Wills

23 July 2025

IHT rate reduction through charitable legacies
The rules for securing a 10% reduction in the IHT rate, from 40% to 36%, provided a charitable legacy of at least 10% of the estate is made on death

21 July 2025

New HMRC bereavement helpline
A new, dedicated bereavement service helpline - in addition to the existing helpline for formal estates - which can be used when dealing with a deceased estate

14 July 2025

EWHC rule that disputed will is not genuine
A recent case in which the England and Wales High Court (EWHC) ruled that a will, which essentially disinherited a man’s only child, is not genuine, after suspicion around the drafting and storing circumstances

09 July 2025

Another case where accompanying the deceased to Dignitas did not, in effect, amount to assisting suicide
A recent case in which the England and Wales High Court have ruled that the beneficiaries of a will can make a valid agreement for the assets to be distributed according to the deceased’s wishes without regard to the forfeiture rule

03 July 2025

What is Intestacy?
What is Intestacy, why would we need to know about it and why it matters whether or not your clients have a will

16 June 2025

Daughter who cared for elderly mother wins claim for reimbursement from estate
A case in which a woman who cared for her elderly mother over the last two and a half years of her life has successfully claimed against the estate for the value of the care she provided

19 May 2025

New reforms to the law of wills
The Law Commission’s recommendations to reform the law of wills in its Report: Modernising Wills Law

09 May 2025

Trusts set up by a deed of variation. A quick read
The tax and Trust Registration Service (TRS) implications where a trust is set up by a deed of variation

09 April 2025

A case where a missing will was presumed by the court to have been revoked
The case of Packer v Packer, which is the first successful application of the presumption of revocation of a will for almost two decades

05 March 2025

Ministry of Justice provide explanation for England and Wales probate reform failure
The causes of the England and Wales Probate Service’s severe delays following its reformation into a digital service in 2020, and actions taken to improve the situation

06 February 2025

EWHC rule that 'failure' of a legacy includes beneficiaries' disclaimers
Failure of a legacy. The England and Wales High Court (EWCH) have recently ruled that the ‘failure’ of a legacy includes cases where the recipient disclaims it, for the purposes of deciding where a legacy devolves