Later life planning
Start planning now to give you and your family a better future. Our specialist legal and financial advisers cover: pensions and investment advice, equity release, powers of attorney, making a will, care fees planning and gifting money to children.
Later life planning services
At Tees our lawyers and independent financial advisers work together. This gives you a joined-up view of your plans for your future and you can get everything organised in one go.
Our later life planning specialists work across the full range of services:
- Lasting Powers of Attorney – choosing someone you trust to act in your best interests to make decisions on your behalf if you're no longer able to make decisions for yourself – about your health or your money.
- Making a Will – or update a current one. This is key to making sure your wishes are carried out after your death. The complexity and quirks of the tax legislation offer many opportunities to save Inheritance Tax through appropriate planning and your Will is an important element of your plans. The question of how to structure your Will is a complex one involving consideration of a range of different factors. Married couples with significant assets should consider the option of using an appropriate Will trust on the first death, due to the tax planning opportunities available.
- Court of protection and deputyships – a complex process of legal steps to protect vulnerable people. A deputy makes decisions on a person’s behalf. Many of our solicitors have themselves been appointed professional deputies and understand what it means to be responsible for people who can’t make their own decisions.
- Financial and succession planning - inheritance tax planning, business property or agricultural property relief and trust administration, including investment advice. We work with your other professional advisers, such as accountants for a joined up plan.
- Pension advice - tax-free lump sums, retiring early and the different types of pensions - personal, stakeholder, SIPP (self-invested personal pensions), workplace, additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) – and pension transfers.
- Independent investment advice – advising on your investment strategy to support you and your family in later life.
- Equity release – advising you on the right financial product for you to obtain funds from the capital value of property.
- Long-term care fees planning – our independent financial advisers are accredited by Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA) and understand all aspects of funding care for older people or those with health needs.
- Gifting money to children – advice on how to giving regular payments to children and others.
Call our specialist solicitors on 0808 231 1320
We’re here to help
Call us for a free, confidential, no obligation chat, or fill out our enquiry form and we will let you know how we can help. We can also visit you at your home if you wish.
Our specialist lawyers are based in:
- Cambridgeshire: Cambridge
- Essex: Brentwood, Chelmsford, and Saffron Walden
- Hertfordshire: Bishop's Stortford and Royston
But we can help you wherever you are in England and Wales.
Talk to an expert
-
Ian Johnston
Partner, Wills, Trusts, Tax and Probate
Chelmsford office
Meet Ian -
Nicola Havers
Executive Partner, Wills, Trusts, Tax and Probate
Bishop's Stortford office
Meet Nicola -
Toni Chalmers-Smith
Wealth Specialist, Wealth Management
Bishop's Stortford office
Meet Toni -
Catherine Mowat
Senior Partner, Wills, Trusts, Tax and Probate
Cambridge office
Meet Catherine
What our clients say
Legal 500 UK 2024
'The team at Tees are consummately professional, and yet provides a service which feels warm, friendly and personal. All considerations are covered and delivered in an understandable yet thorough manner'
Legal 500 UK 2024
'Tees have been our family’s solicitors for over 25 years. Always setting an exemplary standard, Tees are a well-established, friendly and professional firm that deals with you in a personal manner. You feel confident in their ability to provide sound advice to suit your specific circumstances. I would have no hesitation in recommending Tees'
Legal 500 UK 2024
'Sarah Walker is exceptional in helping us with wills in France and the UK. She listens brilliantly, responds appropriately, and gives clear and simple principles to work to'
Legal 500 UK 2023
'Attention to detail, broad ranging approach to inheritance/LPA advice covering more than just the basic subject. John Southan has a very good grasp of the topics covered and an easy manner of presentation'
Legal 500 UK 2021
‘The team at Tees Law provide a professional and personal service to the clients we refer. Over the years they have demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of personal and estate law, which we feel provides a significant benefit to both ourselves and our clients. They are also an invaluable resource of technical information, which we often need to call upon in the course of our work‘.
Legal 500 UK 2021
'Tees Law has managed to move with the times but still retains the personal touch of the trusted family solicitor. As a family, we have had a lengthy relationship with the practice over four generations, dealing mainly in property, limited company, personal trusts, and probate matters.’
Legal 500 UK 2021
‘I have dealt with Nicola Havers as executor on probate matters and as a trustee for a family trust - she operates with calmness, tact, and diplomacy. Nicola is an efficient case manager. She brings in additional specialist advisers at the appropriate stages to supplement her own advice.’
Legal 500 UK 2021
‘The team at Tees takes the time to explain what will happen and made sure l understood the process. They kept me updated without me having to contact them. After the meetings, l was happy l had a good grasp of what was a complicated legal request.’
Frequently asked questions
The benefits of having a properly written will include:
- You choose who inherits from your estate
- You can choose someone to trust to administer your estate
- Your family know what your wishes are
- Gives the opportunity for estate and inheritance tax planning and management
- Makes appropriate provisions for minors or dependents
- Assists your estate in the event that the will is contested.
Yes, it is possible to write your own will (sometimes called a ‘DIY will’) however it is not advisable that you do so. Wills are complex legal documents, and in order for a will to be considered valid after you die, it must comply with strict rules.
You might have grounds to object to the registration of a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) if:
- you can prove the LPA isn’t legally valid
- the person who made the LPA (the ‘donor’) didn’t have mental capacity
- there was forgery or fraud in creation of the LPA
- the attorney is bankrupt
- the attorney isn’t acting in the donor’s best interests.
Lifetime gifts are assets you give away before you die. Examples of lifetime gifts include:
- money
- investments
- artwork
- cars
- jewellery
- shares in a business
- payments to a life assurance policy that is not for your benefit or does not pay out to your estate
If you survive the gift by seven years or more, then it is not normally subject to inheritance tax when you die. It is important that you do not retain any benefit of the gift, or inheritance tax will be due. Gifts that you make within seven years of your death may be subject to inheritance tax. Transfers into Trusts are also subject to the seven year rule, however the inheritance tax position is more complex and legal advice should be obtained.
