Private Client

Controversial court fees which have been branded a stealth tax on bereaved families are expected to prompt a surge in probate applications before the hike hits. The new banded fee structure will see the cost of probate soar by thousands of pounds for higher value estates. The current flat fee is £215 for a personal application for probate, or £155 when handled through a solicitor, but this is to be replaced by a tiered set of fees. While the fees have been reined in from the original proposal last year,…

The message is slowly starting to get through to the public – making a will is an important life decision that could save your relatives a great deal of heartache once you’ve gone. You can express your wishes, designate who gets what, and that’s the end of it. Or is it? Legal research has reported that the number of disputed wills has shot up in the last couple of years, from 116 in 2015 to 158 in 2016. That may not seem like a high number, but it represents nearly…

Interview with Ali Ebrahim of our Private Client department Q:   Ali, how long have you been at Bowling & Co Solicitors? A:    I have been here at Bowling & Co for 9 years Q:   Is it true that a lot of adults in the UK do not have a Will? A:   That's correct, statistics show that 7 out of 10 UK adults do not have a Will. Q:   Is it difficult to make a Will? A:   No. We make it easy at Bowling & Co by sending a Wills…

High profile inheritance disputes follow celebrities and the super-rich as surely as night follows day, but such challenges are becoming increasingly common, whatever the values involved. Some of the names to have made headlines include the artist Salvador Dali, whose body was exhumed last year for a DNA test after a woman claimed to be his daughter and entitled to a share of his $1bn estate. Former South African President Nelson Mandela left the bulk of his estate to his current wife, but his late ex-wife Winnie challenged the will,…

The last thing you want to think about when you’re mourning the passing of a loved one is divvying up the estate (including the taxman’s cut). However, because of the rise in value of property in the UK, more people are finding that they fall into the inheritance tax bracket, and are getting hit with an inheritance tax bill they were not expecting. What is inheritance tax? It’s exactly what it says – a tax on the estate (including property, possessions and any money) of a deceased person. Thresholds are…

October 2014 saw the biggest changes in probate law’s history come into effect. While the overhaul meant no real difference to those with minimal assets, for the partners of those who died without making a will and who have more assets, it meant significant change. In the cases where a Will is involved, the deceased’s Executors have the legal power to distribute their estate according to the deceased’s instructions. However, in the case of intestacy, the landscape is vastly more complicated. Who can Inherit? Under the rules of Intestacy, only…

Dealing with the death of a loved one is hard enough. However, there are still practical considerations to deal with, including making sure that the last wishes of the deceased are taken care of. If a person has written a Will then it will be up to the executor to make sure those wishes are carried out according to the specifications of the Will (as long as it is correctly completed in accordance with the law). To do this, an executor will need to obtain a Grant of Probate. This will let…

When thinking of making a will, the idea of a Victorian lawyer taking down the last instructions at the bedside still springs to mind for many people. And the 19th century lawyer would find things pretty much as they were if they time travelled to 2017, but a major change to how people can say what should happen after their death is likely to happen soon. If the proposals from the Law Commission get the go ahead, the law is likely to catch up with technology, and in future we…

Dealing with death is never an easy thing to do. However, it is important to have the essentials in place from the outset to ensure that the process of obtaining probate is as smooth as possible. Probate is the process of proving a Will by the executors who are identified in the Will and more specifically, gives the people who are dealing with the estate the authority to deal with the deceased person’s assets. Obtaining probate when there is a Will is by way of Grant of Probate, also commonly…