Continued from Living Wills: What Are They? Do I Need One? - Part 3]

(2) Advance decisions / advance directives (continued)

Valid advance decisions

To be valid an advance decision needs to:

• be made by a person who is 18 or over and has the capacity to make it;

• specify the treatment to be refused (it can do this in lay terms);

• specify the circumstances in which this refusal would apply;

• not have been made under the influence or harassment of anyone else;

• not have been modified verbally or in writing since it was made.

Refusal of life-sustaining treatment

Advance decisions refusing life-sustaining treatment must:

• be in writing (it can be written by a family member, recorded in medical notes by a doctor or on an electronic record);

• be signed and witnessed (it can be signed by someone else at the persons direction - the witness is to confirm the signature not the content of the advance directive);

• include an express statement that the decision stands 'even if life is at risk.'

When might an advance decision not be followed?

Continued from Living Wills: What Are They? Do I Need One? - Part 2]

(2) Advance decisions / advance directives

You can use an advance decision (also called 'advance directive') to indicate your wish to refuse all or some forms of medical treatment if you lose mental capacity in the future.  You can't use it to request treatment.

A valid advance decision has the same effect as a refusal of treatment by a person with capacity: the treatment cannot lawfully be given - if it were the doctor might face civil liability or criminal prosecution.

Limitations on advance decisions

You can't use an advance decision to:

• ask for your life to be ended;

• force doctors to act against their professional judgement; or

• nominate someone else to decide about treatment on your behalf.

As with advance statements, bear in mind that new drugs or treatments may be introduced in the future so you may wish to allow for new treatments even if refusing a current one.

[Continued from Living Wills: What Are They? Do I Need One? - Part 1]

Living wills and mental capacity

You can still make a living will if you're diagnosed with a mental illness, as long as you can show that you understand the implications of what you're doing.  You need to be competent to make the decision in question, not necessarily to make other decisions.

It's best to put your wishes in writing and explain:

• why you've made your decision about how you do or don't want to be treated;

• what you understand about the treatment you're agreeing to or refusing; &

• why you're making these decisions now.

A living will is a statement expressing how you want to be treated if you are no longer able to take care of yourself (e.g., following a bad car accident or because of a serious medical condition).

Every adult with mental capacity has the right to agree to or refuse medical treatment and you can make your wishes known in advance.

Living wills can include general statements about your wishes, which aren't legally binding, and specific refusals of treatment called 'advanced decisions' or 'advance directives.'

(1) General written statements

Simple answer: now!  If you've put off writing or rewriting your will because you think it's morbid, you're too young or for some other reason, it's time for a wake up call.

If your already have a will, will's over five years old, now's the time to review it to ensure it still fits the bill.

If you've already written a will, you should review it every five years or following any major life change.  For example:

A great number of people die without a will.  27 million people in the UK have not made one - that's around a half to two thirds of the adult population. 

Even where a will is made, it often turns out to be invalid.  This might be because the deceased failed to comply with the strict requirements of the Wills Act 1837; or lacked the requisite mental capacity; or was unduly influenced by someone else; or the will may have been automatically revoked upon divorce or the end of a civil partnership. 

In such cases, a person is said to have died intestate.

1. Draft a will

The only way to avoid intestacy and ensure your estate is distributed the way you want it to be.  If you're married or in a civil partnership, you can leave everything to your spouse or civil partner and no IHT is due because they qualify as exempt beneficiaries.

2. Get hitched

To repeat, when an estate passes between a husband and wife, or between civil partners, no IHT is due.  What's more, married couples and civil partners can transfer any unused IHT allowance to the surviving spouse or civil partner when they die.

1. Decide who inherits what

A will allows you to make gifts of money or specific items to individuals or charities of your choosing.  If you fail to write one, everything you own passes through intestacy and will be distributed in a manner laid down by the law.  Depending on your circumstances, the entirety of your estate could escheat to the crown.  Moreover, intestacy does not recognise unmarried partners or stepchildren.  As a result, even if you've lived together for many years, your cohabitant or stepchild may be left with nothing if you do not write a will.

When we pass away, the government collects inheritance tax (IHT) at a rate of 40% on what's left of our estates over and above the IHT threshold (currently set at £325,000).

This begs two questions: (1) Is there a deadline to pay IHT?  (2) Are there any penalties for paying IHT late or in installments?

The answer to each question is "yes:"  IHT is due exactly six months from the end of the month in which a person dies, after which the government charges interest for late payment.

We've all been there.  Granny gets to a certain age and can't quite remember your name.  First, she'll rattle off the names of uncles, aunts, and cousins like a Gatling gun, followed by maybe - just maybe - her dog's name.  Then, finally, BINGO - she remembers! 

But, she still loves you, so what does it matter?  As the famous bard once said, "What's in a name" 

Well, quite a bit as it turns out.

Okay, so you've decided to buy a place with that special someone, but you've yet to decide whether you want to own the property as joint tenants or tenants in common.

What are the differences?

• In a joint tenancy, both of you will own the whole property.  If one of you dies the property will automatically pass to the other (which, in legal jargon, is known as the right of survivorship).

HM Revenue & Customs will collect a jaw-dropping £2.2 billion in inheritance tax (IHT) this year because of estate planning failures.  Apparently, 81% of us have no plan to reduce the amount of IHT paid from our estates when we die.  The government literally hits the jackpot when we pass away, collecting IHT at a rate of 40% on what's left of our estates over and above the IHT threshold (currently set at £325,000).

On 29th June, shortly after Michael Jackson's death, his family filed court papers in Los Angeles claiming he died "intestate," meaning he left no will.  However, two days later, MJ's attorney produced a will written in 2002.  The Jackson family did not see the will prior to its filing and had no knowledge of its contents.  Their attorney said: "We wish we had known about it sooner." 

Writing a will - and leaving instructions on how to find it - is one of the best things you can do for your loved ones while you are still alive.  However, at least one in three people in the United Kingdom die without doing so.