Almy & Thomas will ensure the procedure of making your Will runs as quickly and as straightforward as possible. An initial appointment is necessary to discuss your wishes and advise you where necessary, you will be advised of the cost of your Will at this stage. The office has easy access for wheelchairs or we can arrange to visit you at your home. Once we have taken your instructions we will prepare a draft Will which you will receive with a concise letter of explanation. As soon as we receive your approval of the draft the Original Will is drawn up for your signature.

We work on a Fixed Fee as follows:-
Basic Will (single)    £80.00 + vat
Basic Will (couple)   £120.00 + vat
Home Visit within Torbay Area add on £25.00 + vat

In order to advise you as best we do require certain information and assure you that the details are relevant to be able to give you the best advice.

Full name - and any alias or pet name and full address with postcode.
Marital Status – It may be necessary to discuss the implication of the status on the preparation of the Will. Divorce, Marriage and entering into a Civil Partnership all affect Wills.
Children and Dependants – Children by former relationships, adopted children, children treated as children of the family. Are there any special needs to think about.
Domicile – Non UK domicile is important when tax planning and devolution of the estate.
Assets – Personal and Business assets, agricultural assets, insurances, assets situate abroad and benefits from trusts, whether jointly or solely owned, Are there any assets which do not form the estate, eg death in service benefits or an insurance written in trust, have you loaned money that is to be repaid to the estate or is it a gift. All these assets need to be discussed to give you any tax planning advice.
Liabilities – will the estate be solvent, are there liabilities to be repaid on death and if so how, will your house be a specific gift, ,if so how is the mortgage to be dealt with. .

More and more Wills require inheritance tax planning. If the total of all of your assets amounts to over the current threshold for inheritance tax (2007/08 = £300,000) then we would require a detailed list of your assets, as mentioned above, in order to advise you on ways you may be able to mitigate any burden to inheritance tax.

The Chancellor made an announcement on 9th October 2007, which changes the rules slightly with regard to the current threshold for inheritance tax. The new rules are favourable for married couples and civil partners whereby where one spouse dies and passes all of his or her assets to the other spouse, thereby not using up any of their nil rate band, the nil rate band of the survivor will be increased by the unused proportion of the nil rate band of the first person to pass. The survivor would therefore be left with a higher threshold for inheritance tax (up to £600,000) upon their demise. 

It is possible that a Discretionary Trust may be the best way forward with your estate and the devolution of your assets. If you have sufficient assets you may set up a Trust (Settlement) during your lifetime or you may create Trusts within your Will. Due to the complex nature of the Trust and the variety of situations that they may cover there is too much information to provide a comprehensive guide on this website. Please do not hesitate to discuss your wishes with our Firm’s Partner, Mr Owen Evans. Our charges remain competitive and our Fees to implement a Discretionary Trust start at £295.00 vat.

If as a result of the advice concerning your Wills we need to take action concerning the legal title of your property to place the legal title in your names as Tenants in Common then our property department will deal with this for you and their charges may be incorporated into the above account but may be billed separately.

Severance of Joint Tenancy - £75.00
Alteration of House Deeds to allow home to be held "Tenancy in Common":
H M Land Registry Fee - £40.00 .