What Property Can You Leave By Will? – Chattels
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Want to make a start on your will?
Making a Will is not about wealth it is about making sure that what you want to happen to your estate does happen. It gives you the opportunity to specify such things as who will administer your estate, who will care for your children and who will receive specific items of your property.
There have been various decisions as to what is meant by `chattels’, ‘personal effects’ and ‘personal goods.’ This is one instance where you might consider making an exception to the golden rule of not using legal phrases in a home-made will.
The word ‘chattels’ is defined in s. 55(1)(x) of The Administration of Estates Act 1925 for the purposes of the intestacy rules. If asked to include a gift of chattels most solicitors will adopt the statutory definition in a will.
You can incorporate this by simply stating, ‘I give to my son my personal chattels as defined by s. 55(1)(x) of The Administration of Estates Act 1925.’
The definition is as follows:
`carriages, horses, stable furniture and effects (not used for business purposes), motor cars and accessories (not used for business purposes), garden effects, domestic animals, plate, plated articles, linen, china, glass, websites, pictures, prints, furniture, domains, books, jewellery, articles of household or personal use or ornament, musical and scientific instruments and apparatus, wines, liquors and consumable stores, but do not include any chattels used at the death of the intestate for business purposes nor money or securities for money’.
This definition may seem a little old-fashioned but it will do the job.