The Estate Planner’s Podcast

This case is a rare example of the courts having to potentially apply the Commorientes rule for a situation in which there is uncertainty about which of two people passed away first. 

I share a personal story to start off this episode, as it helped me to bring some clarity to my own functions and activities as an estate planner. We then look at how the same principle applies with clarifying your client's purposes.

In this episode, we take a look at one form of promotional activity for estate planners - networking - to explore the effective methods of generating new leads, and some key errors to avoid. 

In this episode, we take a look at some of the different hats that we wear as estate planners and the occasions when mixing up the hats can lead to unnecessary problems.

This episode looks at the use of the Hotchpot clause in wills. We take a look at some of the problems with its use and the solutions to fully achieve the testator's wishes. 

This is an extended episode, covering the September 2024 case of Oliver v Oliver. The case involves elements of Section 9 of the Wills Act, Testamentary Capacity and Undue Influence. 

This is the third and final episode on the Competition and Markets Authority guidance for unregulated legal services. This episode covers the topics of Reasonable Care and Skill and Sales Practices.

This episode continues the review of the Competition and Markets Authority guidance for unregulated legal services, and specifically looks over their provisions covering the fairness of contract terms.

The Competition and Markets Authority have released their guidance on consumer protection law for unregulated legal services. This episode looks at part of that guidance as it relates to providing accurate information to consumers.

A person cannot deliberately deprive themselves of assets for the purpose of avoiding paying for their care and support charges. In this episode we take a look at the historic development of this principle and its application today.

This topic is perhaps one of the most controversial for estate planners, and there are a wide variety of opinions about their use in the profession. This episode looks at some of their uses, their mis-uses and the ways that we might improve our communication of them to our clients.

Scams, cons and fraud victims are far more prevalent than most people realise. In this episode we take a look at some examples and see how estate planning can help to prevent vulnerable people from the distress and financial losses that result.

This is a case often referred to on the subject of deliberate deprivation of assets. It is worth understanding to appreciate the rationale of the courts when coming to the decision that they made in favour of the Local Authority.

Yes, that is a bold claim! This episode contains the key to understanding this and any other subject, and shows how you can improve your professional competence and certainty in your knowledge.

An element of our role as estate planners is to educate our clients on the various products and services we offer that can help to solve thier problems. We will sometimes run into a difficulty in that education that is difficult to detect and handle - false data. This episode looks at how we can identify and then handle our client's false data.

I was recently invited on to the Today's Wills and Probate podcast to talk about regulation and the Competition and Markets Authority consultation. This episode is a reproduction of that interview in full.

Land and property ownership in the UK will be either held under a Freehold or a Leasehold tenure. What exactly does this mean, and what effect does this have on estate planning? This episode answers these two questions and uncovers one common error that unwary estate planners can fall foul of.

Perhaps the most difficult of appointments are those with a person at the very end of their life. In addition to the upsetting nature of the situation, there are the added complexities of establishing testamentary capacity, knowledge and approval of the contents of the will and a lack of any undue influence. This episodes addresses these issues and provides some guidance on several points that can...

In this episode, we take a look at the principle of Proprietary Estoppel and how it affects estate planning. We examine the key cases that have built the framework and the three elements of assurance, reliance and detriment.

Knight v Knight, 1840, is one of the most important cases relating to trust law as it brought the concept of the three certainties of a trust into focus. This episode looks at the circumstances of the case and the court's decision making process.

This case from 1972 addressed one of the three certainties that are necessary for a valid trust - the certainty of objects. The courts looked at the wording used in the trust and in this episode, we take a look at what they considered when coming to their decision.

This episode looks at some of the main differences in instruction-taking and drafting when you have a client that does not have children as compared to a client that does have children. We take up some specific examples of how you can change the conversation to better accommodate these differences. 

As technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, should it be a worry? Consumers are more regularly going online to make their wills using websites that are getting better at interacting with the user. As professional practitioners we will rely more on technology than ever. With these trends, what does the future of our profession look like, and is there anything we should be doing now to disting...

Continuing the topic of LPAs, this episode looks at the case of The Public Guardian v RI and Others which gives us the criteria for an assessment of capacity specifically in relation to the creation of a Lasting Power of Attorney.

There has been relatively little discussion on the subject of Lasting Powers of Attorney so far in this podcast, so in this episode we take a look at a client situation that illustrates just why they are so important. It serves as an example that you can use to paint the picture for clients that might be reluctant to put them in place.