We can discuss with you whether you can use your Will to save inheritance tax, or whether a Trust would be appropriate for you.

This is a complex area of law and our Solicitors are experienced and attend frequent courses to keep up to date with the latest changes in the law.

We often work closely with your Financial Advisor as well as your Accountant so as to provide an all round service where you can achieve what you want with the best advice possible.

All of our specialist lawyers within the department are fully accredited members of Solicitors for the Elderly

Deeds of Variation

We are sometimes consulted by a client who has inherited money from an estate which they would like to pass on to somebody else. This can be a very effective inheritance tax planning tool and can often be used to pass money to the next generation who might need it more than you do.

There are special rules about the form a Deed of Variation takes, and it has to be done within two years of the death of the person from whom you have inherited. Sometimes notice has to be given to H.M. Revenue & Customs that the Deed has been made. We can advise you on all this and prepare the Deed for you.

We can help you with the process which is briefly explained below. The forms can be quite complicated and our job is to make it all as easy as possible. Being an Executor is a heavy responsibility and is full of traps and pitfalls for the unwary. Our job is to lighten your load and advise you about any pitfalls you might not be aware of, and tell you the best way to deal with any issues that arise.

For details of our fixed fee Probate Service please see here.

On a person’s death their Executors have a duty to establish the values of all the assets and liabilities in the estate, and they then in most estates have to apply for a Grant of Probate to the Probate Court. In many estates it is not necessary to complete the long tax form IHT400, but instead the short tax form IHT205 is sufficient. The Executors will also need to complete a Legal Statement, and if they are making a personal application instead of through Solicitors there are additional forms that they will need to complete.

Once the Grant of Probate is obtained the Executors can then collect in all the assets due to the estate and distribute them to the beneficiaries. Sometimes assets are realised, and sometimes they are simply transferred to the beneficiaries if that is possible.

If the estate has to pay inheritance then tax has to be paid at the time the IHT 400 is sent to H.M. Revenue & Customs, but sometimes not all the tax has to be found at the application stage.

Estate Administration

Acting as an Executor can be time consuming and complicated and can involve a considerable amount of work. Sometimes clients appoint us to act as executors, and on other occasions Executors will ask us to act on their behalf in dealing with an estate.

We can do as much or as little work as you want. In non tax paying estates we can obtain the Grant of Probate for the Executors and then leave them to administer the estate if that is what they want.

On other occasions our Executor clients will bring suitcases full of papers belonging to the person who has died which we have to sort out and we can deal with absolutely everything if that is what our clients want.

Please see details of our Estate Adminstration Prices here.

All of our specialist lawyers within the department are fully accredited members of Solicitors for the Elderly.

Intestacy Rules

If a person dies without making a Will they are what is known as intestate.

The law provides a set of rules for how a person’s estate should be divided up if they die without a Will and we can advise you on these rules.

If you are not sure about exactly what family the person who died had, then we can work with genealogists to make the necessary enquiries so that you can be quite sure the estate is distributed in the proper way.

Where there is an intestacy, instead of obtaining a Grant of Probate the person entitled has to apply for a Grant of Letters of Administration. Unlike Probate where the authority of the Executors originally comes from the Will, the authority of an Administrator comes from the Grant of Letters of Administration.

Where there are several people who have an equal right to deal with the administration of the estate of somebody who has died, then it is the first person who applies for the Grant of Letters of Administration who becomes the person legally entitled to deal with it. For example, if a person dies leaving no husband or wife and four children, then any one or more of the children can apply for the Grant of Letters of Administration.

A Trust is an arrangement whereby the Trustees (who are the legal owners of the property) hold property for the benefit of specified people (the beneficiaries).

Creating a Trust in your Will or in your lifetime is a way of giving money to the people you want to have it, while at the same time making sure that it is looked after by the people you choose to be Trustees who can then let the beneficiaries have income or capital in a controlled way in accordance with your wishes.

If you create a lifetime Trust, depending on its terms you can usually be a Trustee yourself so that you are one of the people who can make decisions.

