Private Client

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.

There was no need for a more expensive City lawyer to be appointed a professional executor in preference to one from the Home Counties in a straightforward probate, the High Court has ruled.

It’s not uncommon for disagreements to arise between family members and loved ones over funeral arrangements, burial disputes or possession of ashes. So, who has the ultimate say and what can you do? Richard Adams, senior associate in the Contested Wills, Trusts and Estates team at Hugh James who has advised clients in a number of such cases, considers this delicate and sensitive issue.

It was “fundamentally wrong” for Legal Services Board rules to force the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants to withdraw from legal services, another accountancy body has argued.

A request for a Larke v Nugus statement is often considered a preliminary step when there is an intention to contest a will. But what happened in that case and what effect does it have on cases which involve probate disputes in the modern day?

The “time has come” for solicitors and other professional users to apply for the vast majority of grants of probate online – but not yet letters of administration – the government said yesterday.

A senior private client lawyer has launched a strategic consultancy to advise wealthy individuals and families from around the world on succession, risk, governance and dispute resolution.

A will-writing business was entitled to fire a member of staff who accidentally left a message on a potential client’s voicemail about getting drunk and littered with swear words, a tribunal has ruled.

The founder of will-writing software firm WillSuite has obtained what he believes is the first ever digital lasting power of attorney. He said the process took five months.

The lawyers and others who devise and market ineffective tax avoidance schemes are often breaking the law and a few legislative tweaks will make it easier to prosecute them, MPs have claimed.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has decided to withdraw from legal services regulation and contract it out to CILEx Regulation, in the first move of its kind.

Solicitor and other probate practitioners will have to apply online for grants of probate or letters of administration, under government proposals published today.

The summer 2020 edition of Entitlement, Title Research’s quarterly news digest, is now available for legal professionals to download completely free of charge.

The government is to legalise the remote witnessing of wills for two years, backdating the change to 31 January this year to reassure those who have already done it during the pandemic.