Majority of professionals seek more employer support for wellbeing
55% of professionals think employers should be doing more to help with employee wellbeing – whilst over two-fifths of senior leaders feel their increased spending on wellness benefits is going by largely unnoticed. A new poll from international recruitment firm Robert Walters has found professionals in the UK & Ireland are increasingly feeling that their […]
UK life expectancy declines amid pandemic impact
The UK’s latest life expectancy data, as reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), revealed a decline attributed largely to the COVID-19 pandemic. Boys born during 2020-2022 are now expected to live up to 78.6 years, a decrease from 79.3 years for those born in 2017-2019. Similarly, girls’ life expectancy has dropped to 82.6 […]
Video witnessing: January deadline looms
The COVID-19 pandemic catalysed unprecedented changes in many fields, including the legal sector. A significant amendment to the Wills Act 1837 exemplifies this shift. This amendment, introduced to accommodate the challenges posed by the pandemic, allowed wills to be validly executed if witnessed via video-link, adhering to the guidelines of the Wills Act 1837 (Electronic […]
Common Questions in SWW Inbox: Discretionary Trusts
Welcome to the next instalment in a new series of articles from the SWW Technical Team; Common Questions in our Inbox. This instalment will be about one of the most common will trusts – discretionary trusts. A discretionary trust is a type of trust where the trustees are given complete discretion to pay or apply […]
79% pensioner homeowners entitled to benefits are failing to claim – report
Eight out of 10 (79%) pensioner homeowners eligible to claim benefits are failing to claim anything at all with each household missing out on an average of £1,231 a year extra income, according to Just Group’s 14th annual State Benefits insight report. One in 10 (9%) were claiming but receiving too little, on average missing […]
IRN Legal Report: Steady year-on-year growth ahead and more digestion on way
The UK Wills, Probate & Trusts Market Report 2023 is the 10th edition of an annual research report from IRN Legal Reports. In 2023, the wills, trusts and probate market had an estimated value of £2.6bn, increasing by 5.4% on the 2022 value. Most wills written are relatively simple ones. This means that the core wills market […]
Lancaster will writer’s 10,000 feet skydive raises £2,500 for cancer charity
A Lancaster businesswoman took a 10,000 feet plunge over an African desert for a charity which helped her through the loss of her husband. Nicola Combe, director of Morecambe Bay Wills & Estates, did a skydive over the dunes of Namibia just before Christmas to raise funds for CancerCare. Nicola set up Morecambe Bay Wills […]
Today’s Training 2024
Today’s Training has a vast array of training webinars and courses lined up for 2024 and we at Today’s Conveyancer thought we would highlight a few that you might enjoy, as well as some your colleagues might as well. Don’t forget that Today’s Training has training sessions covering our three publications, Today’s Conveyancer, Today’s Wills […]
Common questions in SWW inbox: Issues you could be faced with as a will writer
Welcome to a new series of articles from the SWW Technical Team; Common Questions in our Inbox. For this instalment, we have decided to do something completely different and consider remote instruction taking along with some other common issues will writers may face. Is it acceptable to take instructions over Skype, Whatsapp or FaceTime? Since restrictions were […]
£1bn funding for social care
A funding package worth over £64 billion to support councils in England to deliver frontline services has been announced by the Levelling Up Secretary. The provisional local government finance settlement includes support for social care as they are providing £1 billion in additional grant funding for social care compared to 2023-2024. The government will provide […]
Freewills celebrates UK Charity Week with £100m milestone
An organisation that has helped over 1,900 charities to benefit from charitable gifting through wills is celebrating a major milestone after having helped charities to raise £100m to date. FreeWills is an online, solicitor-checked service, which allows people to create their own bespoke, fully legal will, for free, from the comfort of their own home. […]
Responses to the Law Commission’s Supplementary Consultation Paper
The Law Commission launched their Supplementary Consultation Paper on 5th October 2023, and the consultation period ran until 8th December 2023. The Commission is now consulting on possible reforms to enable electronic wills and to the rule that a marriage or civil partnership revokes a will. The Society of Will Writers (SWW) have responded to […]
Martin Lewis highlights the critical need for a Power of Attorney
Martin Lewis, a widely recognised financial expert, recently emphasised the vital importance of appointing a power of attorney. On various platforms including his ITV show, podcast, and social media, he voiced concern that many people underestimate the value of this legal tool, while mistakenly believing their current asset protection is sufficient. Lewis’s concern stems from […]
Over 45s less concerned about equity release but ‘women more cautious’
New research from equity release lender Standard Life Home Finance has revealed that while the over 45s are less concerned about equity release in general, there are significant gender differences around perceptions of equity release in the UK. The second edition of its Lightbulb Moments report found that men in the UK (58%) are more […]
Laws on Burial, Cremation and New Funerary Methods to be reviewed
The Law Commission has announced details of its review of the law governing how we deal with the bodies of loved ones when they die. The project is being split into three strands : Burial law is governed by a patchwork of different legislation including different laws depending on who is responsible for a burial […]
Australian practice management system launches in UK
An Australian practice management system has formally launched in the UK at this year’s Legalex Conference. Smokeball is a cloud practice management platform first launched in Australia in 2008 and since then has expanded in to the USA in 2012. It says it now serves 15,000 clients across various practice areas with the ambition to […]
Senior hires at Steele Raymond
The appointment of a trio of senior hires has been hailed as a “milestone” for regional law firm Steele Raymond. The appointments of Tim Higham and Jane Lynch in their residential property and private client teams respectively has been complemented by Rachel Hadfield as Marketing Manager. Senior Associate Jane Lynch joins the firm’s Wills, Trusts […]
Over a million retirees depend on State Pension, data reveals
Over a million retired households in the UK are largely dependent on the State Pension for their retirement income, according to analysis of ONS data from retirement specialist Just Group. The data reveals that 1.2 million retired households are “mainly reliant” on the State Pension, defined by the ONS as a household that has at […]
The Guardian: King’s estate allegedly profits from unclaimed inheritances
The Guardian has uncovered a controversial practice in which King Charles III is allegedly benefiting from the deaths of thousands of people in the north-west of England. The Duchy of Lancaster, a land and property estate that generates substantial profits for the king, is said to have collected tens of millions of pounds through an […]
Decline in desire for funerals, study reveals
Less than half of individuals in the UK express a desire for a traditional funeral upon their passing, according to a study conducted by Theos, a religious think tank. The findings have raised concerns, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev Justin Welby, warning that society is losing its ability to “cope with loss.” […]
