Private Client

Powers of attorney and “other guardianship advice” will lead the way as the wills and probate market continues to expand over the next few years, a report has predicted.

A criminal defence solicitor who said he certified two lasting powers of attorney “as a favour” for an elderly client has been fined £6,000 for failing to make the necessary checks.

To help aid informed questioning, here are three key areas where trustees can consider questioning their financial adviser or asset manager, in relation to an investment recommendation for trust monies.

In 2007, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 introduced Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) which for the first time allowed a donor to appoint an attorney to make decisions both about their property and financial affairs, but also about their health and welfare.

A new membership body for estate planning firms aims to disrupt the sector by providing a home for regulated and unregulated firms ranging from law firms and accountants to will writers and genealogists.

A partner who billed for her time ‘considering’ matters but did not detail in attendance notes what she had actually done has been fined by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The High Court has invalidated a will prepared by a solicitor who was aware of the client’s “paranoid delusions” but did not investigate whether they affected his testamentary capacity.

The Legal Services Board has granted permission for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants to formally pull out of probate regulation, having refused it in January.

The government has refused to rule out replacing the witnessing of lasting powers of attorney with electronic signatures despite widespread opposition in a consultation.

Co-operative Legal Services – the poster child of the alternative business structure era – is planning major expansion over the next five years to become a £100m operation.

A fast-growing law firm specialising only in contentious probate is launching a network to support non-specialist firms later this month, to be followed by two tech products.

The value of the wills, trusts and probate market topped £2bn for the first time last year, with contentious work on the rise, and law firms’ grip on will-writing work continuing to slip.

The way a solicitor went about preparing a £100m will was “reckless and quite possibly dishonest”, the High Court ruled yesterday.

An immigration solicitor certified a lasting power of attorney for a walk-in client without checking his capacity, allowing the man’s son and attorney to misuse some of his money.

The Legal Services Board has refused to ‘de-designate’ an accountancy body as a probate regulator over concerns that its members are now practising unregulated.