Unlike marriage, divorce does not automatically revoke (cancel) your Will. Once divorced, your Will remains valid but takes effect as though your former spouse has died on the date of Decree Absolute. If you made a gift to your former spouse, that gift will not take effect and will form part of your residuary estate. If you have given your entire estate to your former spouse and there is no one else to inherit, your estate will be distributed under the intestacy rules. It is therefore important that you make a new Will as soon as possible. Also, if you have also made Lasting Powers of Attorney, divorce will also cause the appointment of your spouse to be revoked. In these circumstances, your replacement attorneys will step in. However, if your spouse was appointed ‘jointly’ with another,...

Buying a property is the largest transaction most of us will make, so it is natural to that we want to make sure that investment is protected. When more than one person purchases a property, you will each be a co-owner. As co-owners, you can either hold the property as Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common. What are Joint Tenants? If you hold the property as joint tenants, both of you will own the whole of the property. You will not each have a specific share in the property and will not be able to leave a share of the property in your Will. If you sell the property, it will be presumed that you both own the property equally, regardless of each of your contributions to the purchase price. If one of the co-owners dies, their interest would automatically pass to the other co-owner. The surviving...

We are delighted to announce we have been accredited with the Law Society award, Lexcel, in recognising excellence in standards for another year. We were first accredited with the Lexcel quality mark in 2006, and the annual process is a rigorous application and assessment which includes compliance checks and an on-site visit from an independent experienced Lexcel accessor. The quality mark shows that The Eric Whitehead Partnership has met their very high standards in the way it is managed. Director, Nicola Robinson, said of the re-accreditation: “Once again, this is great recognition for the professionalism and dedication of our teams. The award also demonstrates our commitment to providing the best customer service. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone for their hard work, as...

We are proud to report that The Eric Whitehead Partnership Solicitors have recently received confirmation from The Law Society that our Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) re-accreditation application has been successful. In order to achieve accreditation, practices must demonstrate compliance with the CQS protocol and prove that they have the skill and expertise to offer quality advice. This grade of excellence has helped to continually raise the standards across the sector since its inception in 2011. Membership is awarded for 12 months and must be renewed each year. It allows our team to benefit from CQS training programmes, with the requirement to complete mandatory training within six months from the date on which the practice receives confirmation of re-accreditation. This enables us to...

The government has announced that the statutory legacy (also known as ‘the fixed sum’) will increase to £322,000 with effect from 26 July 2023. What is the statutory legacy? The statutory legacy is relevant when an individual dies intestate (in other words, without a valid Will in place) and leaves behind: a surviving spouse or civil partner; and  children In this scenario, the intestacy rules apply. These dictate that various personal possessions from the estate are passed to the surviving spouse or civil partner, together with a sum up to the value of £270,000. Where the net estate exceeds this amount, the excess is divided as to 50% for the surviving spouse or civil partner and as to the remaining 50% held on statutory trusts for issue (i.e. equally divided between children in most...

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is where you give a trusted person known as the “attorney” the authority to make decisions on your behalf. An attorney can be anyone who is over the age of 18 that understands the responsibility they have as an attorney. This could be a partner, child, friend or neighbour. The LPA comes into effect if you decide not to make decisions for yourself, or if you lose the mental capacity to do so in the future. A Lasting Power of Attorney can either cover decisions about your health and welfare, or your finances and property. At The Eric Whitehead Partnership, we provide friendly and transparent legal advice. If you would like further advice on Lasting Power of Attorney, please don’t hesitate to speak to us on 01538 755761 or simply email us at clientcare@ericwhitehead.co.uk ...