Partners

I joined Pictons in 2024, as part of its Legal 500 recognised Wills, Trusts and Probate Department.

I have a masters degree in Elder Client and Coronial Law and attained a qualification as a Prince 2 Project Manager. I qualified as a solicitor in 1997.

I have over 27 years of practical experience in the areas of private client and civil litigation.

However, my main contribution to Pictons Solicitors service provision now focusses on private client work drawing heavily upon my professional experience in the following key areas of law (and serving the needs of individual, agricultural, corporate, business and ex patriate clients):

• Providing estate planning advice including advice on how to mitigate capital taxes such as Inheritance and Capital Gains Tax
• Drafting Wills for simple and complex estates including advising on how to:

–              Mitigate capital taxes such as Inheritance and Capital Gains Tax

–              Mitigate claims arising from: matrimonial disputes, disappointed beneficiaries where it is decided not to benefit a particular person

–              Settle the continued running of businesses and farms following bereavement (involving reviewing partnership agreements, corporate agreements, and informal commercial arrangements)

• Providing trust advice and support for individuals and estates including advising on:

–              How to mitigate the adverse effects of trusts mis sold by unregulated legal service providers

–              The merit of creating lifetime trusts to mitigate the burden of capital taxes such as Inheritance and Capital Gains Tax on family estates

• Administering Estates following bereavement to mitigate capital taxes such as Inheritance and Capital Gains Tax and to safeguard vulnerable clients from loss of means tested benefits
• Providing advice and support to vulnerable clients and their carers including:

–              Setting up Lasting Powers of Attorney for those who retain capacity but who are either concerned by a life limiting diagnosis or who wish to put their affairs in order just in case, to include supporting attorneys, donors and concerned relatives as they attempt to utilise the powers these documents provide

–              Applying for Court of Protection Orders for patients to include supporting deputies, patients and concerned relatives as they attempt to utilise the powers these documents provide

–              Setting up trusts to safeguard compensation and inheritance claims to shield them from unwelcome tax regimes and to prevent loss of means tested benefits

–              Assisting clients with life limiting diagnoses and conditions in finding the advice and support they need to ensure that they are fairly treated by employers (referring them as appropriate to those within the Firm or within its network for employment law advice and support) and that they maintain their financial entitlements following diagnosis

–              Assisting with residential care fees assessment and attending hearings/appeal hearings where an assessment is (or ought to be) in dispute

–              Supporting clients during the processes of a coroner’s inquest (especially where professional medical negligence is suspected or where it is feared that other medical neglect resulting in death [such as a failure to treat in a timely fashion] may be written off as suicide resulting in immediate loss of financial entitlement given that Coroners are increasingly being recruited preferentially from the ranks of former or retired doctors) and attending hearings to ensure that all relevant facts are put before the Coroner before a cause of death is settled.

Outside of work, I have retained lifelong interests in alternative historical research and the martial arts. In my younger years, having acquired instructor status, I travelled across the Far East meeting and training with masters of diverse disciplines including Gordon Liu and Jackie Chan. As a recovering cancer patient, my training has refocussed latterly on the gentler internal arts which best suit recovering patients and the less mobile, with whom I have shared my knowledge in their support groups.

I am a Solicitor in the Wills, Trusts and Probate Department. I joined Pictons in June 2023 after qualifying in September 2022.

I deal with the Administration of Estates, Probate applications, advising clients on Wills and Powers of Attorney, and Estate Planning. I am happy to travel to meet with a client if they are unable to attend any of our offices.

In my spare time I enjoy seeing my friends and family, going to the gym and playing competitive netball in the week.

I am a Legal Assistant in the Wills, Trust and Probate Team at Pictons.

I deal primarily with the preparation of Wills as well as the preparation and registration of Lasting Powers of Attorney.

I also assist clients who require Wills – with Trusts included within them – such as ‘Life Interest Trusts’ or ‘Vulnerable Persons Trusts.’

I joined Pictons in May 1998 and have experience of working in the Wills Trust and Probate Team and also within the Family team. As such I have a wide understanding of the legal issues faced by private clients of the firm. I have an Ilex Certificate qualification.

In my spare time I am a keen quizzer and one day I hope to be able to set up a Pictons quiz team. I also enjoy painting, something I started to enjoy during the pandemic. I do however, need much more practice!