Personal legal toolkit

A handy legal toolkit offering a collection of straightforward guidance notes to help you with your personal legal needs.

Most of us want a secure future and to provide security and certainty for our loved ones. Sometimes we need some guidance to help us achieve that. We have devised a series of helpful guides, providing useful information on a range of legal matters. 

These guides provide free legal and practical help and can be accessed as and when you need them. Click the links below to download the guides in PDF format.

A family investment company (FIC) is a tax-efficient vehicle used for estate planning. Developed following changes to the taxation of trusts in 2006, FICs offer an alternative to trusts as they enable significant wealth to be passed on to future generations – while both protecting and retaining control over the assets.

View our pdf guide on family investment companies

A guide for executors, administrators and beneficiaries.

View our pdf guide on administering an estate 

There are various important considerations to take into account when appointing a professional executor, which we explore in this guide, as well as the likely costs involved.

View our pdf guide on appointing Mills & Reeve Trust Corporation as a professional executor

There are various important considerations to take into account when appointing a professional trustee, which we explore in this guide, as well as the likely costs involved. 

View our pdf guide on appointing Mills & Reeve Trust Corporation Limited as a professional trustee

There are various important considerations to take into account when appointing a professional attorney, which we explore in this guide, as well as the likely costs involved.

View our pdf guide on appointing Mills & Reeve Trust Corporation as a professional attorney

A deed of covenant is a binding agreement made by an individual to pay a regular sum to a specified recipient. It provides a way of making tax-efficient lifetime gifts and, crucially, ensures that those gifts will continue, even if the donor loses capacity. View our pdf guide on deeds of covenant for surplus income. 

Increasingly, we are living our lives in a digital age, where more and more assets are held intangibly online, rather than physically. This briefing note considers in broad terms what you need to do to ensure these digital assets are dealt with in accordance with your wishes.

View our pdf guide on digital assets

When an individual dies without having made a valid will, they die intestate. In such cases, the estate must be dealt with according to the Administration of Estates Act 1925.

View pdf guide

We look at how a homeowner can gift their main residence to reduce the value of their estate for inheritance tax purposes, yet still remain in occupation.

View our pdf guide about family home gifts and lease planning

When someone dies, one of the important jobs of the personal representatives is to ensure that the right amount of Inheritance Tax is paid. As part of this, they need to report any relevant gifts the deceased may have made in the seven years before they died.

View pdf guide

Funding your grandchildren’s school and university fees through a trust can bring a range of benefits.

View our pdf about grandchildren's education trusts

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. 

View our pdf guide

A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows you to appoint one or more people to make decisions and/or act on your behalf. This can be at a time when you are incapacitated by illness or an accident, when you are suffering from a loss of mental capacity, or even while you are out of the country. 

View our pdf guide about lasting power of attorney

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) allows you to deal with a person’s property and financial affairs and there are guidelines that will need to be followed if you have to act on someone else’s behalf.

View pdf guide

If you own property or other assets and would like to make sure they go to the people you choose to benefit in the event of your death, you should make a will. A will also ensures you can provide for your dependants and arrange your affairs in a way that minimises tax liabilities.

View our pdf guide on making a will

Pre- and post-nuptial agreements are becoming more popular for couples and now form a key part of financial planning.

Visit our prenups and wealth protection page.

This pack is to guide you in your role as a trustee. It encompasses your duties, responsibilities and obligations going forward. There is a lot to consider on becoming a trustee – it is far from a passive role and instead one which requires continued careful thought and action.

View our guide

Trusts are mainly used by individuals as a way of holding, preserving and generating wealth. In this guide, we consider issues around trusts, trustees and taxation.

View our pdf guide about trusts

Most people will at some stage suffer the death of a family member or close friend and be faced with the task of dealing with their estate. It is a difficult time. There can be a lot to think about and do, and many people are uncertain of the steps that need to be taken.

View pdf guide

Claiming Business Relief and Agricultural Relief on the transfer of certain assets on death can generate significant savings of inheritance tax.  An individual’s Will can be carefully drafted to make the most effective use of the reliefs available, while achieving the succession objectives.

View our pdf guide on claiming business and agricultural relief

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Legal guides on philanthropy

If you are looking to set up a new charity, or perhaps make governance changes to an existing charity, thought should be given to the most appropriate structure.  The right choice will largely depend on the assets the charity will hold, the activity it will engage in and the level of management/control envisaged.

> View our guide on charity structures

If you are keen to put money aside for charitable purposes but have not yet decided which causes to support, you may wish to consider creating a grant making charity.

> View our guide on grant making charities

There are different ways to support your favourite charitable causes. This note sets out some of the options.

> View our guide on charitable giving

If you are looking for a structure to facilitate giving or to advance charitable work, you like the idea of having your own organisation to invest in, manage and build and you are not deterred by the prospect of ongoing administrative work and compliance, setting up your own charity may be the right option for you.

> View our guide for setting up a charity

As well as benefiting the charity, you “the donor” may also benefit from the tax relief that applies on charitable giving.

> View our guide on charitable giving and its tax benefits