Help Guides
Here you’ll find some of our frequently requested help guides. We review and add to this list from time to time. If you are looking for information on a topic that isn’t covered here, please feel free to contact us.
Acting as a Deputy: Your Powers and Duties Explained – Property & Finance
If you are named as a Deputy in an Order from the Court of Protection, then you will be required to make decisions about the affairs of a friend or family member.
Acting as an Attorney: Your Powers and Duties Explained
If you are named as an Attorney in a Lasting Power of Attorney, then you may be required to make decisions about the affairs of a friend or family member.
Advance Decisions and Statements
Often known as ‘living wills’, Advance Decisions and Advance Statements allow you to set out your wishes for any life-sustaining medical treatment you may receive in the future.
Appointing a Guardian: What is a Guardian and why do I need to appoint one?
When you write a Will, in addition to recording your wishes for your estate in the event of your death, you will also be able to appoint a legal guardian your children.
Appointing a Professional Attorney in your LPA(s)
Attorneys have to make very complex decisions about another person’s finances or health and welfare. Because of this, you may wish to consider appointing a professional to carry out the role.
Appointing Executors and Trustees
It’s important to carefully consider who to appoint as an executor or trustee in your Will, as the people you choose will have to carry out vital legal responsibilities.
Appointing Professional Executors and Trustees
There are a number of ways in which appointing a professional to administer your estate or trust can be helpful.
Arranging a Funeral Yourself
Many people choose to use the services of a funeral director when planning an end-of-life celebration. However, there’s no legal requirement to do so and you may decide to arrange the funeral yourself.
Bank Account Fraud: What it is and How to Avoid it
Bank account fraud occurs when your bankcard or account information has been stolen, either as a direct result of identity theft or by other means.
Changing your name by Deed Poll
Bank account fraud occurs when your bankcard or account information has been stolen, either as a direct result of identity theft or by other means.
Dealing with an Insolvent Estate
An estate is considered to be insolvent if its debts and liabilities are larger than its assets.
Deeds of Variation
If you have received an inheritance in a Will but believe it would be better if it went to someone else instead, you can surrender your share by making a Deed of Variation.
Deprivation of Assets: Local Authority Care and Support
If you or a loved one require residential care, the local authority will carry out an assessment of your assets to determine what financial support you will be entitled to.
Digital Assets: What Are They and What Happens to Them on Death?
Digital assets can make up a significant part of a person’s estate, but they are often not fully understood. This help guide explains what digital assets are, and what happens to them after someone dies.
Discretionary Trusts
A discretionary trust is a flexible trust under which no beneficiary has an automatic right to receive assets.
Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Decisions: Understanding your rights
Decisions over whether resuscitation should be attempted (DNR decisions) can be particularly overwhelming for patients and their loved ones.
DWP Claims on Estates: What Are They and Why Have I Received One?
When someone who received means-tested benefits dies, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) might ask for information about their estate.
Estates and Probate: An Introduction
When someone dies, the process of administering their estate will typically fall to their loved ones. This is a big responsibility and needs to be managed with care.
EU Succession Regulation
If you have a connection with any EU member states that have signed up to the EU Succession Regulation, this may affect what happens to your estate when you die.
Excluding Someone From Your Will: Can They Still Claim From Your Estate?
Under the IPFDA 1975, certain people are able to bring a claim in court against the estate of a person who has died.
Executor Expenses: What Can You Claim and How Much?
If you have been appointed as an executor, you have the right to claim reasonable expenses back from the estate.
Giving Assets Away
Many people consider passing on significant assets to their children or loved ones during their lifetime, but it’s important to be aware of the legal and tax implications of doing this.
How Do I Become a Deputy?: What is a Deputy and how can they help elderly or vulnerable people?
Deputies are appointed by the Court of Protection and are given legal authority to make decisions on behalf of a vulnerable person.
Jointly Owned Property
Under a Joint Tenancy, each owner has an indivisible share in the property, meaning that each owner is equally entitled to the whole of the property.
Lasting Powers of Attorney
If you are named as an Attorney in a Lasting Power of Attorney, then you may be required to make decisions about the affairs of a friend or family member.
Lasting Powers of Attorney: Should I Replace my Enduring Power of Attorney?
If you made an Enduring Power of Attorney before they were replaced with Lasting Powers of Attorney in 2007, you may wish to consider whether it’s still valid.
