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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.