Private Client

A solicitor who abused his position as the executor of an estate and stole £275,000 from it to spend on an “excessive lifestyle” has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The Legal Services Board has given itself more time to decide on whether to approve a new breed of law firm created by CILEx Regulation and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Chartered accountants handling probate work are to face compulsory rules on publishing price and service information after their regulator admitted a voluntary approach had not worked.

The government has outlined plans to streamline and digitise lasting powers of attorney, cutting the time needed for registration in most cases from 40 to 14 days.

There are a number of grounds upon which a person might seek to a challenge the will of a loved one. They include circumstances where the specific formalities required when creating a will are not adhered to, or where the person making the will did not have the necessary mental capacity. It might be that the person making the will did not understand or approve its contents or that they were subject to some form of undue influence by another party. One of the less common grounds potentially available to someone wishing to challenge a will is that of fraudulent calumny.

Law firms can make as much money by providing their clients with free wills and charging for additional services than by charging a few hundred pounds for a will.

A “boutique life management service” is aiming to reduce the stress of divorce and bereavement by providing a holistic service including legal and financial advice.

Immigration and civil litigation were the two areas of legal practice hit hardest by the pandemic last year, with private client and family law “insulated” from the impact, new research has found.

A former partner at a Yorkshire law firm who submitted a false statement to the probate court as part of the oath for executors has agreed to leave the profession.

It is fair to say that there has, for many years, been a “difference of opinion” between the law governing personal insolvency and matrimonial law with each “side” believing that they are right and should take precedence. The principal, sometimes conflicting, legislation is covered in the Insolvency Act 1986 and the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. However, the differing courts can and will give wide discretion when determining whether and how a married couple’s assets are to be divided.

More than a third of consumers believe that video witnessing of wills is “a good alternative” to being there in person, according to a major study, while a majority are happy to have an online consultation.

The managing director of a law firm who ordered legal secretaries and a trainee solicitor to retrospectively “witness” wills which had already been signed by clients has been struck off.

The vast majority of solicitors want to retain the rule that donors must physically sign lasting powers of attorney (LPAs) rather than move to electronic signatures, a survey has found.

Google searches for DIY wills surged by more than 15 times in the week leading up to the second national lockdown, while probate specialists have blamed institutions for delays in the process.

Personal representatives tasked with dealing with a deceased person’s affairs are often faced with a number of challenges, both legal and practical. Sometimes these challenges can be complex and involve dealing with contested wills.