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Have we spoken to our heirs about their inheritance? yes, why wouldn't we? We revise our wills every 10 years or so and tell them everything.

Are we expecting to receive an inheritance? No we have past that stage. We have inherited money from a number of people. We knew it was coming and that we were in the will because we had been told. There was one exception, the estate of my sister, who died prematurely in a road accident. We were also the administrators of all the estates except my sisters.

Do we know how long it takes to get an inheritance? The answer to that is as long as a piece of string, but our experience is most cases six months should sort everything and get probate, although if there is a house to sell this can take longer.

Do we know whether inheritance tax has to be paid on an estate or not and that it is 40% of the overall estate? Well that is wrong to start with. It is 40% of the estate after deducting the nil rate on the first £325,000 or if it is the survivor of a couple it can be up to £650,000. So as you can deduce we do know about inheritance tax. We also know that any money donated to charity is deducted from the estate as well before inheritance tax is calculated because the whole of one estate we administered went to charity and no inheritance tax was paid.

I have no experience of an inheritance.

My parents died when I was a teenager and had very little to leave. I have never received an inheritance and expect I never will. I will leave everything I have to my two sons, one of who has POA . So yes we have discussed everything.

I've thought about it and made arrangements, as, I'm sure, many older people have.

I've passed on the majority of an inheritance to the younger generation, where it's been sorely needed for house deposits etc. - rather than just saving it and increasing my Inheritance Tax liability.

I've pre-paid for my direct cremation to ensure that nobody has to suddenly find the funds for a funeral.

My will includes a large donation to charity, is simple, clear ans uncomplicated - so really, there's nothing much to discuss!

We have put all our affairs with our financial advisor, solicitor and accountant who all work under the same umbrella.
With my father's will I had no problem executing it myself - it just involved acquiring power of attorney for my mother at various building societies.

When FIL and MIL then Maiden Aunts and DM died there was no problem as all of these were treated as "Small Estates". 4 were Council House tenants and DM's 50% share of their 1 bed exCouncil flat went straight to my DF.

However when my DF and DH died their estates had to go through the full probate process, because they owned their houses, whose value took the Estate over the limit. DF's took around 8 months to wind up and DH's is still ongoing after 6 months. Thankfully both had prepaid funeral plans, so that initial expense was covered. Otherwise it would have been difficult to meet these costs.

Dealt with grandparents' estates which were very easy as very small and everything went to my Mum. My Dad's estate, on the other hand, was extremely complicated mainly due to the fact that he had dementia - my step mum sadly predeceased him - and he refused to let anyone have power of attorney over his affairs so had to appoint solicitor under Court of Protection - let's just say the estate took around 4 years to sort out and it was a total nightmare. We have very simple wills leaving everything to each other should one of us die first and then equally between both daughters. Very much doubt there will by any inheritance tax implications. We also have Power of Attorneys for both of us in place - would recommend everyone to have one whatever age you are as you never know what can happen.

Yes, we have granted powers of attorney. I would say from our experience and that of other people we know, more and bigger problems arise from POAs, than from wills.

Mainly, people who will not appoint PoAs and in one case a client made the PoA operational jointly and not severally, because as he told his wife when they made them 'Oh, A & B (D&Sil) will outlive us!' Unfortunately the Sil died suddenly, by which time the father had died and his wife had dementia and could not put a new PoA in place, so it had to be off to the Court of Protection.

I have no relatives, if the care home where I will probably end up does not eat up all of my money, the remainder will go to charities and some will go to the two POAs because I felt they should be compensated for their work. Two other people will benefit.

I live in London so my modest house will come into the 40% tax payment after deducting the nil rate after deduction of the first £325,000. I took this into consideration, knowing the charities would benefit.

My funeral has been paid for, again to take financial stress from the POAs.

I’ve never had any inheritances and I think these days with social care to pay for and inheritance taxes, it is unlikely most people will have anything to leave their families.

Only one old person in 10 goes into a care home. Most of us stay home until the end and looking at our families this is clearly true.

