Meridian Private Client Solicitors is a specialist private client law firm based in the Midlands. With a team of over forty, Meridian is one of the largest private client practices in the region.
Edward Jones, Senior Associate, is a member of the Estate Planning Team, which focuses on non-contentious private client work, including Wills, trusts, IHT planning, estate administration and probate matters, often involving large and complex estates.
He explains: “The estates we administer are often complex for various reasons, which includes geography, with assets in multiple cross-border jurisdictions, and also in terms the different tax regimes in play, as well as the interactions with existing trust structures. The assets involved can sometimes be very valuable, such as large landed estates, significant business interests, or luxury cars and multi-million pound art and antique collections.
With these factors at play the levels of complexity can multiply, but so can the opportunity to mitigate tax through claiming different available tax reliefs, for example where business or farming assets are involved.
Managing Complex Estates with Confidence
“Many of these estates are for high-net worth individuals, worth between £1 – 50 million, but we also assist clients with lower-value estates, where the complexity may arise from unusual circumstances, or where the estate needs to be administered following the resolution of (or during) a dispute. One of the Partners from our team can act as an independent administrator in these circumstances. We are often referred estates from other law firms, where their clients may need help in dealing with a particular element, or because they feel they do not have the necessary knowledge and experience to do so themselves.
“Fundamentally the law and good practice remain the same regardless of the size of an estate. However, larger estates can be more complex because often they include more assets, of a higher value, and may involve more beneficiaries and other parties, such as other professional advisors. With higher values involved the exposure to tax can also increase (and with this risk) so having the knowledge and experience to claim all available reliefs is very important.
“There may also be cross-border elements to consider. Holiday homes in Europe, or investments overseas are common. Care needs to be taken in correctly determining which law applies, and we may need to liaise with overseas lawyers and other professionals to deal with different tax regimes, and claim any reliefs from HMRC to prevent double-taxation.
Utilising Estate Administration Tools
“One of the first steps in the administration of an estate is to establish all the assets and liabilities. Often we have a good idea of what is included, but we do also use Estatesearch’s Financial Profile search to either verify what we know, or to check that there are no unknown additional assets or liabilities.
“Estatesearch automatically contacts over 400 financial institutions on our behalf to check if accounts are held. The team there also establishes if an individual is a company director and we can use their secure portal to place Trustee Notices too. We also order overseas bankruptcy checks through Estatesearch which are essential when a beneficiary lives abroad and we need to check the position before distributing any funds.
“In one recent case, an asset search revealed an additional, previously unknown account, held in a different arm of one financial institution and containing over £30,000. This was a significant sum, and not only was it worth undertaking the search, but importantly it protected our client as the Executor, ensuring that they had undertaken their duty to deal with all assets of the deceased.
With the increase in online banking, sometimes we have less initial paperwork to go on than we’d like, and this is where an Estatesearch asset search comes into its own, confirming which institutions hold accounts in order that we can make further enquiries to establish precisely what is held.
An online portal makes it easy to order in one place, and from a client perspective it is very helpful to know the costs of searches up front. The customer services team at Estatesearch is also on hand to answer any questions if we have more unusual queries too.
Precision in Every Detail
“As a firm, our approach is to ensure that no stone is left unturned. We focus solely on private client work, which means that we have particular expertise in this area, and we can really add value for our clients.
“We think of a complex case as the “hub” of a wheel, having “spokes” which go off in many different directions, and we work as a team to bring all those different elements together, from advising the executors and trustees, dealing with the taxes involved, drafting the probate and other necessary legal paperwork, to working with lawyers overseas, as well as other professionals including accountants, financial advisors and surveyors.
“We often effectively “project manage” estates, and keeping focus and momentum at all times is very important. As the size of an estate increases so does the risk of something going wrong, including the potential to miss tax or compliance deadlines, or overlook recent changes in legalisation.
“We offer a bespoke service to clients and like to meet and discuss their requirements in the first instance. Our flexible, client-focused approach means we can add as much value as possible through our expert services.”
For further information about Meridian Private Client Solicitors please see: https://meridianprivateclient.co.uk/