Wealth, Health and Inheritance Briefing

June 2021 edition

Welcome to the June edition of WHIB which sees us getting back to greater normality, but with our fingers firmly crossed that nothing will derail the tremendous progress out of the pandemic that we have made.

Despite greater freedoms I hope you can find time to enjoy this issue. In our leading article we consider the very important topic of financial abuse of the elderly and what all advisers can do to help prevent abuse or recognise when it may be happening to our clients.

In other articles, one of our Bristol partners, Jane Halton, looks at some of the mistakes that might arise in Will drafting if the Will is drawn up by a non-specialist, while Paul Davies examines the near future for trusts and trust taxation.

Clarke Willmott is fortunate to have several members of staff who have been working with the firm for many years and have a great amount of experience to pass on. Stuart Thorne recently retired after over forty years working in the Taunton private capital team. Stuart will be much missed but we are excited that we have a number of talented young practitioners who will be carrying the team forward. You can read about Stuart’s career, and recent promotions within the Private Capital team, in our Team News.

Please do not hesitate to let us have any feedback on this issue. Why not follow us @CWPrivateClient.

Anthony Fairweather

In this edition

Working together to prevent financial abuse

Financial abuse of older adults is an increasing problem in the UK as the population ages. An Age UK report published in 2015 estimated that between 1-2% of people in the UK aged over 65 had suffered financial abuse at some time. Read more

Five mistakes arising from inexpert Wills

Your clients may take the view that a homemade Will is sufficient or appoint a Will drafter on price grounds alone; the Wills resulting from such decisions may not necessarily be invalid but they may be less than optimum in their results. Read more

What now for trusts?

In November 2018 the government published a review of trust taxation with the intention of measuring the trust taxation system against the principles of transparency, fairness and neutrality and simplicity. Read more

Private Capital team news

Goodbye to Stuart Thorne – At the end of April Taunton private capital partner Stuart Thorne retired from Clarke Willmott after more than forty years of service to the firm and to his many clients. Read more