Can Attorneys And Deputies Make Gifts?

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Does a Lasting Power of Attorney or a Deputyship Order provide an attorney or deputy with the authority to give away surplus assets of the donor in the hope of achieving an Inheritance Tax saving? In short, the answer is ‘no’.

A recent case in the Court of Protection has highlighted the issue of gifts made by a deputy acting under a Deputyship Order. The case concerned a widow of 92 years, (‘P’), who lived in a care home.  Her only daughter had predeceased her and P had inherited the whole of her daughter’s estate.  Two relatives were appointed as deputies to manage P’s property and financial affairs.

The deputies applied to the Court of Protection for retrospective authority for various gifts the deputies had made to themselves, their family, and friends.  It was found that over £230,000 had been given away (which amounted to 44% of the widow’s estate.)

The Court refused to grant authority for the majority of gifts and the deputies were held to be personally liable to P’s estate for the unauthorised gifts.  The deputies’ appointments were also revoked.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 sets out the powers of an attorney acting under a Lasting Power in relation to gifts. The attorney can only make gifts:

  • ‘on customary occasions’ to persons (including themselves) who are related to or connected with the donor, or
  • to any charity to whom the donor made or might have been expected to make gifts,
  • and only if the value of each such gift is not unreasonable having regard to all the circumstances and, in particular, the size of the donor’s estate.

‘Customary occasion’ is defined as:-

(a) the occasion or anniversary of a birth, a marriage or the formation of a civil partnership, or

(b) any other occasion on which presents are customarily given within families or among friends or associates.

Deputies and attorneys should therefore understand that they only have very limited authority to make gifts.An attorney who wants to make gifts for purposes not authorised in the circumstances outlined above must apply to the court for permission.

For further information about Lasting Powers of Attorney please contact us on for expert and professional advice.

Cambridge Women’s Aid

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Instead of sending Christmas Cards Adams Harrison chose to donate the money to local charities.

We were delighted to support Cambridge Women’s Aid with a donation of £350.

Please click on the image below to view their letter of thanks.

Cambridge Womens Aid Thank you letter tp Adams Harrison image

National Living Wage

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Be aware that a new National Living Wage will come into force on 1st April this year.  Make sure that your staff that are eligible are being paid appropriately.

For workers aged 25 years and over (and not in the first year of an apprenticeship) the National Living Wage this year will be £7.20 per hour, higher than the current minimum wage.

There will be penalties for employers that do not comply.

For advice on this and other employment law related matters please contact us

Five Good Reasons To Make A Will In Your 20s

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Making a Will is commonly seen as something to do later in life. People in their 20s often think they do not need to make one but below are 5 good reasons to make a Will, whatever your age.

1. To make sure your boyfriend or girlfriend inherits

If you live with your partner but are not married, then your partner will not benefit under the intestacy rules. If you want your partner to benefit on your death, you will need to make a Will.

2. To provide for your pets

Household pets, such as cats and dogs, are covered by the legal definition of chattels (personal possessions) and so can be left in your Will in the same way as your other possessions. You can therefore include a legacy in your Will to leave your pet to a friend or family member.

3. To give your friends something to remember you by

Many people in their 20s have more student debt than assets but even if you do not own a house or have much money, you will no doubt own items that are important to you. Items such as jewellery, musical instruments and books can be left to your loved ones in a Will.

4. To deal with a jointly owned property

If you own a property with someone else, it could be sensible that you make a Will. This is particularly important if you own the property as ‘tenants in common’, which means that your share of the property does not pass automatically to your co-owner on your death (this would only happen if you own your property as ‘joint tenants’) . Under the rules of intestacy, your closest relatives will inherit your share (probably your parents.) Therefore, if you would like your co-owner to inherit then you must either make a Will or make sure that you own your property as ‘joint tenants.’

5. To leave money to charity

Many people choose to leave money to a charity in their Will. Even if you are strapped for cash, your modest donation might make a big difference to a charity.

