Your life.
Your Clarke Willmott

Keeping wealth in the family is understandably a priority for you. However, juggling financial, property and business assets, as well as tax liabilities, and achieving the right outcome for all concerned is rarely straightforward.

This is where we come in. Our team of specialist wealth planning and tax solicitors are on hand to advise you on:

• Using Wills, trusts and alternatives to trusts for complex inheritance planning and tax mitigation
• Factoring in international and cross border considerations
• Transferring control of a family business or ownership of property
• Protecting against insolvency
• Setting up a pre or postnuptial agreement
• Pre-empting potential disputes or negative behaviours

Even with comprehensive plans in place, it’s impossible to predict everything life might throw at you. Some unexpected events may be positive, but sadly others may take their toll, personally and financially.

Whenever you need us, our expert private wealth solicitors, are ready to advise you on:

• Contesting or defending a Will
• Resolving a dispute
• Providing for vulnerable or mentally incapacitated individuals
• Reaching financial settlement in a divorce
• Coming into an inheritance
• Fulfilling UK tax reporting requirements
• Request your Will

Deciding how best to pass on your wealth can be complex and emotional. We understand, and can help you create an appropriate and effective strategy to help you carry out your wishes, meet your responsibilities and protect your assets.

Our team of specialist wealth and tax planning solicitors are on hand to advise you on:

• Using Wills, trusts and alternatives to trusts for complex inheritance planning and tax mitigation
• Factoring in international and cross border considerations
• Handing over control of your business
• Transferring property ownership
• Lifetime giving including philanthropy

However thoroughly you plan, it’s almost impossible to predict everything life might throw at you in the future. That’s why it’s important to review your plans regularly, particularly if your circumstances change.

Whenever you need us, our expert private wealth solicitors, are ready to advise you on:

• Reaching financial settlement in a divorce
• Reviewing and amending your Will
• Updating your plans following a change in your circumstances such as divorce or second marriage
• Request your Will

Juggling family, finances, property and business assets as well as your tax liabilities is complicated enough. Add overseas interests and different jurisdictions to the mix and achieving the right result becomes even more challenging.

This is where we come in. Our team of private wealth solicitors are on hand to advise you on:

• Using Wills, trusts and alternatives to trusts for complex inheritance planning and tax mitigation
• Lasting Powers of Attorney, Wills and advance decisions involving foreign interests
• Business succession planning involving overseas interests
• Structuring and planning UK tax
• Buying and selling UK property
• Buying and selling a UK business
• Setting up an international pre or postnuptial agreement

There may be times when you find yourself in a situation affected, and perhaps complicated, by the laws and regulations of other countries.

Please don’t hesitate to turn to us. Our private wealth solicitors are experienced in cross-border matters and can tap into our trusted network of lawyers and professional advisers around the world to advise you on:

• Managing the assets of a vulnerable or mentally incapacitated individuals in another jurisdiction
• Obtaining probate across borders including for foreign nationals who die with assets in the UK
• International divorce
• International family matters including custody, visitation, maintenance and relocation
• Resolving cross-border disputes, including mediation
• Fulfilling UK tax reporting requirements
• Request your Will

Planning for the future through your Will and legacies is a delicate balancing act between your personal wishes, your family responsibilities and your tax obligations.

We have all the technical expertise and wise counsel you need to achieve this balance. Our team is ready to advise you on:

• Using Wills and trusts for complex inheritance planning, asset protection and tax mitigation
• UK tax planning
• Factoring in international and cross border considerations
• Protecting your children’s inheritance
• Handing over control of your business
• Lifetime giving including philanthropy
• Making advance decisions in case you lose capacity to do so in the future
• Appointing executors and setting up a Lasting Power of Attorney

When someone dies or loses the capacity to look after themselves, relationships within the wider family and with those appointed to represent their interests can become fraught.

If you’re worried about issues like this, our experts in Will disputes can support you with objective guidance and advice on:

• Applying for a statutory Will
• Challenging the content or validity of a Will
• Claiming an inheritance when there is no Will or have not received what you expected or were promised
• Resolving a dispute involving a vulnerable or mentally incapacitated person
• Resolving family disputes including across jurisdictions
• Reviewing and amending your Will
• Updating your plans following a change in your circumstances such as divorce or second marriage
• Request your Will

Structuring your finances, selling assets and finding a home can be more stressful and take longer than you expected – especially if you have lived overseas for a long time or are moving here for the first time.

Our team of wealth and tax planning specialists can help you plan every step of your move or return to the UK and advise you on:

• Your residence status for tax purposes
• Renting or buying a property in the UK
• UK tax structuring and the use of trusts
• Cross-border estate and succession planning
• Buying or setting up a business in the UK
• Protecting your international interests including pre and postnuptial agreements

When your personal or professional life crosses borders, this can add another level of complexity to any situation you’re faced with. It’s therefore essential to call on trustworthy support with the international expertise to reach the best outcome.

