A grant of probate is a legal document often required by executors if a person has died and left a will. The executors are the persons who have been appointed in the will to carry out the wishes of the person who has died.People often

This year Highcliffe Castle are holding their first ever Christmas Tree Festival. Decorated trees will take pride of place in their State Rooms. As well as the beautiful trees visitors can also enjoy Christmas storytelling and a festive trail which will incorporate the trees contributed

You may not want to keep a gift of property or money that someone has left to you in a Will. You can either disclaim the gift or you can enter into a deed of variation.You can disclaim the gift in writing. If you do

In a book written by a palliative nurse “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” the top 5 regrets are: What if on your death bed you remember that you have not paid attention to my articles and you have not made or updated your

To my shame I was a recent victim of a scam.  In May I had contacted my bank as I could not use my debit card.  I was told that there was suspected fraudulent activity on my account and my card had been stopped.  I

…no not a recipe for a fine English stew or the name of the witches’ cauldron in Macbeth.  The word hotchpot was used as early as 1292 as a legal term. Executors of a will asked to divide an estate equally among the deceased’s children

Predatory marriage – a marriage that takes place in circumstances where one party to the marriage has been induced to marry by the other party who is acting solely for financial gain. There is already a criminal offence of “forced marriage”.  A person commits an

The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 18 September 2023.  The aim of the Act is to make the process of preparing and registering Lasting Powers of Attorney digital.  The Justice Minister said: “This Act allows us to modernise the service, introduce

Inheritance tax receipts increased to £7.5 billion from March 2023 to April 2024. This is the highest value ever recorded. The figure was a £400 million increase from the same period in the previous tax year.Although the amount collected has increased only 4% of estates

I am writing this just as our Prime Minister Boris Johnson tells us that 6 is the maximum we can have at a gathering in our homes or in our gardens and the 6 must be from no more than 2 separate households. What about