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Personal wealth and estate planning

The Personal Wealth and Estate Planning offering from the Hugh James Private Wealth team has been built to empower individuals to plan for the present and for the future by advising on bespoke solutions for individuals and their families to achieve their wish list tailored to their circumstances.

Our advice is supplied for those with personal wealth of all descriptions, whether acquired by private business ownership, career, inheritance or entrepreneurial activity.

Financial health and wellbeing for all the family can be a complex matter to achieve and our team has the experience to suggest the options suitable and most tax efficient for the family as a whole.

Family harmony is key, together with protection for anyone who is challenged or vulnerable. We take the time to get to know our clients so that we understand the issues which are important to them and their family. We provide technical advice for those in the position of wealth creator and donor so they can achieve peace of mind.


Key contact

Matthew is a partner and heads up the firm’s private wealth offering. He is responsible for the development, implementation and long-term strategy of the team.

Matthew has a UK-wide reputation in the field of contentious probate, recognised by his clients and peers in the leading legal directories.


Our approach

Our aim is to develop long-term relationships with our clients, building trust over several generations of the same family. As part of our service, we supply tutoring (if required) for younger generations to help them manage wealth they may have already and also to prepare them for future inheritance or lifetime gifts from the more senior generations.

We can assemble a team of support professionals for the family and can act as a hub to coordinate that support as required. Alternatively, if there are already other advisors, for example accountants, financial advisors, offshore lawyers and strategic business advisors, then we are happy to work as part of a team to complement the other advisors’ input.

Our partner led team also has considerable cross border experience to assist international clients and those with assets worldwide. We have contacts with the best international private client lawyers, with whom we work to achieve a domestic and an international plan which mesh seamlessly, to avoid any dislocation between domestic and foreign law. We are fully conversant with those who are not domiciled in the United Kingdom and for those who are resident here, but not yet treated as being caught fully in the UK tax net.


Areas of focus

  • Taxation
    We cover all aspects of UK taxation for individuals, both UK resident and non UK resident
  • Wealth Structuring
    We advise on establishing and restructuring of trusts in England, Wales and overseas
  • Succession Planning
    We provide domestic and cross border succession planning advice
  • Trust and Succession Disputes
    We advise on all aspects of dispute resolution in trust and succession matters
  • Asset Protection
    We provide family law advice on divorce, pre and post nuptial agreements, co-habitation agreements and protection from troubled family relationships
  • Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
    We advise on the preservation of the family company for future generations
  • Wealthy individuals and Land owners
    We advise those with wealth of whatever source so as to ensure that it is taxed legitimately, but not excessively
  • Trusts
    We are familiar with all types of trusts, their creation, maintenance, tax treatment and cessation and use them extensively
  • Wills
    We provide Wills which ensure that agreed plan is adhered to after death

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