A retired chief petty officer in Plymstock, a widow in a Plympton bungalow, a fisherman who still goes out of Sutton Harbour at sixty-five: Plymouth's will solicitors see a city with a long memory of the sea and a great many people who have put off making a will. The reasons for making one are the same everywhere, but in Plymouth some are sharper. The intestacy rules give an unmarried partner nothing, however long the relationship. Service and dockyard pensions carry death benefits and nominations that need to match the will. And a job at sea or in a shipyard is a reminder that the unexpected happens.
A Plymouth will solicitor will ask about the family, the house, any pension and life cover, and what should happen to children if both parents died, then draft a will that is valid, clear and difficult to challenge. Second marriages, frequent among older clients, often call for a life interest trust so that a new spouse can stay in the home while the children of the first marriage eventually inherit it. Lasting powers of attorney are prepared alongside, one for finances and one for health and welfare, so that a relative can deal with the bank and the hospital at Derriford if capacity is lost; without them an application to the Court of Protection is needed.
After a death the same firms administer the estate: valuing property and accounts, dealing with HMRC, obtaining the grant of probate and paying the beneficiaries. Plymouth estates are often modest, but a house with a mortgage, a pension lump sum and a dispute between siblings can make even a small estate hard to settle without help.
Wills and powers of attorney are generally fixed-fee; probate is charged at a fixed fee, hourly or as a percentage, so compare.
Plymouth's wills and probate firms are listed below, verified firms first. Read wills, trusts and probate explained, how much probate costs, what a lasting power of attorney is and the general will solicitors guide.
