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Bees & Co Wills,Trusts LPAs and Estate planning

Expert advice on the construction of Wills, Lasting Power of Attorney and the effective use of Trusts. Expert Financial guidance which comes FREE of charge.

29/05/2026

A conversation I find myself having more and more is about how long probate actually takes.

Most families assume it is a matter of weeks. The reality over the past 12 months is that a straightforward estate typically takes six to twelve months from start to finish, and complex ones longer. According to recent figures reported by the Ministry of Justice, more than two thousand probate applications took over a year to be granted in the year to April 2025.

Why the delays? Inheritance tax queries with HMRC, property valuations, missing pension details, and the rising number of digital assets that nobody thought to write down.

There are two practical things you can do for your family while you are still around. Keep a clear list of what you own and where it is, including online accounts. And make sure your will is up to date and properly drawn up.

It will not eliminate every delay, but it will save your executors weeks of detective work.

If you’d like help drawing that list together, let me know.

24/05/2026

A word of warning. Trust scams are on the rise. Fraudsters are using legal-sounding language, fake credentials, and even cloned websites to part decent people from their money.

Three red flags to watch for:
Guaranteed returns and 'no risk' promises.
Pressure to act today, or before the end of the week.
A request to pay by an unusual method, or to keep things 'between us'.

A genuine professional will never push you, never promise the impossible, and never mind you taking a few days to think.

If something feels off, it usually is. Ring us, ring Citizens Advice, or report it to Action Fraud.

If you want a second pair of eyes on something, get in touch.

21/05/2026

A question I am asked quite often is 'Aren't Lasting Powers of Attorney just for the elderly?'

The honest answer is no. An LPA matters from the age of 18 onwards.

Think about it. Once your child turns 18, you no longer have an automatic right to step in if something happens to them. A serious accident, a sudden illness, an incident on a gap year abroad, and the bank, the hospital, even the university, may not be able to speak to you about their affairs.

With exam season underway and many young people heading off this summer to work, travel, or start university, this is a good time for parents and young adults to have a quiet conversation about it. It is not a morbid one. It is a practical one.

If your son or daughter is heading off this summer, it is worth a five-minute conversation.

17/05/2026

There’s something I still find a lot of families still don’t know: since September 2024, every single death in England and Wales must be reviewed by a Medical Examiner before the death certificate is issued.

Medical Examiners are senior doctors. Their job is to look over the medical records, speak to the treating clinicians, and, where appropriate, speak to the family, before confirming the cause of death.

For families, this means two things. First, you will likely be offered a conversation with the Medical Examiner. It is a chance to ask questions, raise concerns, or simply understand what happened. Many people find that genuinely helpful.

Second, the process can add a few days to the timeline before you can register the death and arrange a funeral. Knowing this in advance takes some of the surprise out of an already difficult time.

It is a significant change, and one that all families I’ve spoken to about this appreciate.

14/05/2026

You’d be surprised how often I hear 'I'll get round to my will next year".

Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, and more recently, Liam Payne, all died without one. None of them planned to. None of them thought it was urgent. Their families spent years, in some cases decades, sorting out the consequences.

You do not need millions in the bank for it to matter. If you have a home, savings, children, or someone you would want looked after, then you have an estate worth protecting.

Half an hour now can save your loved ones months of worry later.
Get in touch if you’d like a friendly chat about getting a will started.
https://beesandco.com/contact/

11/05/2026

Right, I owe you all an apology.
A little while ago, I told you I had taken leave of my senses and signed up to throw myself out of an aeroplane on 28th June for Hope for Tomorrow, the wonderful charity that runs mobile cancer care units bringing treatment closer to people who need it.

What I did not do, because I am told I am 'not very digital', is share the actual link enough times for anyone to find it. The grand total currently sits at just £70. My grandchildren are quietly enjoying my technological shortcomings.

So here it is, the link to sponsor me is:
https://lnkd.in/e-K7N9AW

Even a fiver would help and would take some of the sting out of my impending freefall.

A few things you should know:
The jump is really happening. I have not found a graceful way to back out.

The cause is genuinely brilliant. Hope for Tomorrow take cancer care to people in their own communities, often saving them long, exhausting trips to hospital. Every pound goes to the charity, not to me. I am providing the entertainment for free.

If you have already donated, thank you, you are a saint and I shall wave at you on the way down. If you have not, the link is here and in the comments. You can’t miss it. I have made sure of that this time.

More updates to follow.

07/05/2026

At this time of year, plenty of us are clearing out the garage, the loft, or the back of a wardrobe we have not opened since lockdown. May I suggest adding one more job to that list? A spring clean of your legal affairs.

In my experience, most people draw up a will, file it away, and never look at it again. Then a marriage happens, a divorce, a grandchild, a house move, or a parent passes on, and the will stops reflecting what they actually want.

It only takes half an hour to read your will through and ask yourself three questions:

Are the right people named?
Are the executors still the right choice?
Have my circumstances changed since I signed it?

If the answer to any of those is no or 'I am not sure', it is time for a conversation. Better to do it now than to leave your family unpicking it later.

If you'd like a review, give me a call.

04/05/2026

People sometimes assume that going to a will writer is going to be expensive, formal, or full of jargon. At Bees and Co, we've spent years trying to be the opposite of that.

Between us, the partners here have around 70 years of experience in this work. We are members of The Society of Will Writers. We will come to your kitchen, sit on Zoom, or chat over the phone, whichever suits you.

We use plain English. We tell you what things cost up front. And the first conversation is always free.

We work across Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, helping working people, retired people, and families of every shape with wills, trusts, LPAs, probate and tax planning.

Whatever stage you are at, you are welcome to get in touch. There is no pressure, and no daft questions.
Visit our website or send me a message to schedule a chat: https://beesandco.com/contact/

20/04/2026

I was speaking to someone recently who said, “I’ve done my Will… but it still doesn’t quite say everything I want it to”.

And that’s actually quite common.

A Will does the important legal work — who gets what, who’s responsible, and all of that.

But sometimes there are things that don’t quite fit into a formal document:
The why behind decisions.
Personal wishes.
How you’d like things handled in a bit more detail.

That’s where something called a Letter of Wishes comes in.

It sits alongside your Will and gives a bit more context, it’s guidance rather than instructions.

It’s not legally binding, but it can make things much clearer for the people dealing with everything, especially at what’s usually a difficult time.

I have written a short blog explaining how it works and when it can be useful. https://beesandco.com/blog/letter-of-wishes-a-comprehensive-guide/

Worth a read if you’ve ever felt your Will doesn’t quite tell the full story.

18/04/2026

Family life looks very different now compared to when many of these wills and probate rules were first written.

I regularly speak with people who are in blended families, have children from previous relationships, or are living with a long-term partner without being married.

Completely normal situations, but the law doesn’t always reflect that reality.

For example:
Stepchildren don’t automatically inherit
Unmarried partners aren’t protected
Assets may not end up where you expect

So, without a clear Will in place, things can quickly become complicated and sometimes unfair.

Not because anyone’s done anything wrong, but because the law is just applying a fixed set of (sometimes antiquated) rules.

A bit of planning here brings clarity and avoids those unintended outcomes.

If you have a blended family, we have a blog that can help you with your estate planning: https://beesandco.com/blog/estate-planning-for-blended-families-with-complex-family-dynamics/

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