Today's Wills & Probate Podcast

In this episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie welcomes Sam Grice, founder of Octopus Legacy (formerly Guardian Angel), to discuss the origins, evolution, and future ambitions of one of the fastest-growing companies in the end-of-life planning and bereavement support space. Sam's journey into the wills and probate sector began with a deeply personal tragedy. In 2017...

In the latest episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie discusses the intriguing and often surprising world of probate genealogy with Eileen Lavelle, Regional Head at Anglia Research. Eileen offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be a probate genealogist and how their work dovetails with the probate process. Eileen's day-to-day role involves identifying an...

The latest Today's Wills and Probate Podcast welcomes workplace culture and staff retention specialist Andre Thomas of Thomas Telman to discuss the critical importance of cultivating a positive workplace culture and the direct impact this has on staff retention and overall business success. The firm has created a empirical methodology by which culture can be measured through engagement survey...

In this latest episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Stephen Lawson, Partner at IDR Law and Elizabeth Gibbison, a solicitor at Irwin Mitchell and Chair of Law Society Private Client Solicitors Section Advisory Committee, to discuss the likely contents of the Wills Act 1837 by the Law Commission, its wider implications, and the broader legislative changes fa...

Arken Group CEO Dave Newick joins the Today's Wills and Probate Podcast to discuss the output of a recent report published by Arken looking at the current landscape of the private client sector.  The podcast focuses on three key discussion points borne out of the report; law firms and professionals need to be; better at understanding the data they hold proactively manage the changing employme...

In this Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie sat down with Mariam Khan, Solicitor at WMP Legal, to discuss the complexities of Islamic wills and estate planning. Many will writers and solicitors do not have the expertise to draft wills that align with both English law and Islamic inheritance principles. Mariam Khan has developed this niche expertise, ensuring that her clients receive...

Podcast host David Opie in joined by CEO of the charity LawCare, Elizabeth Rimmer, to discuss their latest "Life in the Law" surveys which are now open for completion until Friday 21st March.  LawCare supports and promotes mental health and wellbeing across the legal services sector. They have 2 main focuses. Their first is in providing direct support on and offline for those who wish to...

The Today's Wills and Probate Podcast welcomes back Dan Warburton, a law firm consultant and trainer who specialises in helping individuals delegate work more effectively; in the process junior staff are elevated, the individual has a happier work/life balance, and ultimately the firm can be more profitable.  It's a soapbox Dan has jumped on before having appeared previously on the podca...

In the second episode of the fourth series of the Today's Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie sat down with Taz Khalid, CEO, and Jean Ward, COO of My Probate Solicitor (MPS), to discuss the launch of the new business and the introduction of ZENA—an AI-powered “warrior princess” designed to streamline probate services for an ageing and growing population. MPS was founded as a tech-centr...

In the first episode of the fourth series of the Today's Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Alison Hesketh of TimeFinders; a service best described as providing later life admin support. Filling the "yawning gap" between the legal and financial professions, and the care sector, Timefinders was set up in 2010 following Alison's own experiences of supporting...

What is the current sentiment across the profession around wills, probate, client experience, speed of administration, attitude toward financial services... that is the topic of the latest Today's Wills and Probate which delves into the recently published "Bereavement Index"; an annual report tracking the key issues facing individuals and firms dealing with the administration of dea...

Legal Services Director at Kings Court Trust Charlotte Toogood joins the latest Today's Wills and Probate podcast to impart her experience of working in estate administration over the last 16 years.   With contentious probate on the rise Charlotte shares her thoughts on what we can do as practitioners, and how we can better advise families to either avoid disputes, or deal with them construct...

Today's Wills and Probate Host David Opie is joined by Birketts' Head of the Private Wealth Dispute Team Bernadette Baker and Partner in the team Kate Harris to discuss the case of Leonard v Leonard; a convoluted and disputed probate case concerning the estate of Jack Leonard and the validity of two separate Wills.  Bernadette leads with a comprehensive outline of the case, including con...

As one of the disruptors in the wake of the Legal Services Act 2007 QualitySolicitors (QS) was launched in 2009 with the ambition to help the high street fight back against the anticipated onslaught of major brands entering the legal market - so-called 'Tesco Law.' QS grew rapidly, with firms up and down the country adopting the familiar black and pink branding, adding the name "Qua...

Free and low cost will schemes are an established part of the wills and probate sector, providing charities with valuable legacy income streams, and practitioners with their largest source of lead generation. The latest Today's Wills and Probate Podcast welcomes Richard Millar of Capacity Marketing on to discuss the value of free and low cost will networks. Capacity Marketing is probably one...

Dean Morgan is the Managing Director of a franchise of Grey Matters Consultancy; a business founded with the aim of meeting the needs of those in retirement at the point they need additional assistance, and for offering guidance to those who have the responsibility for their care.  Dean is himself a franchisee based in Cardiff with a background in social care and through Grey Matters provides a ra...

Helen Stewart, Partner and Head of Probate at Thomson, Snell & Passmore joins the latest Today's Wills and Probate Podcast to discuss the launch of a new association to support collaboration and best practice amongst independent administrators (IAs) and estates in conflict.   The National Association of Independent Administrators (NAIA) brings together contentious and non-contentious prac...

Tim Hewson joins the Today's Wills and Probate podcast to discuss LegalWills - his Canadian-based technology company providing will writing and estate planning services in Canada and North America. The business started in a bar in Ottawa where Tim and his colleagues were discussing whether any of them, all successful tech high-flyers, had a will or had considered any form of later life and su...

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has recently requested law firms complete an anti-money laundering and sanctions data collection exercise. The SRA is required by Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) to take a risk-based approach to supervision and is requesting firms complete the requested information as full as possible. It will, they say enable them to...

Behaviour change campaign Remember a Charity is a consortium of around 200 charities dedicated to growing the legacy market; helping charities develop what is an increasingly vital long term revenue stream. In the latest Today's Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Lucinda Frostick, Director at Remember a Charity and Chris Millward Head of Legacies at Princess Alice Hospice...

Ashley Rowthorn, CEO and Kath Horsley, Senior Consultant at Legacy Futures join the Today's Wills and Probate podcast to discuss their latest piece of research on the investment charities make in their marketing. The Legacy Marketing Benchmarks report provides insight into  helping charities understand what legacy marketing is enable charities to benchmark their spend helping charities make a...

Regulation, collaboration and the response to the Competition and Markets Authority review of will writing services all form part of the latest Today's Wills and Probate Podcast. Host David Opie is joined by Antony Brinkman; CEO of the Willwriting Partnership and Chair of the Professional Standards Board (PSB).  At the outset Antony explains the role of the PSB, a separate function from the S...

The five most expensive words in the English language - "it's a matter of principle." Because principles cost money. And this increasingly plays out across contentious private client matters, in inheritance and probate disputes.  joining host David Opie on the latest Today's Wills and Probate Podcast is Hayley Gaffney, an associate at Coodes Solicitors and member of the firm&ap...

People who were born between 1946 and 1964, the so called Baby Boomer Generation, is a cohort of 16.8 million people; and due to favourable financial conditions in that time are the wealthiest generation in human history, holding somewhere in the region on 80% of the UK's wealth.  With the older baby boomer now 78 years old, and against a backdrop of an average age of death of 80.7 in the UK,...

In this specially recorded podcast, the Today's Wills and Probate podcast joins forces with its sister podcasts from the Today's Conveyancer and Today's Family Lawyer online news publications to discuss the topic of mental health and wellbeing ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, from 13th May 2024. Podcast host David Opie welcomes Managing Director of Culver Law Michael Culver, ...