Buying a retirement home is generally something you only want to do once. This means you need to get it right first time. But as you probably know, buying a property is not easy – and retirement homes come with additional considerations, making the process all the more overwhelming. So if you are thinking about […]
Preparing Your Home for Sale in the New Year
Are you thinking of selling your home in the New Year? There is good reason to! Potential buyers tend to have a renewed enthusiasm following the Christmas break, making it a profitable time of year to put your property on the market. But before you start welcoming people into your home, you need to prepare […]
Can a Local Authority remove the free parking outside my house?
One of the benefits that may influence your decision to purchase a property is the fact that it has free parking on the street outside. If the property has no driveway, it would be extremely inconvenient not to be able to park outside, and lack of such amenities would make the property less desirable from […]
How do I help my child buy a home with their partner and keep my money safe?
With property prices soaring, it’s no wonder that the bank of Mum and Dad is frequently called upon to subsidise the first step onto the housing ladder. But where their grown-up child is buying jointly with their partner and a substantial sum is involved, naturally there are questions over what happens if the couple should […]
House of Lords Committee brand probate fee hike a ‘misuse of power’
Government plans to increase probate fees have been branded by the House of Lords Committee as a ‘misuse of power’. The fee increases have been proposed to address the £1.2 billion annual deficit for running the courts. The cost of applying for probate is currently £215 (or £155 if a solicitor is used) regardless of […]
Health and Mental Capacity and Lasting Power of Attorney
You can create a Lasting Power of Attorney at any point in your life, so long as you have mental capacity. Lasting Powers of Attorney A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document which gives someone, or a group of people, the authority to act and make decisions on your behalf. The people […]
Using Your Inheritance Gift Allowance at Christmas
Giving gifts to your loved ones can be an excellent way of reducing the size of your estate, and therefore your Inheritance Tax liabilities. But what about Christmas gifts? Are these tax exempt, or should you tread carefully when it comes to treating your loved ones this holiday season? Tax exempt gifts Unfortunately, there is […]
Appointing Guardians for Your Children
When you make a Will, you have the opportunity to appoint legal guardians for your children. It is highly recommended that you put such plans in place, or it could result in the wrong people caring for your children, should you die before their eighteenth birthday. Planning for the future Planning for the future is […]
Son disinherited in favour of younger lover
An Oxford don who has been left out of his mother’s estate in favour of her younger lover has embarked on a court battle against a firm of solicitors. Distinguished physician Jean Weddell left the majority of her estate to her civil partner Wendy Cook, excluding her son Christopher Gosden altogether. Mr Gosden who is […]
Architect’s friends fight over her £67m fortune
When Dame Zaha Hadid died in March 2016, she left generous financial gifts to her friends, family and even her employees – but her benevolence has been overshadowed by a fierce squabble between the executors. Dame Zaha was one of Britain’s best known architects with her prestigious portfolio including the Riverside Museum in Glasgow and […]
April 2019: Controversial probate fee rises
Bereaved families will face soaring probate fees from April 2019 under new plans revealed by the Ministry of Justice. Reforms to probate fees have been the subject of consultation since 2016 and a year later the first proposals, which included a charge of £20,000 for estates worth £2 million or more, were met with outcry. […]
Could your estate go to the Crown?
The idea that the Crown might inherit everything you have worked so hard for during your lifetime might seem far-fetched – but with the Government’s unclaimed estates list now at 8,910 entries, this really can and does happen. Perhaps surprisingly, the list isn’t solely comprised of elderly people who have simply lost much of their family […]
Stamp duty, CGT and IHT: what we might see in the budget
The Chancellor’s budget will be announced on Monday October 29th – and with healthy tax receipts over the past five years from Stamp Duty, CGT and IHT, commentators are expecting to see further hikes in tax rates. The three taxes combined brought revenues of £25.4 billion to the Treasury this year, according to The Times […]
Property hijacking – and how you can reduce the risk
A woman who put her parents’ flat on the market while her father was temporarily in a care home and her stepmother was in the Caribbean visiting a sick relative has been handed a three year prison sentence. 52 year old Valerie Edwards put the property, valued at £340,000, on the market during Spring last year […]
Inheritance disputes on the rise
The number of inheritance disputes is soaring thanks to inflated property prices, complex family structures, a challenging financial climate and an ageing population. According to Ministry of Justice figures, the High Court considered 145 inheritance claims last year – three times more than a decade earlier. These figures do not represent the true number of cases as […]
Purchasing a Commercial Property
Buying a commercial property can be extremely rewarding. However, there are risks involved, so you need to proceed with caution and get right legal advice from the outset. Otherwise the consequences could be costly. Legal help when buying a commercial property As soon as you find a commercial property that suits your needs, you should […]
Selling a Commercial Property
When selling a commercial property, there is a lot of legal and administrative work to carry out. To ensure the process runs as smoothly and as efficiently as possible, it is best to ask an experienced commercial property lawyer to act on your behalf.
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