Lasting Powers of Attorney: Special considerations for business owners
If you own a business, there are a range of special considerations to keep in mind when making a Lasting Power of Attorney.
Life Interest Trusts: Planning for Care Home Fees – Protecting Your Property and Assets
We advise many clients when it comes to planning for the future. One recurring theme concerns care home costs, and how these might be met.
Life Interest Trusts: Second and Subsequent Marriages – Protecting Property and Assets for Your Children
One recurring theme concerns how best to protect children from
losing their inheritance, if a spouse or partner remarries, or enters
into a new relationship, after the first spouse or partner has died.
Looking After Your Pets in Your Will: What Are the Options?
You often hear stories of cats or dogs inheriting fortunes but, in England and Wales, at least, it is impossible to leave money to your pet.
Making a Will
Making a Will lets you decide what happens to your money, property, and possessions after your death.
Mental Capacity: What is it and how does it relate to you?
Mental capacity is a measure of someone’s ability to make a decision for themselves. If someone close to you loses this, it can be very difficult to deal with.
Missing Persons Guardianship: Looking After the Property and Financial Affairs of a Missing Person
Guardianship allows certain people to apply to the courts to be granted permission to deal with a missing person’s finances and property. This is also known as ‘Claudia’s Law’.
Personal Injury Trusts: What You Need to Know
There are many challenges to face if you have been seriously injured
in an accident. Besides working to get your life back on track,
difficulties can arise from taking legal action for compensation.
Powers of Attorney v Deputyship Orders: What’s the Difference?
Powers of Attorney and Deputyship Orders both give people the legal authority to act and make decisions on behalf of someone who has lost mental capacity.
Powers of Attorney: Are Attorneys Entitled to See the Donor’s Will?
Wills are confidential documents that are usually only made public after someone’s death. However, if you have been named as an Attorney on someone’s behalf, you might believe it is necessary for you to see that person’s Will.
Presumption of Death: When and How is a Missing Person Legally Presumed Dead?
In certain circumstances, the loved ones of a missing person can apply to the court for a Declaration of Presumed Death in order to achieve closure and administer the missing person’s estate.
Reducing Your Inheritance Tax
Understanding how inheritance tax works can help you take steps to reduce the amount that your estate may have to pay.
Registering Enduring Powers of Attorney
An Enduring Power of Attorney must be registered when the person who made it begins to lose mental capacity.
Searching for a Will: How to Find out Whether Your Loved One Made a Valid Will
If you can’t find a loved one’s Will after their death – or if you’re not sure whether they made one at all – there are steps you can take to investigate this.
Setting up Home with your Partner: Legal considerations for cohabitees
While moving in with your partner is an exciting time, there are considerations to keep in mind in order to protect your rights in the future.
Statutory Wills: What Are They and When Might You Need to Make One?
A Statutory Will is a Will made by the Court of Protection on behalf of someone who is unable to make one themselves because they lack the required mental capacity.
The Residence Nil Rate Band: What it is and How it Could Help You
You can reduce the amount of inheritance tax that is payable by making the most of various tax-saving provisions. One of these provisions is the Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB).
The STEP Provisions in Your Will
STEP Provisions give the executors of your Will several technical and routine provisions and powers to help them administer your estate correctly.
Trust and Estate Registration: What must be registered and why?
Trustees and personal representatives of certain estates face new obligations under the new registration service.
Trust and Tax Implications of Your Will
Inheritance tax is a tax payable on your assets after your death. Any provisions you make in your Will may have implications on the tax liability of your estate.
Trusts: A Detailed Guide
Trusts can be useful tools in a variety of situations. If you have explored different ways of providing for the future of your loved ones, you will have undoubtedly come across trusts
Valuing Property and Personal Possessions for Probate
When you apply for probate on behalf of an estate, you will need to value the estate and submit a full valuation to HMRC.
What Happens After You’ve Completed Your IHT400 Form?
The information you have provided on the IHT400 form will enable HMRC to calculate whether any inheritance tax is due and, if so, how much.
Where am I Domiciled for Tax Purposes?
Discretionary domicile is a concept used by the courts to determine which country’s tax laws should apply to individuals with links to more than one country.
Witness Statements and Being a Witness in a Dispute
If you have information related to a civil case, you may be asked to provide evidence. This might be by providing a witness statement or even by being asked to attend court.