It is really important that you have a Will in place to ensure that you can protect both your own and your loved ones best interests. There are many benefits to having a professionally drafted Will which include:

• Allowing you to mitigate your inheritance tax liability

• To provide certainty to your family and/or loved ones that they are carrying out your final wishes

• To allow you to ensure your assets pass to your chosen beneficiaries as opposed to strict intestacy provisions

• A Will allows you to appoint someone you trust to act as your executor and deal with the distribution of the estate

When you are drafting a Will, you need to have sufficient mental capacity, which can be hard to prove after your demise. As a part of our process, we shall make provisions to lessen the chances of a claim arising at a later date.

To start the process we shall ask you to complete our fully comprehensive questionnaire and invite you to attend the office. We shall then prepare a draft for your consideration and finally prepare a final Will and provide you with instructions on how to execute the same or alternatively invite you into the office.

In addition to your will draft, we will also provide our lifestyle folder. This is a folder that allows you to store your Will and also details of any bank accounts, pensions, life insurance and Letter wishes.

Contact any one of our offices for further details.

Watch our video on Will Drafting here.

When loved ones pass dealing with administration can be a daunting thought. Here at PCS Legal, we strive to make the process as simple and stress-free as possible.

We can deal with applications to the Probate Registry in connection with applying for a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, depending on whether the deceased died with a valid Will or if they died intestate (without a Will in place). We can review the paperwork and any assets belonging to the deceased which enables us to complete the relevant Inheritance Tax Return to be submitted to HM Revenue & Customs.

Whilst HM Revenue & Customs process the necessary paperwork, we prepare an Oath for execution by the Administrator or the Estate which will need to be sworn. Finally, once we have the required certification from HM Revenue & Customs and your Oath we submit an application to the Probate Registry for a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration.

Once the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration is received we can complete the administration of the Estate on behalf of the Executors/Beneficiaries and provide a final Estate Account and pay any Inheritance Tax Liability due.

Have you considered appointing an attorney to assist you in making decisions at a later date in the event you were to lose mental capacity? A common enquiry we receive, is if a power of attorney can be executed after someone has already lost capacity to make decisions and we sadly have to advise that it is unfortunately too late. If an individual has already lost capacity, an application would need to be made to the Court of Protection which can be both more timely and more costly than executing a power of attorney. That is why we advise our client’s to consider arranging a power of attorney before its too late.

At PCS Legal, we are able to assist you in making an application to the Office of the Public Guardian for a power of attorney. We can do so by discussing your personal circumstances with you and drafting the application, acting as a certificate provider and making the application to the Court.

If you have any questions or wish to consider instructing us to act on your behalf then please do not hesitate to contact one of our offices.

Should circumstances arise whereby you require a change of name on the deeds/title of a property, this is possible by a simple deed which does not require registration and therefore can often be carried out by ourselves on the same day of instruction. On the basis you supply us with a copy of your ID and can attend our office with a view to execute the same we can ensure our efficient service meets your requirements.

We are able to offer our services completing ID1 forms. These may be required where you need to verify your identity to a third party where you are not seeing them in person. If you require this service you would need to make an appointment at either our Basildon or Ongar offices.

You will be required to attend the office with 2 forms of your ID to include either your Passport and or photo driving license plus a utility bill. Please bring your ID1 form and your ID together with 2 passport pictures.

PCS Legal are able to help with a number of ID requires to include supplying certified ID and also the production of ID3 and ID5 forms. It will sometimes be necessary where you are not directly the client of a law firm to complete one of these documents to confirm your identity at the Land Registry. It will involve the production of not only your ID but also a video call via Facetime, Skype, Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Such call normally takes 10 minutes upon which one of our qualified staff can execute the ID3 or ID5 and scan the same to you in the first instance and send by post in the second.

Contact any of our offices for more details or to book your appointment.

Some documents need to be sworn on oath, such as affidavits or declarations. If you require a document sworn, the same can only be done so by a solicitor, Commissioner for Oaths or alternatively a Court Official authorised to administer Oaths. The legal representative preparing the document in question cannot also Swear the same. This needs to be done independently.

By Swearing you do so by Swearing on the bible that the contents of the document are true and accurate as far as you are aware. You will then also sign to confirm this is the case. The Solicitor or Commissioner for Oaths will then sign to say they saw you Swear and sign the document. This process is a serious matter since should it later be discovered that the information being sworn was incorrect you could be held in contempt of court and ultimately sent to prison. You must therefore check everything before you swear and sign the same. The Commissioner for Oaths or Solicitor are not to check the content. They only sign to confirm you swore and signed the document in front of them.

Should you require this service we have 3 Commissioner for Oaths available throughout the day. Don’t hesitate to call for an appointment.