After a near six decades in the spotlight, Aretha Franklin has died at the age of 76, reportedly without leaving a Will. The Queen of Soul passed away at her home in Detroit on Thursday the 16th of August, after an on-going battle with pancreatic cancer.

Sir Bruce Forsyth sadly passed away on the 18th August 2017, leaving behind a truly remarkable legacy. Most famous for presenting Strictly Come Dancing, The Generation Game and Play Your Cards Right, Bruce Forsyth was beloved and is now missed by many.

Past research has shown that the cost of death is soaring, with funerals becoming more expensive than ever before.

A recent article from the Telegraph revealed how a personal representative was left with a staggering Inheritance Tax (IHT) bill of £341,278 when he was administering a £1.2 million estate. Mr Harris misguidedly distributed the assets to the beneficiaries before all of the Inheritance Tax had been paid. He did this with the understanding that one beneficiary (who received the majority of the estate) would pay any Inheritance Tax that was still owed. However, this did not happen as the beneficiary left the country without paying, leaving Mr Harris to foot the bill.

Wedding bells will ring for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in a matter of weeks as the royal wedding is due to take place on the 19th of May 2018 at Windsor Castle. The marriage of Prince Henry of Wales and American actress, Meghan Markle, highlights a few important key areas that you should pay attention to, including the impact of marriage on Wills, how the change in family structures is impacting inheritance and the importance of planning ahead.

The legal battle over Prince’s estate continues almost two years after the death of the iconic musician. Now, three of his heirs have filed a petition to review the billing practices of the law firm that works for Comerica Bank and Trust, Fredrikson & Byron. They were appointed to handle the administration of Prince’s estate in 2017 and are said to be draining the late musician's bank account, leaving little to the beneficiaries.

In a recent court case, only awarding damages to a married partner was ruled to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

A record number of inheritance disputes are reaching the High Court despite rising court costs and the risk involved with losing a case. The number of cases brought to the High Court under the Inheritance Act in 2005 was 15, compared to 116 cases in 2015. But this is only the tip of the iceberg when we consider the number of cases that would have been settled out of court or in County Court.

Last week, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) published two pieces of research supporting the movement to encourage lawyers to be more transparent with regards to their pricing. One research paper is named ‘Price transparency in the legal services market’ which was conducted from a firm perspective with 1,146 legal firms surveyed. The other is ‘Price transparency in the conveyancing market’ from a consumer perspective with 4,001 members of the public and 1,001 recent house buyers.