Private Client Services

Whether you have a little or a lot, our experience and expertise will help you manage your money and assets to put your affairs in order as tax efficiently as possible.

The peace of mind brought about by knowing that have put your affairs in order is immeasurable. By ensuring that you have a valid Will in place in the event of your death and that you have appointed trusted people to act on your behalf if you become physically or mentally incapacitated, you can rest assured that your loved ones will not be left with any difficulties later on in life. If you have accumulated some wealth during your lifetime, you are likely to want to preserve that wealth for the benefit of the next generation and our expert advice can assist you to achieve this.

We can advise on:

Making a Will;
Making a Lasting Power of Attorney;
Creating a lifetime trust to protect property and other assets for children;
Inheritance Tax and ways in which you might reduce your tax bill;
Declarations of Trust to protect unequal contributions when buying property;
Probate to sort out the estate of a loved one who has died.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS.

If you live together but are not married, your partner will inherit your estate on your death. Sadly, no matter how long you might have lived with your partner, they will not automatically benefit from your estate. You must put in place a Will to make sure they receive what you intend.
If you are married, there is no need for a Will because your spouse will inherit everything. If you die without a Will, your estate is distributed according to statutory rules known as the Intestacy Rules. These do make provision for a spouse but not necessarily over everything you leave, depending on value and how the assets are owned. It can mean an estate is split between a spouse and young children who inherit at 18, which is usually far from ideal. Making a Will means you have control over who benefits from your estate.
If you become physically or mentally incapacitated, your partner/spouse will be able to manage your financial affairs. Unless you own assets jointly with your partner/spouse, they will not be able to manage your financial affairs for you if you cannot do this yourself. You need to put in place a Lasting Power of Attorney to nominate them to do this and perhaps also a replacement, if they cannot act for you for whatever reason.

If you become mentally incapacitated, your unmarried partner can speak to the doctors about your care. An unmarried partner has no legal right to give instructions on your behalf to your medical team with a legal authority. If a decision is required about life sustaining treatment for you, your partner will not be able to make this decision. You need to put in place a Lasting Power of Attorney to ensure that your preferred loved ones can make these decisions on your behalf.
If you have children from an earlier relationship and a new partner/spouse, it is too complicated for provide for everyone as you intend. This is a very common situation these days and can easily be managed in your Will.
If you get married or divorced, there is no impact on your Will. If you get married, any Will you have in place is automatically revoked by that marriage. This can be fairly disastrous, however, it can easily be managed by adjusting your Will to accommodate your change in circumstances. On divorce, your ex-spouse is considered as having died before you but the rest of the Will still stands.
If any of the above issues affect you, please get in touch and we can help you resolve them.

What do we cost?

We take a flexible approach to our costs; and the fee structure of each instruction is case-specific.

We are more than happy to discuss our costs options on an informal basis.

Private Client Services