For further information about making a Will, please contact a member of our Private Client department for expert and professional advice.

Charities and Your Will

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Christmas is seen as a time for giving so if you are thinking of making or updating an existing Will, have you considered leaving money to charity?

The Charity Commission has revealed that 35,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales who died in 2014 made donations in their Wills, benefiting more than 2,200 charities. Whilst this may seem like a large amount, more than 550,000 deaths were registered in England, Wales and Scotland in 2014. Working on these figures, it would therefore appear that roughly fewer than one in ten people leave money to charity when they die.

If you leave something to charity in your will, then it will not count towards the value of your estate. Furthermore, if you leave at least 10% of your net estate after any exemptions have been taken into account to charity, this cuts the rate of any Inheritance Tax you pay from 40% to 36%.

For more information, please contact our Private Client department for expert and friendly advice.

Christmas Card Cheque Presented To Addenbrookes Hospital

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Shoshana Goldhill Presents Cheque To Addenbrookes Charitable Trust

Shoshana Goldhill Presents Cheque To Addenbrookes Charitable Trust

Shoshana Goldhill, partner and head of the family department this week attended Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge and donated a cheque to Addenbrookes Charitable Trust (Breast Cancer) on behalf of all the partners. 

Each year the firm chooses to donate to local charities in lieu of sending corporate Christmas cards.  The donation was very well
received. 

Our other selected charities for Christmas 2015 are St Nicholas Hospice, Suffolk and Women’s Refuge, Cambridge.

Adams Harrison English Literature Award Presentation

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Jenny Carpenter was delighted to present the Adams Harrison Solicitors English Literature award on the evening of Tuesday 15thDecember at Samuel Ward School, Haverhill.  An evening packed full of talented students.

Hayley Ford Presents Cheque To St Nicholas Hospice in Haverhill

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Hayley Ford of our Wills and Probate team went along to St Nicholas Hospice in Haverhill on the 9th of December to present a cheque for £350.00 to Nick Duncan.

Adams Harrison do not send out Christmas Cards to clients or businesses and instead choose three different charities each year to benefit from the money that would have been spent.

This year the staff chose St Nicholas Hospice, Addenbrookes Charitable Trust (ACT) – Breast Cancer, and the Cambridge Women’s Refuge.

Adams Harrison Presents Cheque to St Nicholas Hospice in Haverhill

Hayley Ford presents cheque to Nick Duncan.

Digital Assets And Your Will

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Most people are aware of the importance of making a Will to deal with physical assets. Relatively few of us, however, have probably considered what will become of our digital assets when we die.

What is a digital asset?

A digital asset is one that requires a password and username to access. For example, digitally-stored music collections, social networking sites, and online investment and banking accounts.

What to do?

It may be that dealing with your digital estate is as simple as updating your Will to include a digital assets clause. Thereafter, you should note down your passwords for safekeeping. If your Will is being held by Solicitors, it may be a sensible idea for you to provide them with a copy of this information that will be stored confidentially beside your Will. This is particularly useful if you have also appointed Solicitors as your executors.

Failure to plan for digital inheritance can cause problems as without usernames and passwords it can be very difficult for executors to access web domains, social networking sites and other online accounts. As the executors’ duty is to gather in and administer all of the assets of a deceased’s estate, it is important that they are armed with the necessary information to enable them to do so.

The challenge is therefore  to keep the information up-to-date and hidden yet accessible when the time comes.  It is important to remember that you should not include details of your web-based accounts, passwords and user names in your Will. This is because a Will, once proved, becomes a document of public record and therefore potentially accessible by fraudsters.

For more information, please contact us for expert and friendly advice.

Happy Birthday Sue

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Sue Lawton Practice Manager Adams Harrison

Sue Lawton Practice Manager Adams Harrison

Our Practice Manager Sue Lawton got a surprise on arrival at work – her office had been decorated by the Sawston office staff with banners, balloons and streamers for her birthday, and is pictured with some of the lovely gifts she received.