Whenever you need us our UK tax and cross border specialists are ready to advise you on:

• International arbitration and mediation
• International divorce including choosing the best jurisdiction to proceed in
• Relocating with your children after separation or divorce
• International and cross-border disputes
• Fulfilling UK tax reporting requirements
• Request your Will

We know it’s hard to even contemplate that things might not work out with your partner.

However, taking steps early on to agree how best to protect what matters to you, especially your children, means you’re prepared in case your relationship does ever break down.

Our team of specialist family solicitors is on hand to advise you on:

• Protecting the financial interests of children
• Protecting pre-marital assets
• Protecting business interests
• Agreeing terms with your partner if you’re not married or in a civil partnership
• Agreeing co-parenting responsibilities
• Making or changing your Will

The breakdown of a relationship can leave you feeling hurt and unsure what to do for the best, especially when children are involved.

Our approachable and compassionate team are members of Resolution and trained to resolve issues in a constructive way. They are on your side, helping you secure the future for you and your family and can help with:

• Advising on separation, divorce and the dissolution of a civil partnership
• Agreeing childcare arrangements as the number one priority
• Negotiating a financial settlement
• Advising on international divorce involving foreign nationals or expats living overseas
• Advising on business interests
• Using mediation to agree terms out of court
• Resolving disputes through alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
• Making the necessary changes to your Will
• Request your Will

Starting or growing your family by an alternative route is an exciting prospect, but it can also be challenging. Our alternative parenting and family solicitors are experienced in guiding you through the complexities you may face.

We can help shape your plans, support you throughout and ensure your family gets off to the right start, advising you on:

• The complexities of fertility law
• Conceiving with a known or unknown donor
• Putting a pre-conception agreement in place
• Using a surrogate including international arrangements
• Adopting a child in the UK or overseas
• Adopting stepchildren
• Becoming a foster parent
• Storing eggs, sperms or gametes
• Establishing legal parenthood and parental responsibility
• Agreeing co-parenting terms

Whatever plans you put into place, the emotional nature of raising a child can cause disagreements, particularly around parental rights.

If you’re dealing with a difficult situation over your child, our modern family solicitors are on hand with sympathetic, thoughtful and pragmatic advice, centred on your child’s best interests:

• Using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) such as mediation and collaborative law to negotiate a workable solution
• Child welfare or maintenance disputes
• Surrogacy disputes
• Disputes over the legal parentage of a child
• Disputes with a co-parent over access rights or the care of a child
• Disputes over consent to use eggs, embryos or sperm following relationship breakdown
• Request your Will

If you’ve separated from your partner, one of the hardest things is the impact on your children. Arrangements must be made that work for both parents and put the children’s best interests first. Understandably, this can be an emotional and trying process.

We have the expertise and sensitivity to reach the right outcome and can advise you on:

• Using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) such as mediation and collaborative law to negotiate a workable solution
• Reaching financial settlement in a divorce
• Custody and contact arrangements
• Child maintenance
• Co-parenting agreements
• Grandparents’ rights
• Cross border considerations

If you’ve failed to agree the way forward with your co-parent or negotiate an acceptable solution in the best interests of your child, don’t despair.

We can help you resolve the matter, sensitively and constructively and can advise you on:

• Child arrangements orders
• Parental responsibility orders
• Resolving a child custody or residence dispute
• Co-parenting disputes
• Relocating your child overseas
• Taking action when your child has been taken out of the country without your consent
• Seeking a court order
• Request your Will

Appointing someone you trust to act for you if you are incapacitated in the future ensures you and your loved ones can be taken care of in the way you want.

Your representative has to make crucial decisions on your behalf, so it’s essential to choose carefully. Our private wealth team is ready to advise you on appointing:

• Guardians for your children
• Executors of your Will
• Trustees
• A Court of Protection deputy to manage the affairs of an elderly or mentally incapacitated individual
• Setting up a Lasting Power of Attorney (or LPA) to enable someone you trust to act on your behalf
• Powers of attorney for foreign assets
• A professional attorney

An appointed representative’s duty is to act in their client’s best interests. If you suspect that a guardian or executor is not doing this, it’s important to address the situation through the right channels.

You might also need to appoint someone to act for a deceased or incapacitated person.

Whatever your concerns, our probate and Court of Protection solicitors can help you with:

• Resolving a dispute with an appointed representative such as an executor or trustee
• Appointing a professional deputy
• Changing a Court of Protection deputy
• Appointing someone to administer an estate when there is no Will

Administering someone’s estate can be a timely reminder to get your own affairs in order, to make things easier for the people who’ll be in your position in the future.

We can tailor a unique plan to ensure your estate is distributed according to your wishes while considering the challenging and ever-evolving international legal and tax implications.

