How can I regulate the estate of my late husband?

It was a devastating message when my husband, a relatively healthy man, died of a hemorrhage a few months ago. He was only 31 years old, so we didn't think it was necessary to put up our will. I and his family are now in the difficult situation to regulate the inheritance of his estate. How should I proceed?

AIDAN Grant, Senior Associate at the law firm Collyer Bristow, states that when a person died without a will, the succession of their "free" estate - apart from e.g.

The ranking of who is entitled to receive the estate, and who acts as a "administrator" is the same. Assuming that you have no children, as a surviving spouse, you are entitled to your husband's free assets and will be his sole administrator. You have to apply for a Grant of Letters of Administration in due course.

If you have children, you will largely inherit the first 270,000 £ and all personal objects known as "furniture", and you and your children will then receive half of the remaining amount of the estate, if available. You are entitled to ask the administrators to assign the marital apartment to your share. If ownership is held for a minor or for life interests, the court will probably request a second administrator.

As the sole administrator, you have one -sided control over the administration of your husband's estate. For example, if you were a partially unmarried partner living in a community, you would not be entitled to the estate or the activity as an administrator in comparison.

In general, an administrator is not authorized to distribute the estate until the grant has been preserved. Before you contact the court, HM Revenue & Customs expects you to submit an inheritance tax return for the estate and pay all taxes due at this time. Only then will the HMRC inform the dishes that they can release the grant so that they can "distribute" the estate.

However, since the entire estate is inherited from a surviving spouse, the estate should in most cases benefit from a complete exemption from spouse for inheritance tax purposes.

When selecting the executors, it should be carefully taken, since this role can be difficult and time -consuming. Think about how you want to split up your estate and who you would like to benefit from your will. In particular, you can wish that certain objects of emotional value are bequeathed to certain friends or family members. Legal advice is particularly important if the value of your estate is large enough, taking your inheritance into account from her husband, to justify an inheritance tax obligation.

What are the advantages and disadvantages when buying NFTS?

I think about diving my toe in the art market for non -fungible tokens (NFTS) now that the prices fell diving . How do I have to think about and how do I protect myself before buying a fake or anything?

FAALE, a lawyer at Kingsley Napley, that specializes in art and cultural assets matters, says that there is no risk-free way to invest in NFTS.

A way of how buyers can be at risk is simply due to the misunderstanding that a NFT is the work of art and that the Blockchain (a common laude that records transactions and assets) makes it safe.

A NFT is more like a receipt that shows that someone is the "true" owner of a digital work of art that is even stored elsewhere on a third -party server. If the server goes offline from any reason (something that even occurs now), so there is only one NFT with a defective link.

Another question is whether the person who creates or sells the NFT is justified. There were many cases in which NFTs were withdrawn because the copyright owner had not agreed to reproduce the underlying work. A well-known example were Stormtrooper-Helms, which were designed by artists like Damien Hirst, where the artists intervened to have the NFTs removed.

fraud on NFT platforms have the same properties as fraud in the offline world, so that many of the warning signals are similar. One of the most widespread types of NFT fraud is a "RUG Pull", in which investors are lured to a much praised sale before the seller closes the project Abrupt and the proceeds can be done-a non-unusual tactic for normal fraudsters. The most important thing is to examine exactly what you actually buy.

platforms such as Discord and Twitter are valuable resources to help them. Warning signs are a high number of followers on Twitter, but less actual substantial engagement (retweets, likes and comments), which indicates the use of fake followers in order to simulate interest. Likewise, no discussion on Discord about a project or a discussion that is dominated by a small number of users should trigger concerns.

If you are not sure whether you can interpret the smart contract that regulates the functionality of the NFT, contact technical and legal experts. You can also ask the seller or creator (you are often active on Discord) to explain it. If you refuse, go away. Find out more about the artist and the seller to determine whether it is trustworthy members of the community or new additions without history in NFTS.

You should also check whether the marketplace or the author are imposed separately that could restrict your ability to deal with the NFT, such as: B. the right to exhibit the artwork without restriction or to resell.

The best way to protect yourself when buying a NFT is to get as much information as possible. The more you have, the better you can make a well -founded decision. And if it looks too good to be true, it is almost certainly.

The opinions in this column only serve general information purposes and should not be used as a replacement for professional advice. The Financial Times LTD and the authors are not responsible for direct or indirect consequences that result from trust in answers, including any losses, and exclude liability in full.