Increase in Probate Court Fees

/in /by

Historically probate court fees have been a fixed amount (currently £155 when applying through Solicitors or £215 when making a personal application) with a charge of 50p per office copy of the Grant required. The only exception to this is where an estate is valued at less than £5,000 where there is no fee payable.

As from April 2019, the probate fees are set to be paid on a sliding scale dependent on the value of the estate rather than the fixed amount. For estates worth less than £50,000; no fee will be payable. However, for estates exceeding this sum, the fees will range between £2,500 to £6,000.

It is currently, and will continue to be the case, that executors will need to fund the probate court fees upfront before access can be gained to the deceased’s bank accounts. Currently; most banks are willing to release funds for inheritance tax prior to probate being granted and may be willing to release funds for court fees too. However, often estates are property rich and cash poor and it may be necessary for executors to fund the fees personally. They will of course be able to reimburse themselves from the estate when the estate is in funds.

The government have failed to explain why it is choosing to place this burden on bereaved families and have failed to comment upon why the changes were not included in the recent Budget.

Although the exact date when the new fees will take effect is not yet known, they are anticipated to apply for applications received after that date rather than deaths which occur after that date. We recommend that if you are in the early stages of dealing with an estate that an application is made sooner rather than later.

Arthur Rank Hospice Fundraising

/in /by

Hayley Ford of our firm has recently raised £820 for Arthur Rank Hospice through the Will month scheme.

This amount of money could pay for 11 counselling sessions for patients’ relatives, making a difference to those affected by a life limiting illness

Adams Harrison Attends Local Careers Events

/in /by

Aspire; Samuel Ward Academy

Jenny Carpenter and Sue Lawton  attended the Careers Event held at the Arts Centre in Haverhill from 4pm to 6pm yesterday afternoon.  Jenny and Sue spoke to many students interested in a career in law, also some of those that had no idea but suddenly realised that this could be an option for them.

I wanted to express our gratitude once again for your support yesterday with the Aspire Event. We were thrilled with the turn out from both students and parents and feel the event was a huge success in terms of our aim to inspire the young people of Haverhill and surrounding areas. I’ll no doubt be in contact again soon with regards to the next one!

Jacqui Singleton, Work Related Learning Coordinator Samuel Ward Academy

Anglia Ruskin Law Careers Fair

Also last week Matthew Darmon (Trainee Solicitor) and Sue Lawton attended the Anglia Ruskin Law Careers Fair – again a wonderful turn out of law students and some very interesting questions were asked.  These students are the future for law so it was very gratifying to meet such focused individuals.

Women In The Legal Profession

/in , /by

An interesting article in the Law Society’s Gazette publication this month reports that there is a “female talent drain” in that whilst entry level to the profession appears to be open to everyone, it is not the same once the ladder is ascended in the profession.   The number of female partners in solicitors’ firms is low. Statistics show that there are now more women than men qualifying as solicitors with women representing over 60% of newly qualified solicitors since 1990. However, only 28% of partners in private practice are women. Only half of all judges under the age of 50 years are women.

A Court of Appeal Judge, Lady Justice Rafferty was speaking at the Royal Society Diversity Conference when she stated that “diversity must be maintained beyond entry level to the profession”.

Here at Adams Harrison female partners represent 83% of the firm, with the Managing Partner being a woman!

Support for Cancer Research

/in /by

The staff at all Adams Harrison offices took part in the Wear It Pink campaign recently and raised a total of £50.45.

Also, on 14th October the partners sponsored the MacMillan Late Harvest Luncheon which is another major annual fundraising event for MacMillan, with one of the partners and two solicitors together with their respective spouses attending.

And It All Started With A Break In.

/in /by

The Law Commission has recently begun consulting about a legal framework for electronic signatures. If this becomes law it will be the last stage in the complete digitisation of legal documents, which in the case of land and title in England and Wales, started on the 23rd November 1998.

The rather inauspicious catalyst was a burglary, when vandals broke into a storage warehouse used by the Bradford & Bingley Building Society, crashed a forklift truck and started a fire. The building society lost thousands of packets of deeds and during the process of reconstructing their titles, which required an application to the Land Registry for each missing title, the society persuaded the Land Registry not to issue them with the traditional Charge Certificates, but to “store” the newly created registered titles on the Land Registry computer.