Our private wealth specialists are on hand to advise you on:

• Using Wills and trusts for complex inheritance planning, asset protection and tax mitigation
• Appointing executors
• UK tax planning
• Factoring in international and cross border considerations
• Protecting your children’s inheritance
• Handing over control of your business
• Charitable giving

Administering someone’s estate after their death is sometimes simple, sometimes complex and sometimes fraught with emotion, especially when there is no Will.

We can take the pressure off you by ensuring it is administered efficiently and with compassion Our expert probate solicitors can advise you on:

• Obtaining a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration if there is no Will
• Managing the administration of the estate including trusts, tax liabilities and cross border matters
• Managing Inheritance Act claims
• Contesting or defending a Will
• Resolving a dispute as the executor or trustee
• Helping those who inherit to plan their tax affairs and put a Will of their own in place
• Request your Will

If you have a disabled child or are caring for a vulnerable adult or elderly relative, we can help you make the right decisions to safeguard and protect their interests at all times.

Our dedicated team is on hand to give expert, efficient and sensitive support and advice on:

• Looking after a vulnerable or mentally incapacitated person’s financial affairs or welfare needs
• Financial planning, investments and inheritance tax
• Acting as a Court of Protection deputy
• Appointing a professional deputy
• Administration and duties
• International assets and cross border considerations

The appointment of a Court of Protection deputy can lead family members or carers to suspect that the vulnerable person’s affairs are not being looked after properly. This is likely to lead to a breakdown in relations.

If you find yourself on either side of this situation, our specialist solicitors are on hand to advise you on:

• Managing disputes with families or carers about a vulnerable person’s finances, welfare or best interests
• Making a Statutory Will if the person you’re acting for has no Will or an out-of-date Will
• Changing deputy if you have concerns over their ability to carry out their duties
• Recovering money or property because of financial abuse, fraud, theft or dishonesty

If you’re planning to buy or invest in UK property the process may be more complicated than you might expect. There are many factors to consider from ownership options to the tax implications.

This is a field where expert advice can make all the difference – and that’s where we come in. Our Residential Property Conveyancing solicitors are on hand to advise you on:

• Buying and selling a residential property, including property investments and buy to let
• Buying and selling property in the UK as an overseas investor including Chinese legal services
• Buying and selling rural property and landed estates
• Tax structuring and trusts
• Joint ownership arrangements
• Transfer of ownership
• Re-financing and re-mortgaging

Disagreements, delays and misunderstandings over property ownership can be caused by a range of circumstances, We have the expertise and knowledge to support you through the most complex issues.

Whenever you need us, our expert private wealth and property litigation solicitors, are on hand to advise you on:

• Protecting your property interests
• Property and land disputes
• Family disputes over property
• Using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) such as mediation to reach a mutually agreeable solution
• Fulfilling UK tax reporting requirements
• Contesting or defending a Will
• Reaching financial settlement in a divorce
• Request your Will

It may be hard to imagine now, but one day you will leave your business – perhaps to retire, start a new venture, cash in or for health reasons. We can help you plan a smooth exit, protect your wealth and hand over the business to a new owner or family member.

Our corporate and private wealth solicitors are on hand to advise you on:

• Business succession planning
• Exit strategies
• Preparing your business for sale
• Tax and estate planning
• Wills, trusts and alternatives to trusts
• International assets and cross border considerations
• Shareholder agreements
• Setting up pre and postnuptial agreements
• Pre-empting potential disputes or negative behaviours

Buying or selling a business can be a complex, stressful and costly experience. Our expert legal advice can be invaluable to protect your interests and ensure you are not exposed to any significant and potentially long-term risks.

Our corporate and private wealth solicitors are ready to keep you ahead of the game. We can advise you on:

• Getting an accurate valuation for the business
• Due diligence checks
• Employment and commercial contracts
• Negotiating or reviewing terms of the sale
• Transferring funds, business leases & other contracts
• Tax considerations
• Managing the transfer of business ownership
• Selecting the most appropriate structure for a new business

When you run your own business, particularly if it’s a family concern, your personal and business lives inevitably become entwined. This makes it even more important to ensure you have plans in place to protect your family, your wealth and the future of your business.

Our multidisciplinary team is standing by to advise you on:

• Creating a business succession plan
• Setting up a family business agreement
• Setting up specialist Wills and tax structures
• Establishing or reorganising the structure of your business
• Creating a pre and postnuptial agreement
• HR and employment law
• Making or changing your Will
• Creating a Lasting Power of Attorney

Running your own business is a delicate balancing act, with the potential for both personal and commercial issues to affect your bottom line. Add in the expectations of family members and rifts between them and you could have a lot to contend with.

