The Kings Court Trust Blog

The importance of creating a valid Will has been a popular topic of conversation recently. After details of George Michael’s Will came to light, some popular TV and radio shows including Loose Women, This Morning and The Chris Evans Breakfast Show, took the opportunity to discuss the topic.

Estate administration is a term slowly becoming more commonly known. One of the challenges we face is around public perception and education; currently, probate is the common term used to describe the estate administration process. As a business providing this service to families all across the UK, we receive questions about estate administration, probate and everything in between. In this blog post, we sit down with our Head of Service Delivery to explore the answers to four of our most asked questions around probate and estate administration.

In May 2019, Kings Court Trust travelled the length of the country to provide educational seminars to over 100 of our business partners. The seminars took place in Preston, Durham, Warwick, Maidstone and finished with a session in Bristol, where Kings Court Trust are based. The agenda for each seminar included breakfast, lunch, networking and presentations from industry experts.

Kings Court Trust are pleased to launch a brand new guide to help professionals understand estate administration.

The deadline has now passed for individuals to reclaim Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). If you want to find out more about the current position of PPI claims against estates, please visit our latest blog post. On the 16th of April 2019, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) released a briefing note warning practitioners of an issue related to Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claims against estates. If you’re involved in the administration of a deceased person’s estate, then this is an issue that you need to be aware of.

There have been some exciting changes at Kings Court Trust in the last month. We welcomed Simon Hancox as our new Chief Executive Officer and David Masterton as Chief Revenue Officer. Additionally, Tom Curran has stepped into the role of Executive Chairman after nine years as CEO.

In our first blog post of 2019, we’re making our predictions on what could happen this year and the topics that we think will dominate the industry headlines. Read on to find out how increased probate fees, Inheritance Tax simplifications and Brexit could be some of the biggest stories in the year ahead.

There was much speculation that 2018’s Budget would include an update on the Inheritance Tax (IHT) review. Last week when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, presented the annual Budget, there was no mention of IHT. However, the independent Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has now confirmed that the findings from their Inheritance Tax review will be published before the end of the year.

Many industry governing bodies have been calling for the legal sector to be more transparent about pricing for some time now. In June 2018, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) announced that it would require the firms they regulate to publish their prices and service standards online. Additionally, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has since advised that legal professionals will soon have to publish their prices for a range of services.