Your Will is a legal document drafted and signed in your lifetime which allows you to decide what happens to your belongings after your death. You also decide who deals with your estate.

No matter what age you are, if you die without having made a Will, which is also known as dying intestate, your Estate will be distributed in accordance with a set of statutory rules, which may mean that assets pass to someone who you do not want to benefit.

We recommend that you review your Will with us every 3 to 5 years to make sure that it still reflects your wishes and you are aware of any changes in the law in relation to Inheritance Tax.

Our team can assist with lifetime Trusts and Trusts set up in your Will.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that enables an individual (the ‘donor’) to appoint one or more people (known as ‘attorneys’ or ‘donees’) to make decisions on their behalf. Your LPAs can cover both your Health and Welfare decisions and property and financial decisions. It’s recommended to prepare LPAs whilst you have capacity so you decide who you trust to make such decisions. Without LPAs, if you lost capacity, your loved ones’ only choice is to apply for a Deputyship order which can be costly and time consuming.

Our specialist Private Client solicitors can advise you on preparing your LPAs, assist you with the signing process and successfully register your LPAs with the court.

A Deputy is appointed by the Court of Protection following an application and has the role of supporting an individual who no longer has the mental capacity to make decisions, and therefore, is unable to make LPAs.

Successful applications

An application for appointment as a deputy is usually made by a spouse, partner, relative, close friend or solicitor. The applicant must be over 18. Once appointed by the court the Deputy will be fully accountable to the Court of Protection and must act in the best interests of their friend or relative (“the patient”) at all times.

Duties of a Deputy

Once appointed a Deputy, the decisions you will be responsible for depend on the powers granted to you in the Deputyship order.

Our Private Client team will assist you with the administration of estates and trusts, including applying for a Grant (of Probate or Administration) if required.

If you are appointed Executor under a Will you can try to deal with the administration of the estate yourself or you can ask us to do the work. This will relieve you of the administrative burden, which can often be daunting. Where there is no Will, we can help you establish who is entitled to administer the estate.

We will do as much or as little of the work as you wish. It is important to understand that the burden placed on an Executor is to make sure an estate is wound up according to the terms of the deceased’s Will and the law. This means collecting in all the assets, paying all the liabilities, including tax where appropriate, and paying out to the beneficiaries.

A full accounting record should be kept and “Estate Accounts” produced at the end of the administration. We have dedicated IT software which deals with these requirements. Please understand that this is not something which can be done on the back of an envelope.

In certain circumstances, it may be possible to alter the wishes of the someone who has died if everyone who benefits from the Will agrees. This is called a Deed of Variation and it must be completed within 2 years of death.

Some common reasons for doing so include:

• More efficient tax planning.

• Provision of equality among beneficiaries.

We consider it to be absolutely essential that proper legal advice is taken as soon as possible if this is being considered.