sleepygirlzzzz

Hello,

If all goes well, we are hoping to move to the US permanently mid-August. For background, I am a US citizen, our kids our dual citizens and my husband is British and currently applying for his immigrant visa (interview scheduled for 11th July).

We were wondering if we need to write new wills when we move to the US because of the different legal system? Also, I presume we should cancel our existing life insurance policies and purchase new ones in the US? Is this correct?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Pulaski

Your British wills are still effective, but it would be better to replace them with American ones in due course. I'd plan on getting new ones within a few months, they wouldn't IMO be a week 1, or even month 1, priority.

celticgrid

You can cancel your life insurance policies if you like, but it is perfectly possible to keep them running. I, and others on here, have simply changed the name and address on them and the insurance company is quite happy. You will probably need to keep a UK bank account active in order to pay the premiums though.

mayhemuk

I would say leave the life insurance as is for now.
All depends on your circumstance etc. but you'll likely pay increased premium since you're older than when you took them out.
Possibly have conditions to declare now you didn't before.
Also what if things don't go as planned and you move back?

I naively cancelled mine and am now back in UK with no life cover.

So it can safely be further down the list so long as you make sure the premiums are paid. Perhaps top up with a US policy once you're over there if need be.

Carlisle401

I have been told by my UK lawyer to make a new will in the US when I move over in August.

lizzyh

My Dad has come to live here and he has been advised to renew his Will. He is not changing it, I hasten to add, just updating it. It is indeed effective, but NH, requires, more detail and more specifics. So, best to comply, to make things easier I think.

Any ideas on transferring UK funds to US bank account?
Nat West are useless. So much for their logo"Heplpul Banking"......THEY ARE NOT !!

Pulaski

I use xe.com, others use xoom.com, and there are several other well known exchanger-remitters. The fees are lower than the banks, and the exchange rates much better. Just be sure to ask for "credit by ACH" (not "wire"), so the credit to most US bank a/cs should be free (otherwise you'll be stuck with a wire fee ).

lizzyh

Thanks for the info. I tried to set up an XE trade for my Dad and it has not been easy. I am not exactly computer literate
I have three days to confirm the trade, but I had actually asked for a wire, because it seems once, I have done a "basic trade" on XE, I then have to "wire" the funds from Nat West to Barclays first, then it comes over here. They added 14.08 gbp on to the wire amount for a fee.