Access free digital resources for professionals and clients

Kings Court Trust partners with Will Writers, Financial Advisers, Estate Planners, and Funeral Directors to provide award-winning probate and estate administration services to their clients. Their unique partnership model enables professionals to expand their service offering to extend further support to their clients and their families. Additionally, they have a number of free digital resources […]

LPA reform receives Royal Assent

Reforms designed to transition the process of creating Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) from a largely paper-based process to a digital one are to be enacted. The Powers of Attorney Act passed its third reading in the House of Lords last week and has today (19th September) received Royal Assent. The updates are in response […]

Personality disorders and the issue of testamentary capacity

Background Norman Gill was born on 24 January 1935. In 1964 he married Mary and the couple had three children together: Jessica, Marcus and Elizabeth. Mary had a son from a previous relationship (Julian). Marcus and Elizabeth did not have any children. Jessica had two: Natasha (born 1 December 1995) and Tom (born 19 April […]

Assessing the benefits of pre-paid funeral plan regulation

Losing a loved one is one of life’s most challenging experiences, and the burden of arranging a funeral can add to the emotional distress. Pre-paid funeral plans offer a solution to alleviate the stress, time, and worries associated with making funeral arrangements. These plans allow individuals to specify their funeral preferences in advance and cover […]

Challenging the validity of a Will on grounds of undue influence

John Lambe

What is undue influence? It is possible to have a Will set aside on grounds that it was procured by means of undue influence. This is the idea that a testator has been influenced by coercion, in the sense that their Will must be overborne or by fraud. Whether this has happened is a question […]

Risk to mental health in the workplace – what are they and how to manage them

It is World Mental Health Day on 10 October: an opportunity to raise awareness and campaign for change. This year we want to highlight the responsibilities of employers to create mentally healthy workplaces. The traditional view of health and safety in the workplace is evolving to include the risks to mental health in workplaces and […]

Work life matters: Communication

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard my clients’ people say “communication in our company isn’t very good”.  Now they may well mean what they say, but when I probe and ask for a bit more detail and nuance, it’s often lacking. Moaning about poor communication is sometimes the easy way out.  […]

Lengthening probate application delays counter recent signs of progress

Probate application delays reveal a slight increase from the previous month of this year – increasing from 13.9 weeks to 14, new data from HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has revealed. For the 22,922 grants of probate issued in July 2023, the average timeline from submission to grant was 14 weeks – showing an […]

Final few tickets for British Wills and Probate Awards 2023

The British Wills and Probate Awards, sponsored by CTT Group, is heading for a sell-out with the ceremony just three weeks away. 450 practitioners are expected to come together at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in Manchester on 11th October to celebrate “the Oscar’s of the probate world” and recognise excellence across the Wills and probate community.  […]