Support for you
Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs)
Planning your future and deciding what you would like to happen to your estate when you die can be difficult to think about. However, without careful planning and formally writing down your wishes using a Will and potentially an LPA, this can lead to difficulties for your loved ones. They may not be aware of your wishes in terms of funeral arrangements or legacies and dying intestate (without a Will) will mean the Rules of Intestacy will apply which could mean that your estate does not pass to your intended beneficiaries as you had hoped.
Having an LPA in place will support decisions if you are not able to make them and can be equally important as they can relate to decisions concerning medical and financial issues.
We would always recommend putting LPAs in place when you are drafting a Will as these documents generally sit hand in hand. LPAs are much easier to put in place before they are needed and allow a nominated person(s) to make decisions on your behalf. LPAs replaced Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs) which, if drafted before 2007, are still valid but both Wills and LPAs should be reviewed regularly to check that they still reflect your wishes and that details in them, such as named executors and attorneys are still valid.
Lifelong Advice to Meet Your Needs
Our team of lawyers are highly experienced in advising clients with complex and often high value assets on how best to manage them, both now and after their death. This includes working with colleagues in our Family and Property teams as well as with your existing accountants and wealth managers to ensure that your needs are met and that assets are owned and held in the most efficient way for your family.
We can support you to ensure that children from past relationships as well as any future children are provided for and that property and other high value assets are managed effectively. For many of our clients, we support them throughout their lives, drafting their wills, reviewing their needs with their wider advisors regularly and supporting the family after their death with the process of probate and future estate planning for the wider family.
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Talk to us about your legal challenges and discover how our expert, pragmatic legal advice and broad commercial acumen can help.