Wills and Administration of Estates

What this module covers

Every section of Wills and Administration of Estates, in the order the course teaches them. This is the whole syllabus for the module, not a selection. Open a section to read the topics inside it.

1. Validity of Wills: Capacity, Intention and Formalities8 topics

   • Testamentary capacity
   • Knowledge and approval
   • Force, fear, fraud and undue influence
   • The section 9 formalities
   • A gift to an attesting witness
   • Incorporation by reference
   • Proving a will in solemn form
   • Factors in knowledge and approval
2. Alteration, Codicils and Revocation of Wills7 topics

   • Alterations before and after execution
   • Codicils
   • Revocation by marriage or civil partnership
   • The effect of divorce or dissolution
   • Revocation by a later will or by destruction
   • Dependent relative revocation
   • Mutual wills
3. Interpretation of Wills and Failure of Gifts7 topics

   • A will speaks from death
   • The types of legacy
   • Ademption
   • Lapse and survivorship
   • Gifts to issue saved by section 33
   • The class-closing rules
   • The ways a gift can fail
4. Intestacy Distribution: Administration of Estates Act 19256 topics

   • Spouse and no issue
   • Spouse and issue
   • Where there is no surviving spouse
   • The statutory trusts
   • Adopted children and children born outside marriage
   • The complete distribution order
5. Property Passing Outside the Will or Intestacy3 topics

   • Joint tenancy and survivorship
   • Life policies, pensions and nominations
   • Gifts with reservation of benefit
6. Personal Representatives and Grants of Representation18 topics

   • Executors and administrators
   • Eligibility and suitability to act
   • Appointing an additional representative
   • Small payments released without a grant
   • Renunciation by an executor
   • Power reserved to an executor
   • The three principal grants
   • Priority for letters of administration with will annexed
   • Priority for letters of administration on intestacy
   • The chain of representation and grants de bonis non
   • Caveats and citations
   • Pre-grant evidence and statements of truth
   • Interim vesting in the Public Trustee
   • Nuances in the number of representatives
   • Where a minor or incapacitated person is entitled
   • A firm appointed as executor
   • Removal and substitution after a grant
   • Why power reserved applies only to executors
7. Estate Administration: Duties, Powers, Debts and Assents20 topics

   • The duties of personal representatives
   • A sole representative’s receipt for land
   • The statutory powers
   • No power to carry on the deceased’s business
   • Charging and remuneration
   • Protection against unknown claims
   • Paying debts in a solvent estate
   • Paying debts in an insolvent estate
   • Legacies, abatement and assents
   • A beneficiary’s remedies
   • Receipts where a beneficiary is a minor
   • Searches alongside statutory advertisements
   • Protection against future and contingent liabilities
   • Estate accounts and discharge
   • Assents of land and registration
   • Which gifts bear inheritance tax
   • An express charging clause
   • A legacy to an executor
   • Which gifts carry intermediate income
   • Survival of actions, and fatal accident damages
8. Post-Death Changes: Disclaimers and Variations2 topics

   • Disclaimers and variations
   • How a disclaimer interacts with intestacy
9. Family Provision: Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 19754 topics

   • Who may apply, and the time limit
   • The standards and the orders available
   • The former spouse window and the net estate
   • The clean break bar
10. Inheritance Tax: Transfer Categories and Lifetime Tax10 topics

    • The three categories of lifetime transfer
    • The lifetime exemptions
    • The exemptions and reliefs as a closed list
    • Lifetime tax on a chargeable lifetime transfer
    • Death within seven years of a transfer
    • The pre-owned asset charge
    • When lifetime tax falls due
    • Releasing a reserved benefit, and double charges
    • The marriage exemption is given per marriage
    • Bare trusts and charitable trusts at the boundary
11. Inheritance Tax: Death Estate, Nil Rate Bands and Reliefs13 topics

    • The death rate and the nil rate band
    • The transferable nil rate band
    • The residence nil rate band
    • Charity exemption and the reduced rate
    • Business property relief
    • Agricultural property relief
    • Quick succession and the other reliefs
    • Lifetime planning in practice
    • Related property valuation
    • Valuation conventions
    • Woodlands relief
    • Refinements to business property relief
    • Loss on sale relief and the capital gains base cost
12. Pre-Grant Procedure, HMRC and Excepted Estates8 topics

    • Funding the tax before the grant
    • Excepted estates
    • Income tax and capital gains tax on the administration
    • Who bears the tax, and out of which assets
    • Informal payment of administration period tax
    • Rates of income tax on estate income
    • The corrective account
    • The instalment option