New Address!

Our blog has moved, and may now be found on our main website, at http://fdc-law.co.uk/blog/

Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the new site!

An evening at Wessex Beer Festival

As you will have seen from our post of 6th August, we were among the sponsors of the Wessex Beer Festival, which talks place each year in Chilcompton, and which, as well as being a fixture of the summer social scene, raises money for local and international charities.
However, by some terrible oversight, despite being regular sponsors for the festival, and being local solicitors with our Norton office just 3 miles from the festival, we have never actually attended!

Jonathan Wood and Marjorie Taylor tasting 'our' beer

This year, Partners Jonathan Wood of our property department, and Marjorie Taylor of our Family department corrected that oversight, and spent an enjoyable evening at the festival on Friday evening.

‘Our’ barrel  was Branscombe Brewery’s ‘Summa That’, a golden amber pale ale – the tasting notes describe it as “fruity with a bitter finish”. Very tasty. Of course, we also sampled some of the other beers on offer (it would have been rude not to, after all!) and had the pleasure of meeting many of our friends and neighbours.

The festival is organised by Somer Valley Rotary and the money raised will be going to various charities over the court of the year. Charities supported in the past year have includes both local charities and projects such as Local Defibrillators, Radstock Youth Hub and the RUH, and other, National and International Charities.

Budget News: Inheritance Tax

The Chancellor, George Osborne announced in his budget yesterday that he will effectively raise the individual inheritance tax threshold from £325,000 to £500,000 for those with a family home. 

Married couples and civil partners may therefore be able to pass on estates to their children or grandchildren  worth up to £1million without paying inheritance tax.
As house prices increase, more people find that their estates may attract inheritance tax – did you know that that average price of a house in the South West is now over £200,000?
However, the changes won’t take effect straight away, and there are some technical rules, so it is important to get appropriate expert advice to  ensure that you are using your allowances effectively.

The existing allowance of £325,000 will remain. For married couples, and those in Civil partnerships, the allowance can be carried forward when the first spouse dies (if they leave their assets to their spouse), so that a couple can leave up to £650,000 on the death of the second spouse before any inheritance tax is payable.

From 6th April 2017, the new allowance will be available, initially allowing an additional £100,000  ‘family home’ allowance . This will increase in stages until 2020 when the family home allowance will be £175,000 per person, meaning that if you were to die in 2020, leaving an estate of £500,000, including your family home, your estate would pay no inheritance tax. For a married couple, the amount which could be left would be £1M.
The additional allowance applies only to the value of your home, and only where the house is left to your children or grandchildren.

If you have sold your home to move to supported accommodation or to a care home, you may still be eligible  for an ‘inheritance tax credit’ up to the amount of the family home allowance, although the government has not yet provided details of how this will work, and who will qualify.

“The new rules mean that people will need to think carefully about how they want to deal with their property, particularly as they get older” says Private Client Partner and Inheritance Tax expert Darrell Collins. “It’s important to plan ahead, and to get expert advice, to ensure that you maximise any tax savings you are entitled to. You may need to update your will to take into account the new rules.”

For more information on minimising your inheritance tax liability and related issues contact our Private Client team. Appointments are available at all of our offices, and home visits can be made, if appropriate.

Meet Our new Frome-Based Specialists

FDC Law Solicitors welcomes three new recruits to its office in Frome to help provide specialist legal services to the local community. 

John Kilmister, James Hollis, Jane Healey and Jan Woodland

Private Client Solicitor Jane Healey specialises in Powers of Attorney, Administration of Estates, Wills, Inheritance Tax planning and Court of Protection work.  Jane joined FDC Law from a national provider of legal services and welcomes the opportunity to spend more time with her clients and to adopt the more hands on approach which a firm such as FDC Law can offer.

Jan Woodland, Solicitor, takes the helm of the Commercial Property Department.  Jan specialises in Commercial Property but deals also with residential conveyancing and all aspects of land and property matters and hopes to expand the firm’s lease extension and enfranchisement work.

John Kilmister, Solicitor, manages the Civil Litigation Department in Frome.  John specialises in personal injury, clinical negligence, contentious probate and professional negligence.  He is a member of The Law Society Personal Injury Accreditation Scheme and is experienced at dealing with a variety of claims from road traffic accidents, accidents at work, slipping and tripping, occupier’s liability, product liability, industrial disease and holiday accidents.

