Wills, Probate & Lasting Powers of Attorney

Wills

Making a Will is probably the most important document you make during your lifetime. Your Will deals with where your estate passes after you die. Just as importantly, it can also deal with issues of guardianship, funeral wishes, gifting money or personal possessions and asset protection.

We will consider your individual needs and your circumstances and we advise you on your options and possible alternatives. Our service is bespoke,  which means you get advice that is tailored to you as opposed to simply inserting your wishes into a legal document.

We also offer related advice on property ownership, lifetime estate planning, and business succession planning if relevant to your circumstances.

Powers of Attorney – Specific, Lasting & Enduring

A Power of Attorney is a legal document which allows you to nominate a person (or more than one) to make decisions on your behalf.

You can grant one for a specific purpose, for example, to give authority to someone to sign paperwork on your behalf if you are on holiday or away on business, or it can be granted to be more general in nature. It can even continue if you lose mental capacity in the future due to accident or illness. These are called Lasting Powers of Attorney.

There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney; one covering Property and Financial decisions, and the other covering Health and Care decisions.

Entering into both types of lasting power of attorney ensures that all of your wishes in relation to your personal and business affairs and any health and welfare decisions are catered for, with you in control of what decisions can be made and by whom.

We will guide you through the process of deciding who to appoint and the different options available to you,  as well as explaining any restrictions or limitations on the authority you are giving. We will then prepare the legal document ready for signing.

Lasting Powers of Attorney must be registered before they are valid for use.  We deal with the registration on your behalf so that you can be sure that they are ready for use if ever needed, and as soon as needed.

Enduring Powers of Attorney, which could be created prior to 2007 but which were replaced by Lasting Powers of Attorney, remain valid although no new ones can be drafted, nor changes made. If you made an Enduring Power of Attorney, or you are appointed as an Attorney under an Enduring Power of Attorney and the person appointing you has or is losing mental capacity, you have a duty to apply to register the document. We can assist you with this process.

If you do not have an Enduring or a Lasting Power of Attorney and you lose mental capacity, your family/friends will have to make an application to Court for authority to take decisions on your behalf.  This is called Deputyship. It is a time consuming and costly process and one best avoided by taking steps now. However, if you find yourself in a position where you need to apply for Deputyship,  then we can assist you with this.

Probate & Estate administration

We deal with estates both where there is a Will and where a person died without a Will and we can  offer both a full estate administration service or an application only service to obtain a Grant of Probate for you. Each estate is very individual and therefore please contact us to discuss your circumstances and to arrange an initial consultation with one of our probate specialists.