Gift of Hindsight & Deed of Variation

If you have lost a loved one, you can make changes to the will after they die. This can help avoid care costs, which could save your family thousands of pounds.

Rewriting a will after the death of a loved one, or writing a will if the deceased party didn’t have one, is called a Deed of Variation, or a Gift of Hindsight.

Our estate planning team can help you with a Gift of Hindsight.

Setting up Gift of Hindsight

A Gift of Hindsight can protect half the estate against care costs and inheritance tax.

When someone dies, whether a spouse, partner or parent, that inheritance is protected in a Will Trust and does not become part of their estate. This can save the family thousands of pounds.

With a Gift of Hindsight, we change the deceased’s will and put the assets into a Will Trust for the benefit of the survivor and the children. We can arrange this, even if the deceased didn’t leave a will.

As an example, a couple had an estate of £400,000. One partner dies. The other partner inherits and then dies with the whole £400,000. Since they are not married, the survivor only has a £325,000 allowance and therefore the other £75,000 is subject to 40% inheritance tax (IHT).

With a Gift of Hindsight, we change the first partner’s will to put £200,000 into a Will Trust, which will be exempt from IHT as it’s below the limit. When the survivor dies, their estate is also below the limit and therefore there is no IHT to pay. In other words, by using the Gift of Hindsight or Deed of Variation, we use two Nil Rate Band Allowances for IHT rather than just one.