James Hollis, Senior Partner, at the Frome office explains “over the last couple of years FDC Law in Frome has seen significant changes.  We are looking to the future with our new team in place alongside our existing colleagues at Frome and are looking forward  to our planned expansion of our Frome office”.

The addition of new specialists in Frome follows the expansion of our Keynsham Office, where we recently welcomed new Private Client Lawyer, Gwyn Pritchard.

Reserves Day

Wednesday 24th June was Reserves Day, part of the build up to Armed Forces Day this weekend, and an opportunity to recognise the contribution members of the Reserves make to the country.

Reservists are encouraged to wear their uniforms  to work on Reserves Day, and Keynsham Solicitor Gwyn Pritchard, of FDC Law Keynsham, did just that. 


Gwyn joined FDC Law earlier this year, he is an expert in matters relating to Wills, Probate, Estate and Tax Planning, Trusts and Powers of Attorney; however, he is in in addition undergoing Naval training having recently completed his initial officer’s course at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. 

Gwyn said: “It’s been a very busy year since joining and am learning so much, my employers have been brilliant and very supportive … they will gain in the long term though”

Gwyn currently holds the rank of Midshipman in the Royal Navy Reserves, and is attached to HMS Flying Fox in Bristol. FDC Law recently sponsored training kits for HMS Flying Fox's football team, and fully support his role in the reserves.

If you need advice about making a will, inheritance tax planning, trusts or powers of attorney, contact Gwyn on 0117 9461 205, email gpritchard@fdc-law.co.uk or call into  the office at 64 High Street Keynsham.

Leasehold Extensions - Jan Woodland Explains how FDC Law can help

If you own a flat, you almost certainly own a lease rather than owning the property outright. Such leases are often for very lengthy terms,  when the flat is first sold, but of course, as time passes, the remaining term is reduced. It’s important to check how long your lease has left to run, and to consider whether it would be wise to extend it. If you are thinking about selling a flat, this may be something which needs to be done before you go ahead.

Jan Woodland, FDC Law’s expert of leasehold properties, explains why:

The shorter your lease, the harder it will  be to sell or mortgage your property.  The Council of Mortgage Lenders (the body which governs all residential lenders) handbook specifies that lenders will not freely lend on leases shorter than 80 years, so if your lease is close to that length, a buyer may be unable to get a mortgage.

If you do find that your lease is getting short, it is possible to extend the term. If you have owned your property for over 2 years, you have a legal right to extend the lease (this is known as a Statutory Extension). If you have owned for a short period, the lease can be extended by agreement with your landlord.

If you have owned the property long enough to have a statutory right to extend your lease, there is a specific process to follow. This involves getting a formal valuation (specifically for the purpose of lease extension) from a specialist surveyor, to determine how much it would be reasonable to pay the landlord for the extension of the lease (this is normally known as the Premium) .

Working out the right Premium is complex – it involves calculating the loss to the landlord of any ground rent he would otherwise have been entitled to, and the loss of value in the property because it will be longer before the property reverts to him (or his heirs) at the end of the lease.  Because if this, it’s very important that the valuation is done by a surveyor with experience in this specialised type of valuation.

The next step is to serve a formal Claim Notice on your landlord. This is a technical document and it is important to get it right, as if it contains any errors your claim will fail, and you must then wait another year before you can restart the process, so it is  very important to get expert legal advice to make sure that every step is completed correctly.

Although it’s not uncommon for leaseholders to want to extend their leases, many conveyancers and property lawyers are unfamiliar with the process, and don’t offer this service. At FDC Law we are familiar with the process and are confident in managing it for you, to ensure that all of the appropriate steps are taken to get the outcome you want. 

Once you have served your landlord with the Statutory Claim Notice, they have 2 months to respond. It’s common for them to serve a counter notice, and for there to be negotiation about the level of Premium to be paid. If no agreement can be reached, then an application can be made to the Property Tribunal, which can determine the appropriate Premium.

Once agreement is reached, the Premium is paid, an extra 90 years is added to the lease (so if the lease had 83 years to run when you applied, the new term would be 173 years) and the new term is registered at the Land Registry.

