Gibson Kerr Solicitors Blog

Gibson Kerr took part in last year’s Will Aid campaign, and would like to thank all the clients who helped us raise an impressive £310 to help Will Aid’s nine chosen charities, which include Christian Aid, Save the Children and the British Red Cross.

According to a new survey, not enough people in Britain are making plans for their end of life.

Gibson Kerr was among the Scottish law firms who took part in new legacy giving campaign "Love the arts, Leave to the arts" during February this year.

Although many people in the UK do not have a will, if you are one of those who have had a will drawn up , then the temptation can be to simply forget about it. This can be almost as bad as having no will at all.

The National Trust is celebrating after learning that a painting bequeathed to it in 2010 is worth a lot more than expected. According to the Guardian, the painting may very well be a self portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn, worth around £20 million.

The painting was bequeathed to the National Trust by the estate of the late Lady Samuel of Wych Cross, and while it appeared to be signed by Rembrandt it was thought to be a copy or simply the work of a pupil, of whom Rembrandt famously had many.

A long running legal impasse has finally been resolved, enabling two elderly American women to inherit an English estate, reported The Daily Mail this week.

A former Welsh miner, who died last year at the age of 108, left a £10,000 legacy to Aberystwyth University, reported the BBC last week.

Rhys Lewis started his working life at 14, in the coalmines. After taking classes in night school, he enrolled at University, first in Swansea and then Aberystwyth, where he studied history and economic history.

A new restaurant, serving only potentially deadly food, will open its doors in London for two days this month, as part of a campaign by Remember A Charity to encourage more people to leave a gift to charity in their Wills.

The Law Society of England and Wales has welcomed proposed consumer protection for those making a will in England and Wales, but has warned that failure to regulate estate administration 'risks consumers losing everything'.

The Legal Services Board, the oversight regulator of lawyers in England and Wales, has recommended to the Government that will-writing activities should be regulated - something for which the Law Society has campaigned for some time.

“We welcome the recommendations to regulate will-writing activities, however we remain concerned that there is no regulation or monitoring in place to ensure that administrators do not misappropriate the estate's assets,” said Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, president of the Law Society. “At the moment unregulated individuals are charged with distributing considerable sums of money. It is becoming more difficult to assist consumers to identify reputable service providers. The evidence hints at many more cases where beneficiaries do not obtain what they should.”

The Society is also urging the Legal Services Board to ensure that all those seeking the services of a will writer are entitled to the same minimum protections as those already in place for solicitors' clients.

In an on-going English court case one brother has accused the other of coercing their mother into leaving him the majority of her estate, reports the Telegraph.

In a will signed in 2006, Jessica Schrader, who died two years later at the age of 98, left her home to her eldest son, Nick. Her younger son, Bill, received only a bequest of comparatively little worth.

According to the Telegraph, the dispute revolves around whether Mrs Schrader had been unduly influenced by Nick Schrader. Alternatively, argues Bill Schrader, she must have lacked the legal capacity to make a valid will, as it represented a radical departure from the fairness and even-handedness with which she had always treated her sons.

Gibson Kerr is supporting two schemes to encourage people to think about making a charitable donation in their will.

An American probate judge has ruled that a man accused of the murder of his mother and two of her friends, cannot inherit anything from her estate until the case has been heard, reports the Hartford Courant. 

The world became a less generous place last year – according to a new report from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). In a previously unrevealed trend, the report also shows that giving worldwide appears to be mirroring global economic patterns.

An alumna of the University of Mary Washington has left a bequest of $2.5 million to the university in her will.

Works by David Hockney and celebrated Neo-Romantic Keith Vaughan are going on display at the University of Hull Art Collection following the largest bequest ever made to the University.

The Government has welcomed the publication of a report which contains innovative ideas – and a ten-point plan – to boost philanthropy and legacy giving to benefit the arts and heritage in the UK. 

Arts Council England has published the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme Report 2010/11 to 2011/12, which outlines the 51 cases of major cultural significance and beauty that have been allocated to the nation’s public museums and galleries between 2010 and 2012.

The Law Society of England and Wales has raised concerns over the Legal Services Board's (LSB) approach to competition with regards to the regulation of will writing and estate administration activities, warning that it may lead to an undesirable reduction in the consumer protection available.

A recent survey carried out by Will Aid into wills and inheritance issues has found that almost 60% of people have not yet written a will, potentially depriving those they care about of their inheritance.

A recent survey from Canada has found that many Canadians are relying on luck to ensure their financial future, reports the Globe and Mail.