Britons failing to update their wills despite dramatic increase in the value of personal assets

Almost one in three adults (29%) have not updated their Will for at least five years despite a rising stock market and soaring house prices during the same period according to new research⁽¹⁾ from Brewin Dolphin.

The study, part of Brewin Dolphin’s third National Inheritance Survey, reveals that 14% of adults have not updated their Will in the last ten years and over 700,000 people have not done so for at least 20 years. Nearly four in ten (38%) admit to not having made a Will.

The findings come on the back of a 50%⁽²⁾ increase in equities over the last five years and a housing market which has soared by 85%⁽³⁾ since the end of 2002. This increase in personal assets has led this week to the Conservative Party proposing to raise the threshold on death duties from £300,000 to £1 million. However, while this will be widely welcomed it remains for the Tories to win an election.

Meanwhile, Brewin Dolphin warns that in addition to rising financial assets, family circumstances can also quickly make a Will obsolete. For instance, around 6.8 million people have experienced a significant change in their personal lives since the last time they updated their Will with around 28% or 1.6 million adults having children and 13% (752,000) getting married.

Andrew Longbon, Director of Financial Services at Brewin Dolphin said, “It’s easy to forget about your Will once it’s been written as our natural hope is that it won’t need to be used in the immediate future. Yet changing personal circumstances coupled with soaring house and equity prices mean that Wills can soon become obsolete.

“Writing a Will and keeping it up to date should be a financial planning priority for everyone, particularly those with dependants. It is also wise to keep a careful record of all gifts made both in cash and in kind made subsequently to the Will – this knowledge can be invaluable to an Executor seeking to reduce the IHT payable on an Estate. ”

The financial adviser and portfolio manager believes that a there is a general reluctance among many Britons to take the necessary steps to ensure adequate inheritance plans are in place. Some of this can be attributed to apathy, as more than one in three (36%) people admit they have not got around to updating their Will. Furthermore, around one-in-ten (846,000) do not believe updating their Will is important.

Henrietta Mason, Solicitor in the Contentious Trust and Succession Team at Withers LLP stated, “The main purpose of a Will is to ensure that your estate is distributed in accordance with your wishes. Without a Will, or where it has been revoked (for example by subsequent marriage or civil partnership), assets will be distributed in accordance with the intestacy rules, which are unlikely to achieve what you want. Keeping an up to date Will can minimise complexities arising after death, may assist in ensuring provision is made in a tax effective manner, and allows the will maker to benefit those, such as close friends, who would not benefit on intestacy”.

– Ends –

For further information:

Charlotte Black, Director of Corporate Affairs or Andrew Longbon
Brewin Dolphin
020 7248 4400 or Charlotte.Black@brewin.co.uk

Patrick Evans / Alistair Kellie / Ewan Robertson
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
020 7638 9571

Henrietta Mason, Solicitor in the Contentious Trust and Succession Team
Withers LLP
020 7597 6308 or henrietta.mason@withersworldwide.com

Notes to editors

⁽¹⁾ 999 adults were interviewed by research company GfK NOP by telephone. Fieldwork was conducted between 22nd and 24th June 2007.
⁽²⁾ Source: Datastream – FTSE All Share Price Index (30-06.2002 – 30.06.2007)
⁽³⁾ Halifax House Price Index Q2 2002 to Q2 2007

About Brewin Dolphin

Brewin Dolphin Limited (“BD”) is the principal operating company of Brewin Dolphin Holdings PLC which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. BD is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member of the London Stock Exchange.

BD is the largest independent private client portfolio manager in the UK. The Group manages £21 billion of funds on behalf of more than 100,000 clients, and of this £10 billion is on a discretionary basis. BD has 38 offices and is corporate adviser to 140 small and medium sized quoted companies. Brewin Dolphin Investment Banking was voted AIM Broker of the Year 2007.

The Group provides complete investment management for private investors, charities and pension funds and trades as:

Brewin Dolphin in England, Wales and the Channel Islands
Bell Lawrie in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Hill Osborne in the East Midlands
Wise Speke in the North of England
Stocktrade is the BD Execution-Only division. www.stocktrade.co.uk

Please see Media Centre section on www.brewin.co.uk/group/media for details and photos of all commentators and analysts throughout Brewin Dolphin.

About Withers

Withers LLP is the world’s first international law firm dedicated to the business, personal and philanthropic interests of successful people, their businesses, their families and their advisers.

The firm has over 100 partners and 600 people, with unparalleled expertise in commercial and tax law, trusts, estate planning, litigation, charities, employment, family law and other legal issues facing high net worth individuals, their families and their businesses.

The firm is called Withers LLP in the UK and internationally, except for the United States where it is called Withers Bergman. It has offices in London, New York, Milan, Geneva, Greenwich (Connecticut) and New Haven (Connecticut).

The firm’s client base includes more than 15% of Britain’s wealthiest citizens (based on the Sunday Times Rich List), at least 10% of the 50 wealthiest families based in Europe with US connections and a significant number of the Forbes 400 list of Richest Americans.

The firm has a turnover of more than $150 million.