Sometimes clients approach me and tell me that they want to give their home to this person, their Halifax account to that person, and other investments to another person.
In pizza speak, this is a bit like saying your pepperoni to this person, your green peppers to that person and the pizza base to another person.
Far better in my opinion, is to provide slices of your pizza.
Why? If you divide your estate up into percentages, whether it’s to three children equally, or 40%, 40% and 20% to different individuals, if you sell your home or cash in your Halifax account for example, you don’t end up disinheriting the individual who was going to benefit from that particular asset.
If you slice your estate up rather than give various ingredients out, if your estate goes up or down in value (the pizza becomes extra large or smaller than regular), and if the make up of your estate changes (removing the black olives for example), then proportionately, your beneficiaries will receive proportionately what you intended, when you knew that the pizza base, your home, was 80% of the whole pizza.
I asked someone in my office for their input on this article before publishing it, and his words were “I don’t share my pizza with anyone!”
I hope that if you are planning to share your pizza, or estate, you will think in terms of percentages, and give out slices rather than various toppings, which can get very messy.
Keep things simple, and if you need help thinking through this concept, please get in touch with Jane on 01727 840 240 at JC Independent Wills & Probate.