Some recent matters include:

• Preparing Wills for a married couple who want their assets to pass to the survivor and, on the survivor's death, to their children. As their total assets exceeded the exempt amount for Inheritance Tax (£263,000 for the tax year 2004/05), we prepared the Wills in such a way as to avoid a substantial Inheritance Tax bill on the death of the survivor. This could result in a tax saving of up to £105,200 or so under the current law.
• Administering an estate exceeding £1 million, where the deceased's Will left everything to her husband. We advised on a variation of the Will in which £215,000 passed to a trust, saving Inheritance Tax of up to £86,000 on the future death of her husband. The trust itself was drafted to attract favourable inheritance tax treatment.
• Acting for a client whose mother had died leaving a recent Will appointing him as sole executor and beneficiary. We advised him in relation to a claim brought by his sister challenging their mother's capacity to make the Will and a claim against the estate by someone claiming to be the mother's cohabitee. We resolved both disputes to enable the estate to be distributed.
• Administering an estate worth approximately £1.25 million, including a share portfolio of approximately £650,000. We obtained probate, collected in the assets, paid the debts, Inheritance Tax and legacies, made distributions to beneficiaries and prepared estate accounts. We advised the beneficiaries on the tax implications of the sales and structured these in such a way as to save capital gains tax of approximately £50,000.