Services
Will writing
A will that says exactly what you want, drafted and signed correctly. Signing is where wills most often fail, so we attend in person wherever possible. Where that is not practical we give you written signing instructions, oversee the signing by video call with your two witnesses physically present with you, and ask for a photograph of the signed document for the file. We can also arrange safe storage of the original.
Estate planning
Looking at your situation as a whole — property, pensions, savings, business, family — and planning ahead, with the tax consequences worked through before anything is signed. Families are not always simple. Where there is a broken relationship, an estranged child, a second marriage or a dependant who needs protecting, we listen, we give you guidance, and we explain the consequences of each choice before you make it.
Trusts and asset protection
Setting up and running trusts where they are the right tool: family trusts, discretionary trusts, protective property trusts. We tell you when they are not the right tool.
Lasting powers of attorney
Choosing who can act for you if you cannot act for yourself, and getting the documents registered. People assume their husband or wife can simply step in. They cannot: a spouse has no automatic right to act for you, and without a registered power the Court of Protection decides — slowly, and at a cost. This matters at every age, not only in later life.
Estate administration support
When someone has died, we help the executors through the work: valuing the estate, the inheritance tax forms, the estate accounts, dealing with the assets and distributing to the beneficiaries. You remain the executors; every document is signed by you. The application for the grant itself is made by you or through your solicitor, with us alongside, so nothing is done twice.
Guidance on tax and accounts
Tax is where estate planning most often goes wrong. Arrangements made to reduce inheritance tax can create income tax or capital gains tax problems that cost more than they save. We look at all three together, we look at what has already been done and at what is likely to come, and we explain the consequences before you commit to anything.
An example. A parent gives a rental property to their daughter to reduce inheritance tax. Because it has risen in value since it was bought, the gift triggers capital gains tax now — with no sale proceeds to pay it from. Had the property passed on death instead, the gain would have been wiped out and only inheritance tax would have applied. Or the other way round: pay the capital gains tax now at its lower rate, survive seven years, and the inheritance tax never arises at all. In the right circumstances a trust lets the gain be held over, so the family gets the inheritance tax saving without the capital gains bill today. Which route is right depends on the numbers, the timing and what the family actually wants — which is the conversation we have before anything is signed.
Illustration only, not advice.
We are estate planners. We are not tax advisers, accountants or solicitors, and we do not pretend to be. What we do is make the plan: the whole picture, the order to do things in, and the tax worked through before anything is signed. Where the plan needs a specialist — an accountant for the returns, a solicitor for the conveyancing or the grant — we say so in the plan and help you find one, so you pay for them where they are needed and not before. That is usually cheaper than starting with the specialist and hoping a plan emerges.