As well as the Statutory right to extend, it is also possible to form a contract with your landlord to extend the lease. Obviously this needs both parties to agree, but if your landlord is willing, the lease could be extended without having to wait until you have owned the  property for 2 years. Landlords may try to negotiate a higher premium in these circumstances, and it is always sensible to get advice from an expert surveyor to ensure that you don’t pay more than is reasonable.

If you  are interested in extending your lease,  please contact Jan Woodland on 01373 463311 or email jwoodland@fdc-law.co.uk for more information.

Is Your Pension Order Secure?

Changes to Pension Law may put some divorced people at risk of losing out
The rules relating to pensions have recently changed, allowing people greater ‘ Pension Freedom’ to withdraw funds rather than buying an annuity, on retirement.

However, this could cause problems for divorced spouses who obtained a Pension Earmarking Order  in their divorce.  Earmarking orders provide for a percentage of any  lump sum , and /or a percentage of the income from the pension, to be paid to the pension-holders spouse  at the time the pension holder retires. Because the pension is still in the name of the original holder, the spouse receiving the payment had no control over when, or how,  the benefits are taken. 

Family Partner Marjorie Taylor explains, “This kind of order  was introduced in 1996, and was common before 2000, when the law changed to allow pensions to be shared at the time of the divorce, creating separate funds for each spouse. At the time that Earmarking Orders were made, most pensions provided for a cash lump sum to be taken on retirement,  and for the rest of the fund to be used to buy  an annuity. But the new rules mean people  can now withdraw the whole fund (although they will normally pay significant tax on the money)”

She continues, “This could mean that an ex-spouse could seek to deprive their former partner of retirement income by withdrawing the whole fund as capital, so that nothing is left to buy an annuity or create an income stream.”   While there would be tax consequences,  a bitter ex-spouse wanting to deprive their ex of retirement income, or someone who has not realised the tax implications or who feels the benefit of the cash sum outweighs the tax ‘hit’, may chose to draw down their pension in this way, significantly affecting their ex.

Earmarking became uncommon from 2000 onwards when Pension Sharing Orders were introduced and became the more common way to deal with pensions. Obviously, the current changes in the rules were not something which lawyers,  or courts making such orders 20 years ago, could have foreseen. Depending on how the order is worded, you could be vulnerable.

If you divorced (or obtained a financial order) between July 1996 and December 2000, which included provision for payment from your ex’s pension,  it would be sensible to take advice to check whether your Order may be affected by the changes, and to discuss options. 

If you are worried,  make an appointment to see Marjorie Taylor or Marion Fisher, bringing a copy of your Order with you, and we can advise you as to whether you could face problems.

Biking round Britain

Our Head Cashier let us know about Andrew Dent's project to motorcycle around the coat of Britain to raise money for the Royal Artillery Charitable Fund, The Scars of War Foundation, which researches PTSD at Oxford University and The Bike Experience, which gives disabled people with previous biking experience the chance to ride motorbikes.

We like Andrew's idea, so we have made a donation, and wish Andrew all the best in his trip.

Andrew is blogging his experience here and links to his fundraising pages for each of the three organisations he is raiding money for can be found on the blog too. 

We're looking forward to reading more about his trip - We understand he has reached Fishguard...

Race for Life!

Gwyn Pritchard is not FDC Law's only athletic staff-member; Norton Receptionist, Tess Harvey, was one of the 33,000 women who joined  Cancer Research UK's  'Race for Life', successfully completing the Bath 5K on Sunday.

Tess and friends

Tess raised over £100 from sponsors within the office, and is threatening suggesting that we field and entire FDC Law team next year!

We'd like to congratulate Tess, and all the other participants in  the event.

New Kit, and Tournament Success for Flying Fox

Following on from our recent post we are delighted to see that the team from HMS Flying Fox have now received their new training kits.

The  football team recently attended the Royal Naval Reserve football tournament, hosted at HMS Eaglet in Liverpool. 

Hopes were high and the team felt quietly confident as they embarked on their adventure. 

Adorned in their new kit and with their sports jackets showing FDC Law as sponsors they truly looked the part. But would they be able to perform when it counted?

The first game was something of a cagey affair as they battled to a draw against their local rivals HMS Cambria of Cardiff.

