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[size=55:wzymimhp]Opp 29 September 2010

Overseas residents prefer to bank at home

Two thirds of British expats believe that UK banks are better than those available in their country of residence and that sterling will prove a better bet than the Euro, according to a major new survey out this week from Lloyds TSB Bank.

Four times as many responders believing that sterling is stronger for their savings than the euro and many UK overseas residents maintain ties with their homeland. 79% hold their money in sterling and over half still holding a UK current account.

Two thirds of expats believe that British banks are better than those available in their country of residence (62%). Furthermore when asked which services they still used a British provider for, 83% of the responses were financial services related including banking products, pensions and insurance. Very few respondents felt that they needed a British provider for other services for example legal (five per cent) or healthcare (five per cent) according to a new survey[1] commissioned by Lloyds TSB International. Additionally despite almost 90% of respondents having been abroad for over five years, over half (55%) still maintain a UK current account and 80% still holding money in sterling.

Jakob Pfaudler, Managing Director of Lloyds TSB International, said: “It’s good to see confidence in the British banking system is returning. Britain's economy is showing continued signs of progress, with consumer confidence returning and businesses beginning to invest again. At the same time, the British banking system has returned to profitability, which will enable it to support and underpin the economic recovery.’’

The survey of British expats, living in France, Hong Kong, Spain, South Africa, UAE and USA, also shows that confidence in sterling is high in comparison with other currencies, with four times (44% versus 11%) as many respondents believing that sterling is stronger than the euro for their savings. Only three per cent of those now living abroad cite weakness in sterling as a factor most likely to contribute to having to return home early.

Jakob Pfaudler continued, “It is also reassuring to see that so many British expats are confident in the future of sterling which, after depreciating over the past few years, has stabilised as the economic recovery has taken hold and measures to improve the public finances have been laid out. In part their behaviour has been a reflection on what has occurred in the wider financial markets with the flight from more indebted economies.’’

Hi Emil welcome and thank you for joining this forum.

We welcome your help and support

We (my wife and I) have already made a Will with an authorised translator after getting the Bulgarian set format translated. I take it that providing you have no other claimants that all the property goes to the named person in the will. Then the family members can claim unless you have specified otherwise. This would also be backed up by EU law?

Thank you

Tony

thankyou. who has access to the departed bank accounts, i understand they are froze immediately and enforced inheritency law is applied. again many thanks.

tonyb60 wrote:

We (my wife and I) have already made a Will with an authorised translator after getting the Bulgarian set format translated.

Please note that there is no such thing as set format. Actually there are some important rules that are to be followed. A handwritten will should be in English and then translated into Bulgarian. If you are talking about a Notary will - then a translator could be appointed by the Notary public (just like at any Notary completion).

tonyb60 wrote:

providing you have no other claimants that all the property goes to the named person in the will. Then the family members can claim unless you have specified otherwise. This would also be backed up by EU law?

Yes, the property can go to all persons in the will. Then family members (or actually anyone who has reserved portion) could make an official claim (i.e. take you to court). This is how things look in Bulgaria - EU laws have no direct impact.

starlite wrote:

thankyou. who has access to the departed bank accounts, i understand they are froze immediately and enforced inheritency law is applied. again many thanks.

They could get frozen if someone goes to the bank with a set of documents. Otherwise the bank accounts could still be operated (e.g. by an authorised person) - because banks don't get automatically notified if a client of theirs passes away.

I am not married to my partner, if he leaves the property to me in his will. am i liable to inheritence tax.

many thanks Emil,

starlite wrote:

I am not married to my partner, if he leaves the property to me in his will. am i liable to inheritence tax.

Yes, you are, I am afraid. Civil partership is a brand new institute to Bulgarian law and it will take some time until it is fully incorporated in Bulgarian legislation.

Trifonov Law Offices wrote:

starlite wrote:

I am not married to my partner, if he leaves the property to me in his will. am i liable to inheritence tax.

Yes, you are, I am afraid. Civil partership is a brand new institute to Bulgarian law and it will take some time until it is fully incorporated in Bulgarian legislation.

Sorry to be negative, but if it takes as long to fully incorporate this new law, as it has done some of the old law's, then we could be in for a long wait

What is the rate of IHT

What is the rate of IHT

Bad boy Bryan no Three Letter Abbreviations please. Can you expand as not all of us know what this might mean

tonyb60 wrote:

What is the rate of IHT

Bad boy Bryan no Three Letter Abbreviations please. Can you expand as not all of us know what this might mean

[size=150:3clcdhgm]inheritence tax.

tonyb60 wrote:

What is the rate of IHT

Bad boy Bryan no Three Letter Abbreviations please. Can you expand as not all of us know what this might mean

:Howdy:Sorry Tony, I did forget you are in BG (Bulgaria, I've done it again) you see in Britain you will see IHT referred to by Lawyers, Government departments, Banks, Building Societies, Newspapers etc, even on a Google search, but I promise I won't be a bad boy again,
I will write Inheritance Tax next time

Three Letter Abbreviations (TLA's) have been banned in most Commerce and Industrial documentation for a long. long while. They are permitted if you do this in a document:- IHT (Inheritance Tax) then you can put IHT as many times as you like. Trouble is so many people lapse into TLA's thinking that they are clever or that they think that everybody knows what they are on about. I banned them in my little world may years ago, rather I should say my boss at the time did. He used to say that at least when someone read one of our documents there would be no confusion and to be honest I quite agree.

Sorry if I'm an old fuss pot, but that is me. Ask Ashley I moan at him as well :roll:

My lips are sealed

Emil, if you reside in bulgaria, are my uk assests protected by my uk will.

Looking at all the replies to this excellent post it would appear that some definitive information was made available somewhere in BG so that Brits know where they stand. I say this tongue in cheek but . . . "
would the British Embassy be of some use here"
- oops, sorry . . . . "
I will go and wash my mouth out."
You can be sure that if some nationalities were involved instead of the British that a way would have been found to work around this problem with Wills.

I'm not to sure its possible to get a definitive answer in Bulgaria about any law, it seems to me that the law depends on the region you are in and then it gets manipulated but your right its about time there was some answers to this problem and the the on here who is trying to help is doing his best and can I just say thank you to him for his help so far