George Green LLP Welcomes Two New Family Solicitors to Sutton Coldfield Office
George Green LLP is thrilled to announce the expansion of its Family Law team with the...
The Private Client Department at George Green is here to help with the legal aspects of our clients’ personal affairs such as preparing your Will, administering the estate of a loved one, preparing Powers of Attorney to ensure other people can look after your financial and or personal affairs if necessary, setting up trusts and assisting with your Inheritance Tax and succession planning.
The Private Client team at George Green is here to help with the legal aspects of your personal affairs such as preparing your Will, administering the Estate of a loved one, preparing Powers of Attorney to ensure someone can look after your affairs if you are incapable, setting up Trusts and assisting with your inheritance tax and succession planning.
Our team includes members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the Law Society Private Client Section and Association of Lifetime Lawyers.
We can arrange to meet with you at any one of our three offices or can see you at home if that makes you feel more comfortable or you are unable to get to an office due to mobility issues.
To speak to a member of our highly experienced team please call us on 01384 410410 or fill out our online enquiry form for a quick response.
How our Wills, Trusts and Probate team can help you
- Wills and Estate planning
- Care Home Fee protection
- Powers of Attorney
- Probate and Estate Administration
- Court of Protection – Deputyship applications
- Inheritance Tax planning
- Trusts – creating and administering
Wills and Estate Planning
Our experienced team can meet with you and advise on Wills, be this whether you want a straightforward Will or a more complicated Will, for example, to deal with a complex estate, either due to the assets you own, or your personal circumstances. We can advise on the best Will for your circumstances including Wills to protect a spouse as well as children from a previous relationship, for example, or to protect against care fees in the future as far as the law will allow. Our team can advise you on your options and assist in making informed decisions based on your circumstances.
We can also advise on tax planning to include inheritance tax and capital gains tax and utilising exemptions through your Will and other lifetime planning if appropriate to your situation. We specialise in managing high-value estates, focusing on strategic Wills and trusts for tax planning, asset protection, and succession in family businesses.
A well-drafted Will can provide you with peace of mind for the future, knowing that your assets will be managed according to your wishes and can make life easier for the loved ones you leave behind.
Whether you simply have a house and want to leave it to your only child, or whether you have a multi-million pound estate made up of business and agricultural assets and are on your fifth marriage with four children, including one with additional needs, get in touch with our team who will be glad to meet with you and discuss your wishes and help ensure they are carried out.
Care Home Fee Protection
We understand that rising care home fees are a major concern when thinking about getting older. No doubt you wish to protect what you can for your loved ones.
We tend to live longer these days. That should be something of a celebration but the downside of longevity can be poor physical health or loss of mental capacity. The majority of families do what they can to provide care but eventually care services in a care home, or supplied at home, may need to be considered. This process can be difficult, emotive, stressful and costly.
Our experienced team can advise you on the various options and the pros and cons of each for you and your family. This often involves advice in relation to the preparation of Wills that can help shelter assets from a spouse’s/partner’s estate should they need care.
We appreciate there is a lot of information on the internet in relation to asset protection from care home fees and our team will ensure you are advised so as to not put you at any unnecessary risk.
Powers of Attorney
Powers of Attorney are legal documents allowing individuals to appoint someone to manage their affairs if they become incapacitated. This can happen to any of us at any time. Incapacity can be physical and or mental and may be temporary or permanent. It could be as result of an accident or illness or old age. Whatever the circumstances, George Green’s specialist solicitors can advise, assist and support you.
Whether you are looking to make arrangements for yourself or handle the affairs of a loved one, we can ensure your interests and those of your family are protected, our team of experts can help with all types of Powers of Attorney including:
Lasting Powers of Attorney documents for Property and Financial Affairs – we can prepare new documents, draft documents specifically for business assets, register documents, advise on the validity of existing documents. We can also act as a Certificate Provider and act as a professional attorney, where appropriate.
Lasting Power of Attorney documents of Health and Welfare – again we can prepare new documents, register documents, advise on the validity of existing documents, register documents. We can also act as a Certificate Provider.
Enduring Powers of Attorney Documents – advising on validity and registering existing documents.
General Powers of Attorney Documents – advising on validity and preparing.
George Green can also advise Attorneys or prospective Attorneys to ensure they fully understand their responsibilities and can fulfil their duties correctly in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act and relevant Code of Conduct. In addition, we can act in cases where there is a dispute or if you have concerns about a vulnerable person.
Probate and Estate Administration
Probate can be daunting, complex and time-consuming. We are able to ease the responsibility and burden which can often be associated with it by taking care of the whole process.
Whether you require comprehensive estate administration services and specialist expertise in handling the difficult financial circumstances that often follow bereavement, or simply some advice on what to do next, we are here to support you throughout to ensure your legal responsibilities are fulfilled.
For those who would prefer all of the formalities to be taken care of for them, our team will look after the whole process and assemble details of estate assets, complete the relevant Inland Revenue forms, obtain a Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration), deal with any Inheritance Tax issues and distribute the estate in accordance with the Will or rules of Intestacy (where there is no valid Will).
Others may prefer to deal with certain aspects of the administration themselves and we are pleased to offer a reduced service in those circumstances (simply obtaining the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration) whilst still providing friendly and helpful guidance to assist the personal representatives through the administration process.
Our team can assist with complex assets within estates, such as those held in trust and are also able to handle foreign assets and liaise with third parties regarding the relevant foreign legislation. We regularly advise executors where estates involve business assets.
Court of Protection
If a loved one has already lost capacity and they are unable to prepare a power of attorney our specialist team can assist with an application to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order.
This is a complex process and we understand it can be daunting. Our team, many of whom are members of the Association of Lifetime Lawyers, will expertly handle the application process and make it as easy as possible.
Inheritance tax planning
As house prices rise and businesses grow more and more families will find themselves paying inheritance tax on a loved one’s death.
Our team include a number of STEP members, experts in inheritance tax planning advice. This may involve ensuring your Will is tax efficient (particularly if you have business assets) and ensuring you are not inadvertently losing any potential reliefs.
This may also involve advice regarding lifetime planning such as utilising the gifting exemptions or setting up a Trust.
Our team will consider your life insurances and pensions and their impact upon tax planning and wealth succession. We encourage clients to consider whether such payments should be directed into trust or nominated in favour of specified beneficiaries.
We also regularly work with our corporate team in relation to family businesses and ensuring they can be passed down to the next generation in a tax efficient way whilst ensuring assets are protected in case of divorce or financial difficulties.
We welcome working with your existing professional advisors such as financial advisors and accountants to achieve a result that will be specifically tailored to your needs and circumstances.
Trusts
You may wish to establish a trust for many reasons, such as providing financial benefits for a specific person or group or removing assets from your estate to reduce Inheritance Tax.
Whatever your reason for setting up a trust, our team can guide you through the process, helping you choose the right trust for your circumstances, advising you on the tax consequences of setting up a trust and ensuring all of the necessary legal formalities are taken care of.
If you have an existing trust our team can advise you in relation to changing trustees, appointing assets out of the trust, registering a trust with HMRC and the general taxation of the trust.
Read more about how our Wills and probate solicitors can help with trusts.
Get in touch with our Wills, Trusts and Probate team
To speak to a member of our highly experienced Wills, Trusts and probate team, please call us at 01384 410410 or fill out our online enquiry form for a quick response.