New statistics about wills in the UK
Wills by nature are not something people think a lot about and are often associated with the elderly. Recent research carried out by Royal London, YouGov, IRN Research and Orchard has revealed some interesting statistics about wills. Here are some of the most striking statistics: 5.4 million…
Dealing with Social Media Estates and Digital Assets
Dealing with a social media estates and digital assets Dealing with a deceased person’s estate involves gathering in their assets and distributing them in accordance with their will. If there is no will the ‘rules of intestacy’ apply. Finding out what assets a person had used to…
Probate Fee Increases – are they really just a sneaky stealth tax?
The government’s recent announcement to increased probate fees has drawn significant criticism from many parties. Andrew Milburn, Head of our Probate and Estate Administration department discusses why. What are Probate Fees? Probate Fees are fees payable to the Probate Registry when an application…
How can you plan to make things easier for your family and loved ones
If you are no longer able to make life decisions for yourself a Lasting Power of Attorney makes life easier for your family or loved ones. There are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorney: Lasting Power of Attorney – Property and financial affairs This type of Lasting Power of Attorney deals…
Wills
Probate is a topic many of us don’t know about until we have to deal with it on a personal basis. My clients frequently ask me these common probate questions that I have put into a useful FAQ blog. Is my Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) still a valid document? Yes. Any old EPA documents are…
Mental incapacity crisis in UK
A new report from the SFE (Solicitors for the Elderly) and Centre for Future Studies has recently revealed that the UK is leaving medical and care decisions to chance. The report looks at the ever-increasing number of people living with dementia. This, combined with the failure to plan ahead for…
How a Lasting Power of Attorney works to protect your future
We would all hope we will be able to make our own independent decisions in the future. Unfortunately for many of us that will not be the case. A Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to appoint people you trust to make decisions for you when you are no longer able to yourself. How does a Lasting…
Dealing with a loved ones estate - where do I start?
Dealing with matters when a loved one has died can be an extremely difficult and overwhelming. In terms of their estate, there can be quite a lot to organise and consider. As a result, this can seem like a very daunting experience. Many clients in such situations approach us asking what probate is…
Discretionary Trusts
Setting up a trust is a safe way of protecting your money for the future. However, there are many different types of trusts available. Which one should you choose? What are the differences between them all? Kathryn Busfield from our Wills, Probate and Trusts department explains what a Discretionary…
Challenging a will part 2: Proprietary estoppel
Following on from my recent article concerning ways of challenging a will, this article will focus on making a claim in proprietary estoppel. This is a different way for a disgruntled beneficiary to challenge a will or estate. Many proprietary estoppel cases relate to family disputes over farms,…
