The estate includes a thirty-foot yacht on a mooring at Itchenor, a flat in a retirement development in the city, a share of a nursery business and a cottage in Bosham that has doubled in value since it was bought; the will was made in 1998 and names an executor who has since died. Will solicitors in Chichester see versions of this every week, because so many people retired here with assets built up elsewhere. Updating an old will, and making sure it still works with the inheritance tax rules, is often the first job.
Tax is the second. Harbourside houses, Downs cottages and the farms and glasshouses of the coastal plain take many Chichester estates past the point where tax is payable, and a solicitor will look at lifetime gifts, trusts for grandchildren, the reliefs for business and agricultural property, and legacies to charities such as the cathedral or the hospice, which reduce the rate on the rest.
Lasting powers of attorney are urgent in a retired district. The finance power lets a child or friend run the bank accounts and sell the house if needed; the health and welfare power lets them speak to St Richard's Hospital and the care home. Without them, nothing can be done without a Court of Protection order, which takes months. Care-fee planning goes with it.
Probate follows every death: valuing property, boats and investments, paying tax to HMRC before the grant, and selling the house. Disputes between a second spouse and the children of a first marriage are common enough that many Chichester firms have a contentious probate specialist.
Wills and powers of attorney are usually fixed-fee; probate is quoted as a fixed sum, hourly or as a percentage, so ask.
Below are the wills and probate solicitors serving Chichester, verified firms first. Background: wills, trusts and probate explained, how much probate costs, what a lasting power of attorney is, and the general will solicitors guide.
