Military

Wills

By preparing your Will, whether it is straight forward or more detailed, you can ensure that who you want to benefit from your assets will do so in as straight forward way as possible.  You can also decide who you would want to look after your estate. A professionally prepared Will can provide both you and your family security and peace of mind.  (Please see the notes under Individual Wills and estate planning for more details.)

I offer a friendly, but professional and pragmatic approach towards advising on Wills and related matters. I also understand many of the issues that you, and your family, may well be going through with the various factors and demands of military life, having been part of it myself.

If you need to prepare your Will quickly, such as due to operational or exercise requirements, this will be arranged for you.  My aim is to make the whole Will making process as straight forward, stress free and user friendly as possible.

Lasting Powers of Attorney and Powers of Attorney

There are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) that enable you to authorise your attorneys to look after your affairs, should you either wish them to, or should they need to, due to your no longer being able to manage your own affairs.  This could be due to your being away on operations, exercise or overseas postings, or due to health issues.  (Please see Individuals – Powers of Attorney for more details).

The two types of LPA are:

• Property and Financial Affairs LPA

These give your attorneys the authority to look after your property and financial affairs for you, such as your bank accounts.

• Health and Welfare LPA

These give your attorneys the authority to make decisions for you regarding both medical matters, such as what medical treatment you do, or don`t have, and where you live.  (Unlike the Property LPAs, these can only be used by your attorneys if you had lost, or were losing, your mental faculties.)

LPAs need to be registered with the Office of Public Guardian before they can be used, and this can take several weeks.  If you need a power of attorney put in place quickly, again, such as due to operational or exercise requirements, a different power of attorney (a general power of attorney) can be prepared for you as a stop gap before the LPAs can be completed.

Conveyancing

Whether still serving, or retired from the military, you may well want to buy or sell properties.  This may possibly be for your new home, or as an investment for later.

Whatever the reason, or whenever you decide to deal with this, working with a specialist property legal advisor is extremely important to help you through the process, and to make it all as straight forward and stress free as possible.

Although I do not personally carry out this line of legal advice, I work closely with property legal specialists who do, and can make introductions for you.

Family Law

If you are unfortunately going through any aspect of family break down or related family issues, an understanding, but experienced and specialist family legal advisor is essential to help you through this difficult and stressful time.

Again, although I do not personally deal with this area of law, I work closely with family law legal specialists who could assist you.

Financial Planning

Financial planning is extremely important at various stages in your lifetime. This could be on planning leaving the forces to start a new career, on retirement and pension planning, or generally planning for you and your family`s financial security.

It could also be a question of requiring financial advice regarding a property purchase or move, or potentially complex pension sharing arrangements following a family breakdown.

I am not personally authorised to offer any financial advice, however I have developed strong professional relationships over the years with experienced and specialist financial planners.  We frequently work together offering our clients comprehensive advice.  If I can assist you by introducing you to a specialist financial advisor at any time, please let me know.