Wills

Experienced and discreet: We have extensive experience in handling a broad range of wills from the more straight-forward to the highly complex, with the utmost confidentiality and sensitivity.

Bespoke solutions: We take the time to listen and understand your circumstances, goals, and family dynamics, tailoring our services to meet your specific needs.

Proactive planning: We believe in anticipating potential challenges and developing strategies to address them proactively, providing peace of mind for you and your family.

Long-term relationships: Writing your will is part of building a trusted, long-term relationship with you, offering ongoing guidance as your life evolves.

Collaborative approach: We work seamlessly with your existing financial advisors and accountants to ensure a unified approach to your wealth management and how it is best passed down to future generations.

We advise on all aspects of will drafting and issues that affect wills, such as:

• dealing with the needs of the modern family
• handling difficult family circumstances
• wills for high-net-worth and high-profile individuals
• estate planning
• wills for the elderly
• statutory wills
• tax efficient wills and use of the nil-rate-band
• wills and marriage or civil partnership
• wills leaving specific legacies to pilot trusts
• dealing with property in France
• the effect of the Finance Act 2006 and subsequent Finance Acts on will drafting
• use of our trust corporation Russell-Cooke Trust Company which is available to act as professional executors
• wills for entrepreneurs and the owners of family businesses

Our team

Our specialist team offers a broad range of expertise to meet your needs no matter how complex.

We are particularly well regarded for our expertise in international issues for wills, international tax, succession and asset management matters.

Many of our team are members of national professional organisations such as the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and The Association of Lifetime Lawyers. 

Our approach

We work closely with other specialist lawyers including our French law team and Italian law team to provide seamless advice on matters such as:

• inheritance tax,
• succession planning,
• capacity,
• trusts and
• international estates. 

We know that we are often instructed at difficult times to deal with sensitive matters and understand the importance of giving clear, timely and practical advice.

It’s also a good idea to review your will every few years (and immediately after a life event such as marriage) to make sure it still says what you want it to say.

What has changed in your life?

Since you wrote your will, what has changed in your life?

• Married, remarried, separated, widowed, divorced
• Had children or grandchildren
• Someone new in your life whom you might want to add to your will
• Death in the family, or of a beneficiary or executor
• An executor has become unsuitable to act eg. due to age or ill
• Health changed or a move abroad
• Made reference in your will to an asset which you have since sold or has changed in nature
• Changes to your financial situation
• You own assets or property in a foreign jurisdiction
• The value of your assets has increased and you need inheritance tax advice
• A beneficiary has become disabled or is vulnerable
• You run your own business
• Considering retirement or recently retired

If you wish at any time to make a new will or revoke or alter an existing will, please contact us.

Our experienced team is able to help you with any uncertainty over your current will or if you have any estate planning or tax queries.

Here are some comments made about us.

We charge based on time spent dealing with your matter at our hourly rates.

Once we have the relevant information from you, an idea on what you would like in your will and have advised you as to the appropriate provisions to include, we’ll l provide an estimate of costs which includes:

• an initial meeting,
• the will drafting,
• a detailed letter of explanation to you identifying the key terms and confirming our advice,
• a further brief meeting at our offices to sign and witness the will
• and storage of the will in our safe.

Any additional work involved in completing the will (such as multiple meetings and/or amendments) may result in an additional charge on the basis of time spent and the seniority and experience of personnel involved.

The initial estimate of likely legal costs will be updated if your requirements or the circumstances of the work change.