Master Lists

Take Charge, Take Control

What do you own? Who do you want to give it to?

How can you make the most of your assets - and the least of your inheritance tax?

A good set of lists is a good starting point.

ASSETS

Cash and bank or building society accounts

Stocks and shares

Pensions, annuities, trusts and insurance policies

Money owed to you

Your home and other real property, including farmland, buy-to-lets and second homes. The value depends in part on whether you own the property jointly or as a 'tenant in common'. (See the Property section for more information.)

Home contents, including garden furniture.

Businesses and business assets and partnerships

Cars, caravans and other personal belongings

Specific high-value items such as jewellery, cameras, or collectibles such as antiques and book, stamp or art collections. Special tax relief may be available for art collections.

Items that you technically own but, for example, may have given away on a long-term loan.

Gifts made during the previous seven years.

LIABILITIES

Mortgage and credit-card payments and other loans and bank overdrafts, including hire-purchase agreements.

Outstanding and upcoming bills, including unpaid tax and funeral expenses.

WWP NOTE If you die within seven years of giving a gift, the value of all or part of that gift may have to be added back to your estate.

Gifts to charities are tax deductible. If IHT comes to £100,000 and you give £75,000 to charity, the IHT is only £25,000. If you give the full £100,000 to charity, the tax bill is zero.

Approximations or Precision?

What is the value of your house, or the oriental carpet in the lounge?

If and when your executor determines the value of your estate, he or she, and the tax man, will be interested in the "open market value." Your executors may need to obtain a professional appraisal.

But for your own list, approximations should be good enough - and should be reviewed periodically.

WWP Tip Store these lists with your will. Your executors will be grateful for the quick and easy access to the information they contain.

WWP TIP Compiling this list in a spreadsheet or word file makes more sense than using pen and paper: With a spreadsheet (or even a table in a Word program), you can make changes and let the program do the maths. This method is easier, and more accurate, than if you make the calculations yourself on paper.

Review your lists, review your will

Just as you should periodically re-read and revise your will, you should also re-read and revise your lists - your assets, your friends and family, your banks and professional advisers.

WWP Note Many people make lists indicating who is to get what, but such lists are not legally enforceable. If you want someone to inherit something, put their name and the gift in your will. You can also make a list and expressly incorporate it into your will.

If you sell (or already have sold) the stamp collection that you left to your grandchild, you should amend your will to reflect that fact.

WWP TIP Amend means change or correct, and when wills were written by hand or composed on typewriters, a codicil was ideal for minor changes. But with word processors, making a new will is as simple and easy as making a codicil. And an entirely new will might be the safest way to amend, change or correct a current will, even if you are making only one or two small changes.

If you sold your stamp collection and bought a coin collection, amend your will accordingly. If you left your stamps to your grandchild and there are no stamps to give to him or her, the grandchild will not get the coins instead, even if you haven't bequeathed the coins to someone else.

If you leave something that you no longer own to someone, the gift fails. The recipient can not recoup the lost value elsewhere from the estate.

WWP TIP Are your bank or other important financial details or documents in or on a password-protected file or website - and only you know the password? If so, consider providing the passwords to your executors in a sealed envelope or other secure method. If you use a voice-recognition or other personalised identification system, make arrangements for others to gain access.

WWP TIP Include other information in your list, such as name and contact details for your bank, stock broker, solicitor, accountant and the like. Also list your HMRC office and tax code.

If a solicitor or other professional will-writer drafts your will, tell them about anyone who might make a claim on your estate, especially close current or former relatives who you may have excluded.