My DF was one of 11, one died at 69 and another at 73, and one went into care for a couple of years at the end of their life but the rest lived into their late 80s and 90s and remained independent, perhaps having a cleaner, and a child that shopped but little other help. Only one ended up in care.

DH's mother was one of 13, they were not so long lived, but I do not think any of them went into care.

As for inheritance tax. the first £325,000 is free from inheritance tax, so will not affect most people and most of those affected will not be paying it on a huge amount.

So summergal most people, if they have owned their own home, probably will have something to leave to charity or their family.

I jointly own my own home and have made out a will , myself and my partner can carry on living in our home after one or the other of us dies , other moneys will be left as a percentage to selected family members , I have a life insurance in place to take care of my funeral but my partner does not so the costs of his will have to come from his half of his estate if he dies first, it will be a bit complicated I feel.

I don’t talk about inheritance, it is awkward and leads to bad feelings. My family will get what I leave them. It will always be an even split to my children. How they choose to use it will be up to them.

No amounts in our immediate family will be do large as to need complex estate planning. Houses are the biggest asset and will be sold and profits split.

we are in the motions of sorting our Mums out right now, all sorted properly thankfully.

We have spoken about inheritance and after sorting out a needlessly complicated relative's inheritance wishes, I have made a will and set up a POA in case it is needed later on.

Have you spoken to your loved ones about what inheritance you plan to leave to them?
Yes
Are you expecting to receive an inheritance?
Yes
Do you know how long it takes to receive your inheritance?
*Yes, roughly - but there is currently a house involved.
Do you know if you will be liable for an inheritance tax bill?
Yes - I know that there won't be one
What would you do if you are faced with an inheritance tax bill – this is 40% of the overall estate?
n/a
Have you ever wanted to dispute who benefited from a will?
Yes, but would not do this out of respect for the deceased

At the tail end of sorting my Mum’s estate after 15 months, it’s been through probate. We engaged solicitors as there were bonds/ISA’s/ life insurances. Inheritance tax was paid, but we may be claiming some back as it was paid within the HMRC time limit, but at an assumed rate on sale of shares. Myself, two siblings and GC’s have received financial inheritance. My DH and I have wills leaving to each other, on the death of the remaining person, the estate is split equally between my two children. We both have POA and advance decisions, funerals are prepaid.
Both children know what we’ve done.

We have made mirror wills and POA. These were done after we had retired, some years ago now.
Our 3 children will be equal beneficiaries, and can do with the proceeds, what they will. They are also all named on the POA.

When my FIL died, my DH inherited a third of his estate.
After my mother died, my brother and I inherited such as there was, and it was easy to sort out.

I inherited a small sum when my uncle died.
Also DH had an unexpected small sum from a distant cousin, after being contacted by a company of 'Heir Hunters'.

There was no difficulty in talking about what we had done in regards to our wills with the children.

I have POA and am also executor for a great aunt. Same for both my parents, though jointly with siblings. I feel very daunted by the whole thing, not least as there is a foreign property involved. I dread needing to act for them all at the same time!

We're sorted. We're not expecting any inheritances, our wills are written, our children know who the executors are and that they'll have an equal share of what we leave, they're all financially secure so won't be desperate to get hold of it, and unless we come up on the lotto or the premium bonds, they won't have to worry about inheritance tax. We're a very uncomplicated family!

Although, we previously hadn't had much experience of this, since the pandemic putting out finances in order has been a priority

I have inherited from my parents, but as the value of their estate was very low, no money was paid. I will be leaving any money to my daughter, but it is unlikely to be above the inheritance tax threshold, unless I have a big win on the lottery! Wills have been written in both cases.

I've never inherited anything and don't expect to. We will leave our estate to our children but it is unlikely to be over the IHT threshold.

My mum owned her own home and made out a will giving life interest to her partner to ensure he could carry on living in her house if she died first. However she left her estate in equal shares to me and my 4 siblings. Dementia set in and unbeknown to us her partner took her to another solicitor to change her will. We only found out after she died therefore everything went to her elderly partner who has no children of his own but he has left everything to nieces and nephews that he hasn't seen for many years.