Private client

Your family comes first. So it’s vital to protect, grow and pass on your wealth to them effectively.

But a wide range of options, and complex rules and taxes – especially if you’re based in more than one country – mean it can be tough to know how best to do that.

That’s where we come in.

Every family is unique. So we’ll get to know your aims and understand your circumstances, business and assets, then identify the best options for you.

It might be that a properly structured will is all you need. Or you might need in-depth help with succession planning. Whether it’s advice on inheritance tax, family trusts or shared business ownership, or anything in between, our experts will help you make the most of your wealth for the next generation. If you’d rather leave your legacy to charity, we can advise you on the best way to do that too – including establishing and managing trusts, foundations and other philanthropic initiatives.

We also want to do more than just keep your money safe. So we’ll look for solutions that will generate value in the long term that far outweighs what you pay for our advice.

We think about the now, but with one eye on the future.

How can we help

Here are just some of our services for private clients. Use the right-hand links to find out more.

  • Business owners, landowners and rural businesses: we can advise you on tax planning, business and ownership structures and lots more.

  • Disputes over estates, wills and trusts: we can help individuals, executors, trustees and charities with trust or estate issues. That includes dealing with disputes, challenges or mismanagement.

  • International advice: we can help international clients and their families understand how living in the UK can affect taxes, as well as with investing in the UK. We can also help plan and manage how taxes impact their finances worldwide, and establish structures to hold assets in several jurisdictions.

  • Lifetime estate and succession planning: we can help you make gifts or loans, and create trusts or other structures like family investment companies.

  • Philanthropy: we can create and structure charitable trusts and foundations, and advise you on the best ways to give to charity.

  • Power of attorney: we can help you appoint someone to look after your affairs if you’re no longer able to.

  • Probate: we can administer an estate with or on behalf of executors, including planning and restructuring, and give advice on the UK parts of international estates. We can also give beneficiaries planning advice after the death of a loved one.

  • Succession planning on death: we can help you draft your will and record your wishes.

  • Trusts: we can advise trustees on how to use their powers, make sure beneficiaries receive benefits, explore opportunities for planning and make sure the trust complies with the law.

  • Family law: we can help with divorce and separation, prenuptial agreements, pension sharing and international family law – go to our family and children page to find out more.

Whatever you ask us to do, we’ll tailor it to your personal circumstances, and deliver it with care.

What we can achieve together


When we help you with your planning, we’ll always have the following objectives in mind:

  • Protect your assets: we’ll advise you on the best way to structure your affairs and protect your wealth for future generations. We’ll also help you look after vulnerable beneficiaries and avoid disputes in the future.

  • Streamline compliance: we’ll help you handle any legal requirements for your financial planning – like reporting to HMRC, keeping records or dealing with rules on exchanging information.

  • Make tax more efficient: we’ll advise you on the best way to structure arrangements, finances and assets to keep tax to a minimum. That includes making the most of available benefits and allowances, and navigating how different taxes interact with each other.

Why choose us?


We combine specialist knowledge of safeguarding family wealth with an in-depth understanding of business structures. And we have the expertise to set up the right arrangements. We’re also ahead of the competition when it comes to innovation – in fact, we created the first family investment company in 2009.  

Our company is also an accredited Platinum STEP Employer Partner. That means we’ve been recognised by the global professional association for practitioners specialising in family inheritance and succession planning. This puts us among the best lawyers in the country when it comes to helping people plan for their future.

Meet the team

Personal legal toolkit

A collection of straightforward guidance notes to help you with your personal legal needs.

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Private Affairs Summer 2024 is out!

Read this latest issue which covers key topics impacting individuals, their families and private wealth.

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Guide to HMRC Trust Registration requirements

Regulations implementing the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive came into force on 6 October 2020. In this guide, we consider the two major changes brought in by the new Regulations. 

Read more

Articles on the Autumn Budget 2024

A deeper dive into the inheritance tax changes

  • As has now been widely reported there are some extensive changes coming to IHT. We’ve already shared a round up of the relevant private client matters and a deeper look at the changes to the non-dom regime.

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The impact on family businesses

  • It is fair to say that family businesses, which are rightly described as the backbone of our economy, have not fared well in Rachel Reeves’ first Budget as Chancellor. Such businesses seem to have taken a disproportionate brunt of the burden and there is genuine concern that, in long term, these changes will have an impact on the survival of multi-generational family businesses.

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Changes to the non-dom regime

  • The government has been vocal in its commitment to abolish the remittance basis of taxation (the favourable taxation regime available to UK tax residents who are domiciled outside the UK (so called “non-doms”)) and to remove the inheritance tax benefits of trusts established by non-doms.

>>

Summary of tax changes for individuals

  • It’s the first Budget with a female Chancellor, and Rachel Reeves has said the measures will raise taxes by £40 billion. But what does the Labour government’s Autumn Budget 2024, and the drive for economic growth, mean for you?

>>

Our expertise

Business owners
Estate, trust and will disputes
Family investment companies
Family business consulting
Gifts, loans and establishing trusts
International tax, estate and succession planning
Lasting powers of attorney and loss capacity
Landed estates
Philanthropy and charitable giving
Probate
Trusts - planning and compliance
Wills, estate and succession planning
Our probate fees - please follow the link to find out more about our legal fees.

Related sectors & services

Agricultural tenancies for farms and cottages Food and agribusiness Owner managed and family businesses Real estate Residential property Sales and purchases