Landed estates

Comprehensive strategic advice to landed estates and landowners

For many years, Clarke Willmott’s Private Client team has enjoyed an excellent reputation for providing high-quality strategic advice and legal services in relation to landed estates. Today, we are one of only a handful of UK law firms who truly understand the unique challenges of owning, running and passing down these multi-faceted entities. And even in this select company, our experience and know-how sets us apart.

Our specialist agriculture solicitors have considerable expertise in advising landowners, farmers and rural business owners with significant holdings. In particular, asset protection arrangements, wealth succession strategies, business structuring and succession planning. What’s more, they can call on the diverse strengths of our wider private client team (the largest in the country) and our colleagues in corporate and commercial law.

This combination of specific sector knowledge and wider expertise means we’re adept at delivering innovative, pragmatic solutions that are centred on the personal, legal and commercial needs of each client.

Our extensive expertise in landed estates

Our extensive experience enables us to advise on the most complex situations involving agricultural, business and international assets.

We have chartered tax advisers, members of the Agricultural Law Association and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) all under our roof and we are the largest law firm to be accredited with the Law Society’s Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme (WIQS).

Despite our scale, we pride ourselves on delivering a highly personal service to every client, and at a very reasonable cost compared to a city-based law firm.

Together, our team advises our clients on the issues which are key to ensuring the effective long-term stewardship of their landed estates. Those issues may include:

• Complex Wills and estate administration
• Trusts and alternative structures
• Business succession planning
• Tax planning, in particular the use of agricultural and business reliefs and the application of the conditional or maintenance funds exemption for heritage property
• Any aspect of the ownership, occupation, use and management of agricultural property such as farm tenancies, planning, development and construction and sporting rights
• Diversification into other sectors such as renewable energy or tourism
• Agricultural business, including commercial contracts, regulatory requirements and employment law and HR issues
• Agricultural disputes including Wills and trust disputes

We also advise landed estates on the following related issues:

• Lifetime giving and philanthropy
• Lasting powers of attorney
• Loss of capacity
• International tax, estate and succession planning
• Divorce, including those with business and international interests
• Pre and post-nuptial agreements and co-habitation agreements

Our landed estates experience in action

• Advising a high net worth family on the restructure of their diversified family farm to secure inheritance tax reliefs.
• Advising on the generation of income from sporting rights on a large Somerset estate and drafting fishing, shooting and hunting licences to third parties.
• Advising a landed estate on its heritage property and the associated tax exemption scheme.
• Providing health and safety and employment advice to the trustees of a £60 million estate, as well as advising on and implementing an overarching inheritance tax planning programme.
• Acting for a landed estate company in respect of injunctive proceedings against saboteurs trespassing on their 20,000-acre estate.
• Advising on the restructuring and management of a 6,000-acre estate for a large institutional landowner.
• Advising on the most tax efficient transfer of a family farm and a successfully diversified cider production business to the next generation.
• Representing a landed estate in arbitration proceedings relating to alleged crop damage.
• Acting on behalf of over 450 trusts with over £30 million under management.

Contact a landed estate specialist today

Call 0800 652 8205 for a free consultation with a member of the team or get in touch online. We have private wealth and agriculture solicitors working across the country, from our offices in Taunton, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester and Southampton.