England - South East • Private client
Cripps
Acing for professionals in the legal and financial sectors, business owners, agriculture and estate owners and families with inherited wealth, the ‘professional, extremely competent and practical’ team at the Tunbridge Wells hub of Cripps regularly handles wealth and tax planning work and succession planning issues. Increasingly acting on multi-jurisdictional matters, the team is led by Kate Arnold, a member of STEP and Charity Law Association, who specialises in supporting entrepreneurs, family business owners and individuals with significant land assets and focuses on UK and French succession planning including philanthropic aims within these plans. Also noted in the market is Paul Fairbairn, who specialises in advising ultra-high-net-worth families on how to structure wealth using trusts, tax efficient structures and heritage properties. Also a member of STEP is key lawyer Clare Savory, who supports with the set up and governance of grant-making charities.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The team are very user friendly and great to have on your side. Paul Fairbairn in particular is a pleasure to work with and very practical in his approach.’
‘The team at Cripps are professional, extremely competent and practical.’
‘Technically strong, but practical and good communicators.’
‘Good coverage of key legal specialities, and good communication between the different groups. The Private Client department has a good reputation, among other law firms as well as from clients. Very good and timely responsiveness to queries and contacts.’
‘We consulted Clare Savory, a senior associate, seeking advice about our estate planning and particularly how to minimise inheritance tax. She rapidly digested our background information. She made herself readily available and was happy to speak on the telephone at short notice when needed. She showed remarkable retentiveness of the background and of her communications with us. This meant that she was often able to provide very well-informed advice or comments without the delay that would have occurred if she had had to go through all our papers again. She produced an admirably clear report about our situation and the options open to us. She explained and justified her recommendations, with references where needed, in a way that gave us added confidence.’
‘This is an extremely knowledgeable team with client care at its forefront.’
‘Stephen Horscroft is a brilliant lawyer catering to every need of the client.’
‘We sought advice regarding our wills and our LPA's. The manner in which the solicitor at Cripps conducted the meeting with the family and the manner in which she applied herself to our needs was faultless and of considerable comfort to us. Our solicitor showed patience, calmness and considerable knowledge in the advice given.’
Work highlights
- Advising a high-net-worth individual on how to manage his £20m share of proceeds of sale of his business from an estate and tax planning perspective.
- Advising a high-net-worth client on legal affairs, including estate planning and trusts.
- Advising on a high-net-worth individual's multi-jurisdictional estate with assets in the UK and US worth approximately £18.5m.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Partner in the private client advisory group providing bespoke succession and inheritance tax planning advice to individuals and their families, advising on wills, lasting powers of attorney, trusts, co-habitation agreements, Court of Protection matters, lifetime tax planning and estates. Acting for both domestic and international clients and working on cross-border UK/French issues. Advising family businesses on longer term succession, with a particular emphasis on agricultural businesses and properties. Partner in Cripps charities sector advising on the set up and governance of charitable companies and trusts. Interesting cases: acting for executors of multi-million pound agricultural estate advising on agricultural property relief, administration of estate dealings with difficult beneficiaries; advising trustees of trust consisting of substantial company shareholding on ongoing governance and inheritance tax issues; providing advice to trustees of a private charitable trust generally and particularly in relation to a multi-million pound project being undertaken by the trustees.
Partner specialising in advising both domestic and international families on their succession and tax planning using wills, trusts and other structures. He also has extensive experience advising owners, custodians and managers of rural estates on tax, heritage and succession issues.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Kate Arnold