Readers’ forum: Estate planning

03 August 2021

Issue: 4803 / Categories: Forum & Feedback

Do parents’ mirror wills need revising?

I have been reviewing capital taxes for a family business. The 80-year-old parents are in partnership with their 50-year-old son. Their daughter who is of a similar age is not involved in the partnership.

The parents’ wills leave their respective share of the partnership to the son. They own their main residence as tenants in common and each will leaves their respective equal share of the main residence to the children with a life interest for the surviving spouse. Other assets are to be transferred to the surviving spouse.

The situation with the main residence seems to be a fairly common nil-rate band trust device which was popular a decade or two ago. To a large degree the transferrable nil rate band renders this an unnecessary complication now.

However with the reforms in recent years to trust taxation an area with which I...

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