Women in Wills first meeting of 2021
The Women in Wills group will meet for the first time this year on Thursday 28 January 2021 at 4pm. The group has gone from strength to strength during lockdown, and are looking forward to starting the new year with a bang. The first meeting of the year will begin with a panel discussion identifying […]
Legacy Futures new group dedicated to growing legacy giving
Legacy Foresight, Legacy Link and Legacy Voice have joined forces to form a new fundraising consultancy group, Legacy Futures. Legacy Futures is a specialist group of consultancies, dedicated to helping charities worldwide harness the transformative power of gifts in Wills and gifts In Memory. Legacy Futures will be led by a management team including Ashley […]
Friends Legal partners with Today’s Wills and Probate
A Scottish legal firm has launched a new, fixed cost private-client service to deal with legal side of death. They are also the first Scottish firm to become a partner with Today’s Wills and Probate. Friends Legal has launched their new By Your Side brand to tackle what it said was the “often crippling cost of afterlife […]
Man mistakenly throws away digital assets worth over £200m
A story which highlights the importance of recording digital assets sees a man mistakenly throw away his hard drive in 2013 with Bitcoin now worth more than £210 million. In a bid to recover the fortune, James Howells from Newport has appealed to the council for permission to search the city’s landfill site. The 35-year-old […]
Free webinar with The Law Society’s Ian Bond and Taylor Fawcett’s Sarah Arundel
The Law Society’s Ian Bond, Head of Wills & Estates at Thursfields, talks key legislation changes with Taylor Fawcett’s Sarah Arundel in this free interactive webinar hosted by Fraser and Fraser. As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic the professional life for private client practitioners is different. There has been a need to adjust many […]
Pension Schemes Bill heading for signed royal assent
The Pension Schemes Bill has been passed in the House of Lords and will now be winging its way to the Queen for signed royal assent to become law. Pensions minister Guy Opperman says the move will deliver pensions that are “safer, better and greener”. The bill was been going back and forth through parliament […]
Fraser and Fraser free webinar: ‘The four common issues in Estate Administration – and how to fix them’
Fraser and Fraser welcome 5 Stone Buildings barrister Hugh Cumber back, following his highly-praised webinar ‘Reviewing the year in Contentious Probate’ at the end of 2020. At 12:30pm on January 28th 2021, Hugh will present ‘The four common issues in Estate Administration – and how to fix them’. The webinar is free to attend. Register […]
Bereaved family manages to trace Will thanks to Beswicks Legal and Certainty Will Search
Relocating to a different part of the country can cause real problems for families when their loved ones pass away. Trying to trace which firm of solicitors holds the deceased’s Will when they are based in an area that is unfamiliar to you, can seem a daunting task and without the Will, the deceased’s wishes […]
Unclaimed Asset Search guru Bruce Cane explains how easy it is to find ‘lost’ assets
It is estimated that £200bn is left in limbo following the death of loved ones each year. The money can be in a bank account, part of a pension scheme or even in the form of stocks and shares. Many people don’t know these assets exist, and after a prolonged period of time, the money […]
Too early to think about PII renewals?
Our ‘Technical Corner’ brings you information that will help you to continue to grow and develop in your career. This month’s technical corner article comes from Paul Saunders, Managing Director at Legal Eye If you have any questions for our panel of experts, please submit them using the contact form below. We will publish the […]
Latest HMCTS update on online probate services
Today’s Wills and Probate caught up with the Probate Office to get an update on the progress made since the mandatory roll out of online applications at the start of November last year. Last month we gave an insight into the probate office a month after it was officially made mandatory for probate professionals to […]
Covid-19 only encouraged 4% to make Wills
The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly had some knock on consequences, but with record numbers of death, we were also seeing an influx in the number of people making Wills as they began to set their affairs in order in case the worst happened. Recent research conducted and released by IRN Research entitled: UK Wills & Probate […]
Superhero Webinar 74: Inheritance Tax Planning (Part 1 of 2)
Protect your client’s estate from IHT liabilities! Our next Superhero Webinar is part 1 of our Inheritance Tax Planning guide and covers how to reduce your client’s IHT liabilities. Topics include: • Dealing with Life Assurance correctly • Ever heard of a gift to/for the benefit of minor children being IHT exempt immediately? • Ever […]
Petition to change no children no allowance rule
In the summer of last year, Jade Gani, Head of Wills and Probate at Aston Bond Solicitors launched a petition to Make nieces and nephews “closely inherited” for RNRB purposes, by adding an additional clause to Inheritance Tax Act 1984 Part 1 section 8K which allows for a person’s nieces or nephews (by blood or […]
New AML Guidance needs a careful review
With the release of draft guidance on anti-money laundering guidance on 20 January 2021, there has been a furry of conversation about what this means. Amy Bell from Teal Compliance, has shared her recent blog with the readers of Today’s Wills and Probate to share her thoughts on the new draft guidance. Since 2017 LSAG […]
Moneypenny launches outbound calling service for law firms
Leading outsourced communications provider Moneypenny has launched an Outbound Calling service for the legal sector – to help firms save time and capture more leads. The new service can be used to qualify conveyancing enquiries, handle inbound leads for personal injury and other claims, and contact wills and probate and lasting powers of attorney clients […]
Legal sector helped with new AML guidance
The Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG), which includes all UK legal sector professional bodies and supervisors, has completed an extensive revision and redraft of its anti-money laundering (AML) guidance. This replaces previous versions of the guidance and is currently pending approval by HM Treasury, although the guidance is currently available in draft form. This draft […]
Legal service workers will work extra 20 days when working from home
Law firms are gaining the equivalent of an extra 20 working days a year from employees putting in longer shifts when they work from home, according to new research from Atlas Cloud. The research reveals that by working from home during the Coronavirus pandemic, instead of commuting to an office, employees in the sector are saving an […]
Free virtual seminar: ‘Estate administration in 2021: Risks and opportunities’
In 2020, Title Research launched a virtual seminar series – a new way of sharing interesting information and industry insights using a unique interactive format. Title Research is back on Wednesday 27th January 2021 at 12pm with their fourth edition of the series. Join Title Research’s Technical Manager, Simon Barber, and Business Development Manager, James […]
Brits planned for the future with remote will-writing increasing by 267% in 2020
As the year like no other ends, Farewill, the UK’s largest will writing service, has launched an in-depth report looking at trends in will writing and what these suggest about the way we deal about death. After a year that forced us to think about our own mortality, the data shows people have been planning for the […]