This arrangement created the first virtual title record and, motivated by the huge savings in storage costs, other lenders quickly followed suit “dematerialising” their existing and subsequently acquired registered titles. This practice had no basis in law and was “an arrangement” between the lenders and the Land Registry but it signalled the birth of “dematerialised” titles, a process later enshrined in law by the Land Registration Act of 2002.

Although the legal profession has (with diminishing numbers of exceptions) embraced both electronic communication and the use of electronic documentation, the stumbling block to full digitisation, at least for those transactions which must by law be in writing or by deed, has for some time been the need to produce a final paper document for the parties to sign. For those property transactions for which registration at the Land Registry is also required, there is a further ironic twist. The Land Registry does not want the paper document. It only wants an electronic copy and its staff will scan, and just to make its point, destroy every paper document it receives. Inevitably, but one hopes only occasionally, human error will prevail and the scan/shred sequence is reversed with unfortunate and sometimes costly consequences.

Digital documents and communication increases dramatically the speed at which transactions can be concluded; there are, as well as the occasional destruction of historic deeds by the Land Registry, significant and increasingly costly negatives. For property lawyers and those not entirely in agreement with their neighbours, there is the loss of important evidence about boundaries, rights and covenants which do not appear on the registered titles and for all of us there is the issue of internet security and fraud, which was not a consideration when we all used paper.

To be continued.

Rhodri Rees

Partner

Property and Commercial

Jenny Carpenter Celebrates 20 Years At Adams Harrison

/in /by

Jennifer Carpenter, Managing Partner clocks up 20 years service with Adams Harrison this week.

Jennifer Carpenter, Managing Partner Adams Harrison

Jenny joined the firm 20 years ago in October 1998 as a trainee solicitor, recruited by the firm’s former senior partner, Tom Harrison who was her training principal. “I recall seeing the position advertised whilst I was at the College of Law” said Jenny. “I was immediately attracted to the position as it was stated as being contentious biased. I knew I wanted to practice litigation and not non-contentious areas such as property or probate so it was the ideal training contract for me”.

Jenny has predominantly been based at our Saffron Walden office, where the firm has been based for almost 185 years, and has practiced various areas of litigation.

Jenny commented “There have been changes in the law and in particular the technology used when practicing law in my time with Adams Harrison. When starting as a trainee solicitor e-mail was a very new method of communication and it was almost considered discourteous to e-mail another professional. Letters remained the main method of contact. However, these days e-mails are used almost without exception; so the task of most solicitors is determining how best to deal with the constant influx of this type of communication. Books are now used far less frequently with a lawyer’s resources being available, subject to paying a subscription, on line. In fact almost every type of transaction or litigation is now dealt with on line with various portals and web based systems in place. Gone are the days of needing a typewriter to fill in the fields of a court form”.

Jenny spent many years attending the police station and undertaking advocacy in the Magistrates Court when the firm held a legal aid franchise for criminal legal work. For the duration of her time at the firm she has advised many clients, both employees and employers, on employment related issues, including drafting and advising on settlement agreements. She has negotiated numerous satisfactory outcomes in relation to employment disputes, always priding herself on showing empathy in difficult situations.

Jenny provides contentious probate advice and representation to clients in a variety of situations. “This is becoming an increasingly popular area of the law as people generally appear to have become more aware of the ways in which to question the validity of a will or to bring a claim against an estate” Jenny stated.

Jenny qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and became a partner of the firm in 2005. She has since January 2014 been the Managing Partner of the firm. The firm holds a Lexcel accreditation given by the Law Society and as a result faces a vigorous 2 to 3 day annual audit. In this year’s audit the firm was “highly commended for sustaining a very high level of compliance against the Lexcel Standard”. The firm was labeled as “an example of a really good practice, and amongst the very best that the writer (the auditor) has reviewed” in terms of its plans and policies. Together with the firm being told that “Adams Harrison continues to be an extremely well run and extremely well managed Practice”.

The firm has grown and expanded in the last 20 years, almost by double. Jenny services clients’ legal needs across all three of our offices in Sawston, Saffron Walden and Haverhill. Jenny commented: “I thoroughly enjoy the diversity of my role within the firm and the wide range of clients that I am able to assist. I am very proud of Adams Harrison that is the successful firm it is today thanks to the commitment, loyalty and hard work of all our wonderful staff”.

