Devorah specialises in Private Client matters at the firm’s London offices. She has extensive experience in providing practical estate planning advice to a wide variety of clients both in the UK and abroad including high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs and trustees. Working together with their own accountants and financial advisers where appropriate, she can support clients in structuring their affairs to enable wealth to be passed on tax efficiently to future generations. This may include the creation of trusts or family investment companies and making use of deeds of variation in post-death tax planning.
She assists clients in the preparation of wills, lasting powers of attorney and declarations of trust, the administration of estates including those with cross-border issues and in making applications to the Court of Protection.
Devorah often acts for clients during difficult times in their lives. She will always act sensitively and sympathetically and takes extra care when acting for elderly and vulnerable clients. She has been appointed to act as a professional attorney for clients who do not have family or friends able to help them manage their property and financial affairs.
She has a particular interest in disputes arising in trusts and estates and has successfully completed the association education course of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists. She has also acted on disputed Court of Protection applications.
Devorah is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the international professional body for advisers specialising in inheritance and succession planning. She is also a full accredited member of Association of Lifetime Lawyers and a member of the Court of Protection Practitioners Association.
Expertise
- Creating, varying, terminating and registering trusts and advising on the inheritance tax and capital gains tax implications of trusts and other forms of lifetime gifting
- Preparing complex and straightforward wills, including for clients with assets in other jurisdictions and non-UK domiciled clients and to enable the residence nil rate band to be claimed
- Preparing declarations of trust in relation to joint property purchases including those incorporating both fixed and floating shares and preparing documentation to vary the terms of declarations of trust following changes in circumstances of the owners
- Advising on and submitting applications to the Court of Protection for the appointment of and discharge of deputies, statutory wills, family care payments and lifetime gifts
- Dealing with the administration of a wide range of estates including complex estates needing to be registered with HMRC for income tax purposes and in circumstances where liaising with lawyers in other jurisdictions is required to obtain confirmation of how UK assets are to be distributed and to deal with foreign assets
- Acting in relation to estates where claims are being pursued under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
- Advising disappointed beneficiaries on the grounds for challenging the validity of wills and compiling the necessary evidence to make claims
- Explaining the obligations and fiduciary duties of executors, attorneys, deputies and trustees
- Drafting deeds of variation to settle potential claims against estates and to assist beneficiaries in their own tax planning
- Preparing and registering Lasting Powers of Attorney, acting as the certificate provider and where appropriate liaising with medical practitioners to enable the certificate to be completed
Devorah Ormonde
Private Client Partner