However, from then on matters progressed fantastically with HMS Flying Fox taking on an beating all comers! They even managed to beat the favourites and hosts, HMS Eaglet. Benjamin Parry was on fire all tournament and  walked away with the tournament's top scorer award, and our own Gwyn Pritchard, of our Keynsham office managed to notch up a tally of 5 goals all together (two of which, he modestly claims, might be considered as 'a bit of a fluke')

Coming up to the final game all they needed to do was win and their first attempt at the tournament would be a real success with silverware aplenty returning to Bristol. However, it was not to be and although the team threw everything, including a number of kitchen sinks at the opposition they lost their last game.

Despite this disappointment, their earlier success resulted in a very respectable third place overall.

Although the team was a touch disappointed with the final result (being so close to absolute victory) everybody was very pleased with their overall performance and how well they jelled as a team. We here at FDC Law as the team sponsor are very proud of their achievements.

The team are very confident that they will be back next year and will be better than ever ready to once again take on all comers.

Well done to you, HMS Flying Fox and we are confident that the top spot will be yours next year!

Sponsoring the HMS Flying Fox sports teams

We recently announced that we would be sponsoring training kit for the sports teams of HMS Flying Fox.  HMS Flying Fox is a Naval Reserves Unit, based at Ashton in South Bristol. 

Our new Private Client lawyer, Gwyn Pritchard, of FDC Law Keynsham,  himself a Royal Navy Reservist and member of HMS Flying Fox’s football team, told us more about the team’s current plans.

“We are about to embark on a voyage of adventure up to HMS Eaglet in Liverpool to take part in the Naval Reserves football tournament. The football squad is made up of a blend of some young fresh faced recruits and some less fresh faced salty ol’ sea-dogs.” Gwyn declined to comment on which category he feels he falls into, but explained that he will be taking part and is  hoping that his enthusiasm toward playing may in some way make up for any apparent lack of skill on the pitch!.

However, we are informed that there are one or two real Ronaldo and Messi like players amongst their numbers.  The team has been training in their spare time in order to be as match fit as possible. There are high hopes that HMS Flying Fox can bring back some silverware this year although competition will be tough with Naval Reserve units attending from all over the UK.  We understand that HMS Flying Fox hopes also to be playing some high spirited friendly matches against other reserve units from the Army and Air Force in the future.  They are shortly to receive their playing and training kits so they can really look the part both on and off the pitch.

We at FDC would wish all members of the team and indeed the ships’ company all the very best of luck, and are looking forward to seeing them in their new FDC Law sponsored training kit in the near future. 

Milestone for Senior Partner

Several of our news stories recently have related to new faces joining the firm, this one is to celebrate one of our longer serving colleagues; Our senior partner, James Hollis, is celebrating completing 35 years of service with the firm!

James joined what was then Faulkners, in Frome, on 6th May 1980, as a newly qualified solicitor.

James recalls that when he arrived at Argyll House,  he was met with a scene that probably had not altered much for decades.  The secretaries were working on manual typewriters, repeatedly re-typing work as it passed through stages of approval to final forms for signing, and all records were kept on cards maintained by hand.  Everywhere, there were bundles of papers wrapped in red tape.  In a tradition retained  from the days of paper shortage, envelopes were  sliced open to become the next day’s notepads.

Prior to joining the firm, James did his training as an articled clerk  in a small office in the heart of the London legal world, a stone’s throw from Chancery Lane.  Having qualified, James and his fiancée Jane decided to move out of London to the West Country to pursue their respective careers in law and teaching.  Frome seemed ideal.  This was confirmed when, on the very first weekend  after starting work,  James  walked around Frome town centre  and had the pleasure of bumping into clients he had met during the week – something that had NEVER happened in London. Much has changed in Frome and the surrounding area in the past 35 years, but James confirms that he still enjoys meeting with clients and local colleagues, and feeling  that he, and FDC Law,  are both part of the local community. James has also been very involved in the firm's sponsorships, and sponsorship of the Frome Carnival, in particular

James initially worked with long serving senior partner, George Creswick.  George worked for two more years on a part time basis after James joined the firm,  and in that time introduced James to his clients and allowed James to witness first-hand how a solicitor should properly conduct himself or herself, with utmost integrity, always in the best interest of the client, showing care to all staff and gentlemanly respect and good grace to all, including those with whom you may be crossing swords.  James hopes that his practice has reflected these qualities, as well as the legal expertise he learned from George.