“Here’s to the next 20 years …” was Jenny’s final word.

Uttlesford Schools Careers Fair

/in /by

Adams Harrison staff attended a very successful Careers Fair held at Saffron Walden County High School last ‘night and attach the Certificate of Appreciation that was awarded to us.  

Adams Harrison Certificate of Appreciation from Utlesford School 1

Sue Lawton was joined by Emma Laidlaw, Jack Stewart and Matt Darmon and they were able to chat to parents and students about a career in the law and how best to achieve their goal.

Over 90 exhibitors took part and it was very well attended.

Matt Darmon, Jack Stewart and Emma Laidlaw of Adams Harrison at Uttlesford District Careers Fair

Matt Darmon, Jack Stewart and Emma Laidlaw of Adams Harrison at Uttlesford District Careers Fair

Matt Darmon explaining to a prospective law student exactly how he achieved his ambition of becoming a solicitor.

Matt Darmon explaining to a prospective law student exactly how he achieved his ambition of becoming a solicitor.

Haverhill Jobs Fair 2018

/in /by

Kelsey Ling (pictured) Adams Harrison’s recently qualified Apprentice joined Sue Lawton  at the Haverhill Jobs Fair last Wednesday 3rd October 2018, held at the West Suffolk College in Haverhill.

The event is run by Haverhill Town Council, One Haverhill Partnership, Jobs Centre Plus and West Suffolk College and  Adams Harrison were very happy to support.

Kelsey Ling of Adams Harrison at Haverhill jobs fair

Kelsey Ling of Adams Harrison at Haverhill jobs fair

Living Wills, Advanced Decisions, Capacity and Care

/in /by

There is still a grey area in the UK with regards to Living Wills. These are non-binding documents and a person can put whatever they want in them. They can detail what care they would want if they were to become mentally incapable and can also include religious beliefs, what type of personal care they would want, and the people they would want to look after them.

Quite often, a copy of a Living Will is placed with an ordinary Will and also with the person’s GP. If there is a Living Will in place then any medical team should take it into account even though it is not legally binding.

An alternative would be to make a document called an “Advanced Decision” or an “Advanced Directive”. These documents must be written and signed and witnessed. They can contain instructions to refuse treatment. When making such a document, the person needs to be fully compos mentis and clear as to what they wish to achieve from the document. For example, it may say that the person would wish to refuse pain relief, interventions, needles etc. However, one should bear in mind that specific treatment cannot be requested and it is not possible to override a medical professional’s opinion.

Under Section 24-26 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Advanced Decisions can only refuse treatment. One of the criteria provides that no illegal actions, for example attempted or assisted suicide, can be included in the document. Understandably, it is illegal to assist anybody with suicide and if a person is believed to have encouraged or assisted another, then it is a crime and subject to 14 years imprisonment. Prosecution is more likely if a person is under the age of 18 years or if the assister has been paid.

An Advanced Care Plan is a central record of documents usually put into place by a hospital or care home. These are often put in place for a person who is terminally ill.

Palliative Care is for quality of life and life threatening illnesses. Again, these Plans can be put into place for end of life care or if a person is likely to die within 12 months of being diagnosed.

Whichever Plan is put into place, care should be taken when writing them. For example, a person may say that if they are diagnosed with Cancer he/she does not want to be treated. At the time of writing the Plan the person may not have Cancer but, say, in 5 years time, he/she has developed Cancer and has since married and has children, then these are totally different circumstances and he/she may not have the mental capacity to change the original Plan. Therefore, Living Wills or Advanced Decisions should be reviewed every few years to reflect circumstances and medical views.

A Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare is more flexible for planning and may be a better way of expressing wishes should a person become mentally incapable although, again, care must be taken as to the instructions contained in the document.

If a person lacks mental capacity and there is no Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare in place, then it may be possible to approach the Court of Protection for a Deputyship Order. However, the Court of Protection are reluctant to grant these types of Orders and may only do so when a series of decisions need to be made and it is the only way they can be dealt with.

For legal advice in completing Lasting Powers of Attorney for Health and Welfare or for Deputyship Orders, please contact one of the Private Client Department team at Adams Harrison.