Wills and Probate Solicitors

What Do Wills and Probate Solicitors Do?

Wills and Probate solicitors help individuals and families plan for the future and manage affairs after a death. Their work includes preparing and updating Wills, advising on and registering Lasting Powers of Attorney, and helping clients structure their affairs to protect assets and minimise Inheritance Tax. Following a death, they assist executors and administrators with obtaining a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, administering the estate, dealing with Trusts, and advising on intestacy where no valid Will exists. Our Wills, Trusts & Probate team supports individuals, families, executors and trustees across the East Midlands and beyond, providing clear, practical advice at every stage of the process.

Who We Help

Wills and Probate touches almost everyone eventually, but the right advice looks different depending on your circumstances.

Private Client: most people come to us at a specific moment — starting a family, buying a first home, or losing a parent — and want clear, reassuring advice on a first Will, appointing guardians for children, or administering a straightforward estate.

High Net Worth Individual: where an estate includes multiple properties, business interests, trusts, or assets in more than one country, the planning is more technical — coordinating Inheritance Tax reliefs, Trust structures and, where needed, advice in more than one jurisdiction.

Owner-Managed Business: business owners need their Will and succession plan to work alongside the business itself — considering Business Property Relief, shareholder agreements, and what happens to the business if something happens to you.

Large Corporate: less central to this team’s day-to-day work, but we do advise corporate trustees and professional executors, and act in Court of Protection and professional deputyship matters where a corporate body is involved.

These categories overlap in practice more than they suggest on paper: a business owner is often also a High Net Worth Individual once the business is factored into their estate, and a Private Client dealing with a parent’s death can quickly need Owner-Managed Business advice if the estate includes a family company. We tailor our tone as well as our advice — straightforward and reassuring for a first Will, more technical and commercially framed once a business or overseas asset is involved.

Wills, Trusts and Probate Services We Offer

Each service below links to a dedicated page with full detail. Our team advises on the full range of Wills, Trusts and Probate matters.

Will Writing

A Will is the legal document that sets out who inherits your estate, who should act as executor, and who should care for any children under 18. We draft everything from simple, single Wills to mirror Wills for couples, Trust Wills, and Wills for business owners and clients with international assets.

Changing a Will

Life moves on, and a Will drafted years ago may no longer reflect your wishes. Changing a Will is done either by a formal codicil for minor amendments or, in most cases, by making an entirely new Will, which is cleaner and avoids the ambiguity that informal handwritten changes create.

Probate and Estate Administration

A Grant of Probate gives an executor the legal authority to collect in assets, pay debts and Inheritance Tax, and distribute the estate. STEP-qualified partner Helen Salisbury leads much of this work, having specialised in Wills and Probate since qualifying as a solicitor in 2009.

Full administration goes well beyond the Grant itself: valuing every asset and liability, completing the correct HMRC account, settling Inheritance Tax within six months of death to avoid interest, placing statutory notices to protect the executor from unknown creditors, and preparing estate accounts the beneficiaries can rely on. We can act for you from start to finish, or simply obtain the Grant if you would rather handle collection of assets yourself.

Intestacy

When someone dies without a valid Will, their estate passes under the intestacy rules, a fixed legal order that can produce results the deceased never intended. We help administrators navigate the process and advise families on what they are, and are not, entitled to.

Inheritance Tax Planning

Inheritance Tax is charged at 40% above the available thresholds. Our Inheritance Tax planning advice, led on many matters by Helen Salisbury, uses Wills, lifetime gifts, reliefs and Trusts to legitimately reduce what your estate pays.

Lasting Powers of Attorney

A Lasting Power of Attorney lets you choose who manages your finances or makes health and welfare decisions if you cannot. We also advise on Court of Protection deputyship applications where no LPA is in place.

Trusts

A Trust holds assets for the benefit of named beneficiaries, and can protect vulnerable family members, reduce Inheritance Tax exposure, or manage wealth across generations.

International Probate

Where an estate involves assets, a domicile, or beneficiaries abroad, international probate brings extra complexity, from resealing foreign grants to navigating competing tax rules. We coordinate with overseas lawyers so nothing is missed.

Living Wills

A Living Will (an advance decision) sets out the medical treatment you would refuse if you later lack capacity to decide for yourself, giving your family and doctors certainty at a difficult time.

Capital Gains Tax

Selling a property, transferring assets into Trust, or administering an estate can all trigger Capital Gains Tax, a tax on the increase in an asset’s value. We advise executors, trustees and individuals on managing CGT alongside Inheritance Tax so the two are not considered in isolation.

Residential Care Home Planning

Means-tested residential care planning advice helps families understand what a local authority can and cannot ask you to pay, and plan accordingly.

Will, Lasting Power of Attorney, or Trust: Which Do You Need?

These three tools do different jobs, and most people need more than one over their lifetime

If you only have time to do one thing this year, make it an LPA. Without one, your family can’t simply step in – they’d need to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputy to be appointed, a process that can take up to a year, costs considerably more, and leaves the choice of who acts to the court rather than to you.

How We Work With You

We keep the process clear and the next step obvious, whether you are planning ahead or administering an estate.

1. First conversation: We listen to your situation and explain your options in plain English, whether that is writing a first Will or starting a probate application. Not correct, we charge hourly rates for our initial meetings

2. Clear advice and costs: We set out the likely steps, timescale and cost up front, and match the right level of fee earner to your matter.

3. Doing the work: From drafting documents to collecting in estate assets and dealing with HMRC, we handle the detail and keep you updated at each stage.

4. Making it final: Wills are signed and stored securely; estates are formally distributed with clear accounts, so everything is properly documented.

Executors can be made personally liable if they distribute an estate before every liability and beneficiary is confirmed. We build the right checks into every stage, including a statutory notice that gives unknown creditors a fixed two-month window to come forward, so you distribute with confidence rather than a personal risk hanging over you afterwards – without adding any unnecessary delay of our own.

Why Choose Nelsons for Wills and Probate

Choosing who administers a loved one’s estate, or drafts a document as important as a Will or LPA, is as much about trust as it is about legal knowledge.

• Over 40 years advising East Midlands families, with offices in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham.
• Recognised by The Legal 500, with reviewers praising our personal touch and clear
• Partner and head of department, Helen Salisbury, is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and a Legal 500 Recommended Lawyer.
• A five-partner Wills, Trusts & Probate team, so your matter is matched to the right level of expertise.
• Lexcel accredited and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA No. 536939).
• A full-service firm — Trusts, Inheritance Tax, Residential Care Planning and Court of Protection advice all under one roof.

Costs and Fees

Probate is one of the service areas where the Solicitors Regulation Authority requires us to publish clear cost information, so we set out our

approach openly. For full details, visit our fees page.

Ready to Talk to a Wills and Probate Solicitor?

Now you have a sense of how we can help, the next step is a simple conversation.

Call 0800 024 1976 or complete our online enquiry form. Offices in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham.