up relevant to the UK, even if they feel they do not own much property there because their whole worldly assets are taken into consideration by the UK taxman the will is very important indeed. As a Bahrain Financial planner and Will writer I find more than half of my British clients have so far not had Wills drawn up.
Mirror Wills are simple enough. It is a common expression used when a husband-and-wife make virtually identical Wills. For example, Mr X’s will might say, ”I give everything to my wife on death, but if she dies before me it goes to the children”, and Mrs X’s will can say the same thing relevant to her husband. What a mirror Wills do not do is to ensure, after the death of the 1st spouse, that the family home does not have to be sold to meet any nursing home fees of the surviving spouse. However, you can use a will to protect against a claim from the local authority for fees-provided you change the form of ownership of the family home.
Most couples own their own house as joint tenants, which means the house ownership in its entirety automatically passes to the surviving spouse. If, when a will is drawn (or before), the joint tenancy severed and replaced by ”tenants in common”, then it is possible for each partner to leave his/her share of the family home to someone else, such as the children.
Usually a trust is used to safeguard the remaining spouse’s right to live in the house-but in reality, the owners of the other half would find it difficult to dislodge him/her from the other half of which they are the outright owner. So if the surviving spouse has to go into a home, the local authority can only access the market value of his/her share of the house, which will not be high-not the other half, which belongs to someone else.
Your money is compiled by Bahrain Financial Planning Consultant Brian Davis
Brian@AssetProtectUK.com
