News / 18.03.2020 Lasting Powers of Attorney If you are concerned as to what would happen if you lost mental capacity and who would make decisions on your behalf, then you should consider making Lasting Powers of Attorney to cover both property... Read More

News / 16.03.2020 My Will has a nil rate band discretionary trust in it, should I change it? In 2007 the law changed so that the nil rate band could be transferred on the first death to the surviving spouse. Prior to the law change, any assets that were left to a surviving spouse were exempt... Read More

News / 02.03.2020 Want to avoid challenges to your Will? Your Will could be challenged after your death by a disappointed family member, possibly under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975, or because your Will was incorrectly si... Read More

News / 03.02.2020 Deputyship: an overview If a person loses the ability to make decisions for themselves and they have not already made Lasting Powers of Attorney, then the only option is for someone to apply to the Court for a Deputyship Ord... Read More

News / 03.12.2019 What happens to your digital assets when you die? Increasingly we are moving our lives online. More and more of the things that are of value to us are being stored digitally. Photographs and videos are stored on the cloud, we stream music and videos... Read More

News / 14.10.2019 Simultaneous deaths: protecting your family A question that is often asked by clients is “what happens to our estate if we die together”. People never die at the exact same moment in terms of the law for succession purposes. The com... Read More

News / 01.10.2019 Why cohabitees should make a Will According to the Office of National Statistics the number of cohabiting families has grown by 25.8% in the last decade. In 2018 they made up nearly a fifth of the 19.1 million families in the UK. ... Read More

News / 16.09.2019 Charitable Giving Everyone will be familiar with ‘gift aid’ and there are various other income tax and capital gains tax incentives for giving to charities during your lifetime, such as payroll giving and d... Read More

News / 16.09.2019 My partner & I own everything jointly, do we really need to make Wills? There are two legal principles that can have important unintended results when you die without making a Will – especially if you are married/civil partnership. The first is one that you are pro... Read More

News / 10.09.2019 100 Years of Women in Law - Deborah Escott-Watson 2019 marks 100 years since women were able to qualify as solicitors. In 1919 the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act came into force and so paved the way for women to be admitted into the legal profess... Read More

News / 13.06.2019 R.E.S.P.E.C.T my Will NINE months after soul singer Aretha Franklin died, three Wills have been located at her home. After her family thought that she had died intestate (with no Will) this should have been a welcome disco... Read More

News / 01.05.2019 Probate Court Fee Rise Back in the summer of 2017 I was warning of the turmoil which would be brought in by the proposed extortionate rise in probate court fees. Thankfully this rise did not happen and the fees remained at... Read More