A semi in Harborne bought in the 1970s, a final-salary pension, some savings and a life policy: an ordinary Birmingham retirement now adds up to an estate that deserves a proper will, and sometimes to one that inheritance tax will touch. Without a will the intestacy rules decide everything, and they ignore unmarried partners and stepchildren entirely, however long the relationship lasted.
A Birmingham will solicitor will ask about more than who gets the house. Second marriages are common, and a life interest trust can let a surviving spouse stay in the home while protecting the children of a first marriage. Parents of a disabled child can set up a discretionary trust that does not disturb means-tested benefits. Business owners, whether in the Jewellery Quarter, a Sparkbrook restaurant or an engineering firm in Tyseley, need to decide who takes the company on. Birmingham's solicitors also write a good many wills that follow Islamic inheritance rules while remaining valid in English law, and wills for families with land or houses in Pakistan, India or the Caribbean, which usually call for a separate will in that country.
Most firms prepare lasting powers of attorney at the same appointment, one for property and finances and one for health and welfare, so that relatives can act if dementia or a stroke intervenes rather than applying to the Court of Protection.
When someone dies, the same solicitors apply for the grant of probate, report to HMRC, collect the assets and distribute the estate. An executor is entitled to do all of this alone, but is personally liable for errors, and Birmingham estates with property, a business or overseas assets usually justify professional help. Fixed fees for wills and simple estates are the norm; ask whether probate is charged by the hour or as a percentage.
Wills and probate firms for Birmingham appear below, those with a verified badge first. See wills, trusts and probate explained, what a will costs, probate costs, lasting powers of attorney and our guide to will solicitors.
