Rural Cheshire is where people go to retire, and villages such as Tarporley, Tattenhall, Malpas and Farndon are full of couples whose house, pension and savings add up to more than the inheritance tax allowances without their ever thinking of themselves as wealthy. Will solicitors in Chester therefore spend much of their time on tax: using the allowances for a home passed to children, deciding whether a trust is worth its complexity, and advising on lifetime gifts, which only work if made properly and early.
Farming families around Chester have a more urgent reason to visit. The reliefs that once sheltered a working farm from inheritance tax are being cut back, which has made succession planning urgent, and a will has to fit with the partnership agreement, the tenancy and the bank. A will also has to deal with the border: inheritance law is the same in Wales, but property there carries Welsh land tax and Welsh planning, which affects what a beneficiary can do with a cottage in Flintshire.
Lasting powers of attorney go hand in hand with the will. One for property and finance, one for health and welfare, prepared while the person has capacity, keep decisions in the family and out of the Court of Protection, which is slower and dearer. Unmarried partners, stepchildren and cohabiting friends inherit nothing under the intestacy rules, so a will is the only protection for them.
The same Chester firms administer estates after a death: valuing land and houses, settling tax with HMRC, obtaining the grant of probate and distributing; farm and business estates need specialist handling.
Wills and powers of attorney are usually fixed-fee in Chester; probate may be fixed, hourly or a percentage, so ask.
Chester's will and probate firms are listed below, verified practices leading. For detail see wills, trusts and probate explained; for prices, how much a will costs and what probate costs; for choosing a firm, the general guide to will solicitors.
