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The Trusts, Wills and Estates team is one of the largest in Yorkshire, with a wealth of experience in all aspects of private client work. The team acts for a broad range of clients from across the region and the UK. We are able to assist clients with complex affairs, including advising on business and agricultural assets, foreign assets, and charitable trusts. Members of our team regularly act as trustees, attorneys and executors.
The team is ranked in band 1 in Chambers High Net Worth 2024, a key guide for the international private wealth market, both in the region and National Leaders (outside London) categories. The team is also top ranked by Legal 500 UK.
In July the team won the Chambers HNW Awards 2024 Out of London Practice of the Year category.
“The whole firm and their practitioners are thorough, commercially minded and client-focused.” Chambers HNW 2024
All solicitors in our team are members of the Society for Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) or are working towards STEP qualification.
We advise on the creation, administration and winding up of a wide variety of private trusts.
We work closely with trustees, beneficiaries, investment managers and other advisers to ensure that trusts are managed in the most appropriate and tax-efficient manner . Members of our team act as trustees for a number of large family trusts.
We can also set up and advise on charitable trusts.
We advise on, and prepare, Wills for a range of different clients, and can advise on the Will best suited to your own unique financial and family circumstances. Our Wills range from ‘straightforward’ documents to more complex Wills with inheritance tax-planning elements for clients with business, agricultural and international assets. We are experienced in providing advice on potentially sensitive family situations, including on the best way to structure a Will following divorce and remarriage.
A LPA allows you to appoint Attorney(s) to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself.
We can advise on and prepare LPAs for:
We advise on the use of LPAs, what an Attorney can and cannot do and we can help Attorneys manage financial affairs.
We can advise on and prepare applications for registration of LPAs and also their predecessor Enduring Powers of Attorney.
LPAs should be part of your financial and personal planning but are particularly relevant for those in advancing years, for business owners or those with property and/or financial interests.
We are also able to advise on, and make, applications to the Court of Protection for the appointment of a Deputy where a loved one becomes unable to manage their own finances without having put an LPA or EPA in place. We also regularly assist Court-appointed Deputies in carrying out their role.
The death of a loved one is a difficult time and we can offer you peace of mind that the administration of the estate will be dealt with promptly and sensitively by an experienced team. We offer a comprehensive range of services for families following a death.
We will guide you through the legal processes, whether or not there is a Will, and can manage the day-to-day management to inheritance tax advice and post-death variations. We will:
We also offer inheritance tax planning advice for estates and/or their related trusts, including post-death variations. We are able to advise on estates with cross-border elements and foreign assets as well as UK estates.
If you would like further information, please contact our Trusts, Wills and Estates team (see team details above).
For information on our charges for uncontested UK probate work please click here.