The Story of David and Margaret

If you’re a homeowner, retired or approaching retirement, and wondering how to protect everything you’ve worked hard for? This story of David and Margaret might feel very familiar.

David and Margaret are fictional clients, but their situation is based on real clients we see all the time. Many families in Cheshire face similar concerns when planning their estate, and this story reflects the kind of outcomes we help clients achieve.

David (68) and Margaret (66) Thompson are a retired couple living just outside Macclesfield. They own their home outright, have investments, savings, and two grown-up children. Their estate was worth just over £1.5million.

But despite their success, they had concerns:

• “What would happen to our estate if one of us had to go into care?”
• “How can we make sure our children (and grandchildren) inherit what we want them to?”
• “Is a simple will really enough?”
• “What about inheritance tax?”

The Hidden Risks in a Basic Will

Like many families, David and Margaret had simple mirror wills they made years ago. They assumed that was enough to ensure everything would pass smoothly to their children. But after speaking to friends they had several concerns:

• Care home fees could eat into the estate.
• Inheritance tax (IHT) could take 40% of anything above £1,000,000.
• No Lasting Powers of Attorney meant no control if capacity was lost.
• Risk of divorce, remarriage, or creditors taking a share of inheritance

That’s when they found Moneybox Wills and Trusts. We specialise in comprehensive estate planning for families just like David and Margaret.

Their Estate Planning Solution

To achieve their goals, we implemented our Legacy Wealth Plan — a comprehensive estate protection strategy tailored to David and Margaret’s specific circumstances. This included bespoke Wills incorporating flexible life interest and discretionary trust provisions, designed to protect the family home and ensure their estate passed securely to their children, regardless of what the future held.

We completed a severance of tenancy on their jointly owned home, enabling each of them to leave their share into trust. This safeguarded the property from potential threats like remarriage, care fees, or sideways disinheritance. We also drafted and registered a full suite of Lasting Powers of Attorney, giving them peace of mind that trusted individuals could step in if needed.

Crucially, the plan also incorporated a personalised IHT review, making the most of their combined nil rate bands and residence nil rate bands. We outlined a strategy that helped them make use of their gifting allowances and future potentially exempt transfers so that they could reduce the value of their estate and lower their IHT exposure gradually as their financial needs changed in the future.

The Legacy Wealth Plan not only gave David and Margaret control, flexibility, and clarity — it also gave their children a protected inheritance and a simplified path to administering the estate when the time comes.

Could This Be You?

If you’re in a similar position to David and Margaret, it’s never too early — or too late — to plan ahead.

Moneybox Wills and Trusts is here to help families across Cheshire with:

• Estate planning
• Wills and Trusts
• Inheritance tax planning
• Wealth preservation 
• Lasting Power of Attorney setup