Emma Dean

My Approach

To provide my clients with practical advice in what can often seem like a complicated area of law. I appreciate that my clients are often engaging me at a difficult time in their lives and I aim to make matters as straightforward and stress-free as possible as far as the legal work is concerned. My approach is to be friendly, open and empathetic; my goal is always to ensure my clients feel that they can trust me to not only be professional, but personable at the same time.

Area of Expertise

• Advising clients on estate planning, wills, trusts, and probate matters, ensuring compliance with legal requirements and client objectives.
• Experience in dealing with high-net-worth clients and estates, and consideration of complex tax planning requirements and opportunities.
• Preparing and reviewing legal documents, including Wills (straightforward and complex), Powers of Attorney, and trust deeds.
• Dealing with registration of trusts on the Trust Registration Service.
• Managing a high-volume and diverse caseload while consistently delivering high-quality work and maintaining client satisfaction.
• Exceptional communication skills and a natural ability to connect with clients on and empathetic level.

Recent Work

• Advising on and putting in place a complex post-death variation in an estate administration of a deceased who died in relatively quick succession to their spouse in order to benefit from available allowances so as to reduce the overall Inheritance Tax liability for the estate.
• Advising on and putting in place relevant documentation when the sale of a property in a sale is agreed at a higher value to that at the date of death in order to mitigate the charge to Capital Gains Tax.
• Advising in relation to all aspects of estate administration.
• Advising in relation to estate planning and Will drafting of varying levels of complexity.

Professional Associations & Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies Degree from the University of Portsmouth.
• Diploma in Law and Practice 2008-2012
CILEx Law School

• Affiliate Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners 2016 to present
o Advanced Certificate in Administration of Estates (November 2016)
o Advanced Certificate in Trust Administration (May 2017)
o Advanced Certificate in Will Preparation (November 2017)