The voice of business in the Tees region | 51
W
here there’s a will – there’s also
a reluctance among more than
half of us to draw up this most
crucial document with a law firm and then
ensure it is kept up to date as our lives and
circumstances change.
Just half of the population have written
a will and many of those who do so fail to
review it regularly.
Whether it is businessmen or women, or
ordinary members of the public, avoiding
the subject of our death – and writing a will
to ensure our loved ones are looked after –
has apparently become the norm.
For the sake of a few hundred pounds,
people can lose control of the fate of
their estates and create a myriad of legal
difficulties and additional costs for those
they leave behind. For example, children
under 16 who lose their parents will
find their living arrangements contested
in the courts unless a will orders their
guardianship.
The Wills, Probate and Trust department
at Punch Robson, the oldest established law
firm in Teesside, prefers the preventative
approach and have commercial and
private legal services to tackle death and
inheritance head-on.
Andrew Steel, who joined the firm in
June as associate solicitor based in Ingleby
Barwick, specialises in wills and powers of
attorney to protect businesses and families.
He said: “Not enough people have wills.
Stats show that half the people in England
and Wales have one but what is more
alarming for me is that people actually have
them and don’t review them.
“A lot of people make a will, stick it in the
drawer, look at it 20 years later and realise
they should have changed something. In
that situation, it can be just as horrendous
as not making one at all.
“You could put something in your will
that leads to something worse happening
than if you have no will because it is in
writing, especially when we are talking
about people with businesses because the
business evolves.
“If you don’t have a will you are stuck
with the laws of intestacy, which are drawn
down family lines and might not be suitable
to your circumstances.
They were brought in in the early 1920s
and have not changed much, so don’t
recognise cohabitees or children from
different relationships. The strict procedural
distribution for a family can be difficult.
“I tell people to look at their will every
couple of years to make sure everything is
still hunky-dory. Only inheritance law has
changed recently but what changes daily is
people’s circumstances.
“Anything can happen on a personal level
but that can’t be tracked by the lawyers
who wrote your original will, so you have to
keep on top of it.
“You need to structure things properly
whether you are in business or not. It is
about having constant engagement with us,
just as they would for any other aspect of
their lives.”
Partnership – Punch Robson Solicitors managing partner
Elaine McLaine-Wood with associate solicitor Andrew Steel.
Elaine McLaine-Wood, Punch Robson’s
managing partner, says the curse of
the internet has led to an explosion in
homemade, printed off wills.
Supposedly cheaper, and often used to
cut costs, these self-help wills can cause
more trouble than they are worth and the
firm’s Wills, Probate and Trust department
often has to wade through such documents
and re-evaluate them for clients, hopefully
before it is too late.
She said: “My advice is don’t Google
it and get documents off the web. I get
clients who will email me what they have
put together on the internet, and I have to
unravel it. Yet that is our day job and does
not cost a lot of money.
“It can cost a lot more to undo something
off the internet. People don’t see the value
in a solicitor because we charge by the
hour, so they think it’s a waste of money
and don’t see the value until something
goes wrong.”
A relatively painless investment in legal
expertise now can save unforeseen future
suffering when setting up a business,
especially a partnership.
Punch Robson understands the
complexities and sensitivity of spoiling the
party in those early days, particularly when
it involves families and friends and the
euphoria of personal relationships governing
common and business sense.
In a bid to cut costs, many new set-ups
overlook legal advice and documentation in
the belief that trust and 50-50 agreements
will fulfil any long-term conflicts in the
courts.
Elaine said: “It is something people
don’t think about in business generally, the
what-ifs. People will insure their premises
for fire, flood, theft or whatever but won’t
put in place protection for what happens if
a key member of the business is actually in
distress through illness or death.
“It’s very common when people set up
a business. They don’t have funds to pay
legals so they cut costs, form a company
and do it online, so you have model
articles of association, which is a statutory
requirement, but does not protect against
any dispute or fall-out if someone dies.
“They think they don’t need the
protection because everyone is getting on
and things are going well and they don’t
want to invest at the beginning and set up a
shareholders’ agreement.”
As the robust but considerate approach
to death and incapacity with business and
private clients has developed and grown, so
has the 142-year-old business.
Andrew Steel and Elaine McLaine-Wood
have years of experience dealing with family
businesses who struggle to contemplate
worst-case scenarios or the long-term legal
implications of potential disputes.
Without a power of attorney, people
can face up to six months awaiting
judgment from the Court of Protection
and the willingness to open up the
difficult conversations on these pages
demonstrates Punch Robson’s dedication to
the subject.
Andrew said: “You are dealing with
scenarios people don’t want to have
conversations about. We don’t want to
deal with thoughts of our death and that’s
a barrier in society in general, not just in
business. It is a taboo subject.
“People go into business because they
are friends or related but we see disputes
that come through some fall-out and they
don’t have an agreement in place into
how they will trade in the event of such a
dispute.
“It is a difficult conversation to have at
the beginning when they are eager and
excited at setting up the business but it is
the best time to simply put things in place.
“It might be bottom of the list but you
have to get round to it. You wouldn’t blink an
eye paying insurance or a regulatory policy
but it is more of a positive personal decision
to make.
“It is better and cleaner to spend a small
amount of money and a few hours of
time. That investment can eradicate future
disputes and ensure the smooth running of
the business.”