The well-established and popular guide to good practice, ‘The Probate Practitioner’s Handbook’, for practitioners and solicitors’ firms undertaking probate and estate administration work is now available.
The new 9th edition has been comprehensively updated by leading experts to take account of the following:
-money-laundering issues including the requirements of the 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives and the updated LSAG guidance;
-the SRA Accounts Rules 2019;
-changes resulting from the new SRA Standards and Regulations;
-new SRA guidance relevant to practitioners;
-updates to relevant practice notes including disputed wills and handling complaints;
-Inheritance and Capital Gains Tax developments;
-implications of the UK leaving the European Union;
-the introduction of the SRA Transparency Rules;
-implications for practitioners arising from the Covid pandemic; and
-the different ways in which foreign elements may affect the English probate practitioner.
-An essential new chapter explains how data protection law applies in the context of the administration of estates.
-Features such as checklists, precedents, case commentaries and examples enhance the book’s usefulness.
There is also an update from Ian Bond, head of Wills and probate at Thursfields who has written on ‘digital assets’. The Law Society have been stressing the importance of including ‘digital assets’ in Wills by urging people to include emails and photos when dealing with their affairs, after research reveals that three quarters of people do not know what happens to their online presence after they die. The Law Society commissioned a survey which revealed that 93% of those who had made a Will had not included any digital assets in it.
The author of the handbook is Professor Lesley King who is a well-known and respected commentator and lecturer on private client matters. She is an authoritative and clear communicator with a number of publications to her credit.