The Trustees have a legal duty to manage the assets properly for the benefit of the beneficiaries.

We are experienced in advising whether or not a Trust is appropriate in your situation, and we can give you as much or as little help as you want with setting up and running the Trust and bringing it to an end.

It is important that you get the right tax advice whether you are a person intending to create a Trust or you are a Trustee, and we can help with that.

Whatever your reason for needing a Trust, we can advise you on Discretionary Trusts, Immediate Post Death Interest Trusts, Interest in Possession Trusts and Settlor Interested Trusts.

People often put off making Wills for all sorts of reasons, but it is a simple and painless process which does not cost much and which will enable you to say what you want to happen to your assets after your death. You may think that you do not have enough money to need a Will, but once you have added up the value of your house, car, personal possessions, savings and insurance policies as well as any investments you have you will realise that you have more than you think. Irrespective of your financial position you should always make a Will if you have children under the age of 18.

If you contact us about making a Will:

• We will meet you face to face to discuss exactly what it is that you want and what your circumstances are.
• We will advise you about how to achieve your objectives and tell you if inheritance tax planning is relevant or if a Trust might be appropriate in your Will.
• We will help you decide who should be the Executors of your Will.
• We will prepare your Will in draft and send it to you together with any written advice that may be necessary.
• We will deal with any queries you may have and amend the draft Will as necessary until it is exactly what you want.
• We will then see you in order for you to sign the Will at our offices to make sure that it is witnessed in the correct legal manner.
• We will then store your Will for you at no cost in our secure Will storage facility if you wish to take advantage of this and will provide a copy for your records.

Whether your affairs are complicated or simple we can prepare a Will to suit you and we will make the process as easy for you as possible.

We offer fixed fees for simple Wills . Please contact us for further information.

People’s family and domestic arrangements have become more complicated in recent years, and it is not unusual for part of the family to feel very unhappy about what has happened.

Challenging a Will can be upsetting, and we are used to dealing with disputes involving estates and Wills in a sensitive manner, and in resolving such disputes as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

Disputes can arise in all sorts of circumstances, but the following are the ones we come across most frequently:

• The person who died was not mentally capable of making a Will
• The person who died was pressurised to make their Will.
• The Will does not provide for a person who should have been provided for (for example an unmarried partner or a young child)
• Poor administration of an estate or a Trust.
• Resolving disputes between Executors, or between Executors and beneficiaries.

Lauren Sayer, our Head of Litigation, specialises in dealing with these types of disputes. It is a complex area of law and Lauren can help you to resolve the problem and if at all possible to settle it without the need for Court Proceedings. They will talk to you at the beginning about costs and the likely financial implications of the options available to you.

An LPA is a document which authorises somebody else to do things on your behalf. It need not be used until either it is needed or you want it to be used. However, if you own your house either on your own or jointly with someone else, or you have any investments or pensions or other assets in your name, if you had an accident or if you became very ill or confused, what would happen to everything in your name? Nobody would have any automatic authority to deal with these things, not even your partner.

If you make a Property and Affairs LPA you will authorise the person(s) that you choose to do things on your behalf in relation to your property and finances. It can be drafted to cover as much of your affairs as you want it to or just one particular item. It can give as much authority or as little as you want.

If you make a Health and Welfare LPA you will authorise the person(s) that you choose to make decisions about your healthcare and welfare.  This includes decisions to refuse or consent to treatment on your behalf and even deciding where you live.Contrary to popular belief your spouse, if you are married or in a civil partnership, does not have an automatic right to make decisions regarding your health and welfare if you are no longer mentally capable of doing so yourself. If you have not made a Health and Welfare LPA and you lose mental capacity then it is the State that decides whether you should go into Long Term Care or what treatment you should have

If you make an LPA and then change your mind afterwards it is possible to take it back or “revoke” it.

You may have been asked to act as an Attorney for somebody else. There are strict legal rules about how you make decisions for another person, and we can advise you on these.