Wills and Probate

In the final part of our series on tax, estate and lifetime planning for business owners, we look at estate planning considerations for business owners and how they can ensure that their business continues to thrive while their beneficiaries reap the rewards.

In Part 2 of our series on tax, estate and lifetime planning for business owners, we look at ways that business owners can effectively plan for tax, making use of the tax reliefs and exemptions available to them.

Business owners understandably struggle to consider their personal estate planning when they are so focused on the day-to-day running of their business. Many are also unfamiliar with the interaction between their personal estate planning documents and their company’s constitutional documents.

Trusts can be a powerful tool to address a range of issues that can arise in estate planning.  In this blog, we are going to identify some of those circumstances and discuss how a trust can help with them.  Our focus will not be on tax planning here, but rather on the circumstances of the people you want to benefit.

Child Trust Funds were set up by the government for children born between 2002 and 2011 as a way of providing them with money when they turn 18. However, as many children with these accounts now reach this age, the families of those with disabilities and special educational needs are finding it both costly and time-consuming to access their accounts.

We are pleased to announce that Rothera Bray’s Private Client and Contentious Probate teams have teamed up with The University of Law’s  Will, Trust and Estate Disputes (WTED) advice helpline to help  members of the public who suffer from financial hardship to access free legal advice.

The UK government have recently announced that the Statutory Legacy – the fixed sum that a surviving spouse or civil partner is entitled to receive from the estate where their partner has died intestate, or without making a valid Will, and has also left surviving children – will increase on 26th July 2023 from £270,000 to £322,000. 

Last week marked Action for Brain Injury Week. The annual event, run by charity Headway, aims to raise awareness of all aspects of brain injuries.

Rothera Bray’ specialist deputyship team act for a significant number of clients with brain injuries – supporting those clients and their families – but what does it mean in practice to act as a professional deputy?

In the latest instalment of our blog series on trusts, we look at the most common question we get asked about trusts: will they protect my assets from care home fees?

The Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017 is a relatively new law, which came into force in 2019.

The Act introduced much-needed legislation to allow the appointment of a guardian for property and financial affairs of a missing person.

Trusts can be a highly effective way of providing for your family or others you care about. A trust can help protect your assets and guarantee that your loved ones have financial stability for their future. A trust can also help alleviate and mitigate inheritance tax.

The Association of Lifetime Lawyers have launched Update Your Will Week, a campaign running from 23rd to 29th January to encourage more people to update their Will and ensure their final wishes are carried out, as research from the membership body shows the East Midlands has the highest number of out-of-date wills of any region in the UK.