James following a recent success at the Nunney Flower Show

It is a platitude to say that so much has changed since then. James himself has developed from being a newly qualified solicitor to becoming the firm’s senior partner, and the firm itself  has grown and developed, now having three offices in Frome, Midsomer Norton and Keynsham, serving much of North Somerset.


James comments that George might  find some  parts of today’s legal world surprising, perhaps even disappointing, but the core values and  principles that for George were second nature are still a vital part of FDC Law’s  daily practice – service to the client, professionalism,  care and understanding,  courtesy and  respect to all. 

James treasures the fact that many relationships with clients and other professionals forged early in his career still remain strong and hopes that this can continue for the years in practice still to come.

FDC Law has old fashioned habits of thrift, but given his long service, we did agree that James could celebrate with the acquisition of a new stapler – even though his current one, given on his first day of work, was still trying to do its job!

Expansion in Keynsham - New Lawyer Joins FDC Law

As a result of the expansion of our office in Keynsham,  made possible by the move to our new premises at 64 High Street, we have been able to expand our Private Client department. 

Gwyn Pritchard, who is an experienced Private Client solicitor has joined us, and will be based at the Keynsham office.

Partner Ben Whelan with Gwyn Pritchard

Gwyn has many yeas of experience dealing with all types of private client work, including Wills and Probate, Estate and Inheritance Tax Planning, Powers of Attorney and Court of Protection work, as well as dealing with Trusts and related issues. 


Like department head, Darrell Collins, he is a member of S.T.E.P (The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) - he explains  "membership requires a lawyer to have undertaken additional training and assessment, and to maintain that expertise through regular additional training. I take my membership very seriously, and am proud to have attained this additional qualification"

Gwyn is available to met with new clients, needing advice or information about all aspects of wills, estate planning, trusts and probate. Call in, or contact him at our Keynsham Office.

Personal Injury Expert Joins FDC Law

We are very happy to announce that John Kilmister has joined FDC Law. John is an experienced Personal Injury solicitor and will be replacing David Gazzard in the Litigation department, and will be based at our Frome office.

John has over 20 years experience as a litigation lawyer,  he has been a member of the Law Society’s Personal Injury Accreditation Scheme  since 2000.  Accreditation as a panel member means  that his expertise in this field  has been verified, and his accomplishment is recognised, by the Law Society.

John  specialises in civil litigation, in particular dealing with  personal injury claims, clinical negligence and professional negligence, and has undertaken a wide variety of claims from road traffic accidents, accidents at work, tripping and slipping, occupier’s liability, product liability, industrial disease  such as asbestos related diseases,  Vibration White Finger , deafness etc.  and travel/holiday accidents.

Head of the Litigation Department Ben Whelan says “We are delighted that John agreed to join the firm. His expertise make him an ideal person for the role.”

John  has a Masters degree in Law,  and as well as dealing with clients he has published a number of articles and regularly presents talks and seminars for other lawyers .

If you have suffered from an injury, accident or believe that you are the victim of clinical negligence, contact John to discuss your options.

Expanding in Keynsham

We are moving into bigger premises in Keynsham to expand the services we offer to the town and the surrounding area. After opening a small office in Keynsham in 2011 we have seen huge demand for our services, and are pleased to announce that we shall be moving into larger and more convenient offices, at 64 High Street, Keynsham.

The new office will be open from 8^th April.  We shall be welcoming new staff member Gwyn Pritchard, to our Private Client department. Gwyn will join Partner Ben Whelan (Head of our Litigation Department) and Conveyancer Jayne Wells who are already based at the Keynsham office.

Marion Fisher of our family department will be in Keynsham each Wednesday morning and appointments can be made if you need advice about divorce or other family issues, at other times if necessary.

Partner Ben Whelan explains “We already offer the full range of our legal services from the Keynsham office, but the new premises will allow us to have more staff here full time, and to provide quicker service and easier access for our local clients”

We shall of course continue to support our local community in Keynsham. Over the past year this has seen us providing sponsorship for Keynsham in Bloom and for the Winter Festival.

Until 8^th April, we can still be found at our current location – 60a High Street, and both before and after the move can be contacted via our website or by e-mail at Keynsham@fdc-law.co.uk