Goldhill: important and necessary step
The Lifetime Group has become the latest financial services business to add legal advice to its offering by gaining an alternative business structure (ABS).
The group set up an unregulated will-writing arm, called Lifetime Legal, last year.
However, Lifetime Legal applied to become an ABS after appointing two solicitors so as to expand the range of work it can offer.
Based in Peterborough, Lifetime Legal will initially offer will writing, probate and trust drafting, adding conveyancing later in the year.
The Lifetime Group, which is headquartered in St Albans, had a turnover of £8.6m according to its most recent accounts. It was formed in 1998 to provide joined-up financial advice for their clients and said that adding legal services enabled the group to offer “holistic advice” to clients.
Charlotte Corbyn, Lifetime Legal’s head of private client, said: “The ABS license will enable us to offer our clients additional legal services whilst keeping 100% of the process in house. Our relationship with the Lifetime Group gives us great scope to offer end-to-end life planning.”
Meanwhile, Metamorph Law – which last year announced plans to “acquire, transform and aggregate” high street law firms – has received its ABS licence.
Group CEO Simon Goldhill said: “Becoming an ABS is an important and necessary step that allows us to operate our business model in this market. With this licence in place we are now in a position to proceed with our acquisition plan.
“We have a number of discussions currently under way. Some are in an advanced stage and we expect the first deal to be completed within the next few weeks.”
Mr Goldhill said previously that it was targeting five acquisitions in 2016, with the overall plan being to buy around 60 high street firms over the next five years to create a business with a turnover of more than £80m.