Our multidisciplinary team is always on hand to advise you on:

• Protecting business interests in a divorce
• Selling or exiting the business
• Resolving family disputes
• Resolving commercial disputes
• Insolvency
• Making any necessary changes to your Will

Diversifying a farm or rural business often requires legal expertise on many different areas of law at different stages. As well as commercial matters, there are also a variety of personal implications to consider.

We can help you to realise your vision and advise you on:

• Real estate and planning
• Tax, estate and succession planning
• Corporate and commercial law
• Intellectual property, data protection and Ts & Cs
• Contracts and employment law
• Funding
• Health and safety
• Family business agreements

When you make fundamental changes to your business, disagreements between the various parties involved can arise. If they do, it can prove costly and time consuming.

If you’re caught up in a dispute, we have the expertise to resolve the issue and minimise the impact on you and your business. We can advise you on:

• Protecting business interests in a divorce
• Resolving family disputes
• Resolving commercial disputes
• Insolvency
• Shareholder or partner disputes

Planning for the future through your Will and legacies is a delicate balancing act between your personal wishes, your family responsibilities and your tax obligations.

We have all the technical expertise and wise counsel you need to achieve this balance. Our team is ready to advise you on:

• Using Wills and trusts for complex inheritance planning, asset protection and tax mitigation
• UK tax planning
• Factoring in international and cross border considerations
• Protecting your children’s inheritance
• Handing over control of your business
• Lifetime giving including philanthropy
• Making Advance Decisions in case you lose capacity to do so in the future
• Appointing executors and setting up a Lasting Power of Attorney

When someone dies or loses the capacity to look after themselves, relationships within the wider family and with those appointed to represent their interests can become fraught.

If you’re worried about issues like this, our experts in Will disputes can support you with objective guidance and advice on:

• Applying for a statutory Will
• Challenging the content or validity of a Will
• Claiming an inheritance when there is no Will or have not received what you expected or were promised
• Resolving a dispute involving a vulnerable or mentally incapacitated person
• Resolving family disputes including across jurisdictions
• Reviewing and amending your Will
• Updating your plans following a change in your circumstances such as divorce or second marriage

If you’re entering into any kind of mutual arrangement with someone, it makes sense to agree terms up front. This gives you both clarity and helps to avoid disagreements in the future.

This is where we come in. Our team of private wealth solicitors can advise you on establishing a:

• Pre or postnuptial agreement with your spouse
• Cohabitation agreement particularly if you have children
• Co-parenting agreement or sperm donor agreement
• Shareholders agreement
• Family business agreement

Even when you have plans in place, life may still throw you a curve-ball which leaves you unable to resolve an issue between you.

If you find yourself in this position, our dispute resolution experts are ready to support you with specialist advice on:

• Using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) such as mediation and collaborative law to negotiate a workable solution
• Child welfare or maintenance disputes
• Divorce, separation or the dissolution of a civil partnership
• Financial settlement in a divorce
• Wills, trusts and inheritance disputes
• Disputes involving executors or trustees
• Disputes across borders and jurisdictions

If you’re embroiled in a dispute, you need to focus on the matter in hand in order to reach a resolution that works for all concerned. However, when it’s over, you may want to take steps to reduce the chances of other disputes in the future.

Our private wealth solicitors can advise you on establishing a:

• Pre or postnuptial agreement with your spouse
• Cohabitation agreement particularly if you have children
• Co-parenting agreement or sperm donor agreement
• Shareholder agreement
• Family business agreement

Even with effective plans in place, it’s impossible to predict everything life might throw at you. No matter how they start, disputes can take their toll, emotionally and financially.

Whenever you need us, our expert private wealth solicitors are ready to advise you on:

• Wills and inheritance disputes
• Disputes with an executor or trustee
• Child custody or residence disputes
• Co-parenting disputes
• Surrogacy and legal parentage disputes
• Property disputes
• Disputes over the management of an incapacitated person’s finances or welfare
• Disputes across borders and jurisdictions

If you’re seeking compensation, you’ve not got the headspace for planning advice right now. But if your claim is successful you could find yourself awarded a significant amount of money that might need to last for the rest of your life.

Our specialist lawyers and advisors can advise you on the most effective ways to structure your finances and plan for the future. We can help you with:

• Financial management if you lack the mental capacity to look after your money
• Appointing a professional deputy or trustee experienced in managing larger sums of money for people with more complex needs
• UK tax, estate sand succession planning
• Making or changing a Will
• Setting up pre and postnuptial agreements

This is a very distressing time for you, and you want and deserve to be compensated for whatever has happened. To succeed, you need expert support and guidance in your corner.

We can advise you on what to expect and how to move forward and support you in rebuilding your life. We can help you claim compensation for:

• Personal injury, for example at work, on your commute, on the street or as the result of a criminal offence
• Serious injuries inflicted in a road traffic accident
• Medical negligence if you believe you have been the victim of medical malpractice
• Professional negligence such as being mis-sold a pension or investment by a financial adviser