About
Richard advises on a full range of private client matters, including will drafting and lifetime and post-death tax planning, with a particular focus on succession planning for individuals with family business interests. Richard also advises on trust creation and administration as well as capacity issues, including advising attorneys on their duties and responsibilities and any necessary applications to the Court of Protection, and advising on establishing and administering trusts for vulnerable individuals.
Richard has developed a niche for complex estate administration matters on behalf of executors, independent administrators, and beneficiaries, especially those with a contentious element. Richard is a key member of the firm’s Charity Legacy Administration team and his experience in advising charities covers a wide variety of issues, as well as teaching the inheritance tax modules for the Institute of Legacy Management’s charity legacy officers.
Richard was noted as a Leading Associate in the 2024 and 2025 Legal 500 and was named as an ‘Associate to Watch’ in Chambers High Net Worth 2024. Richard is also a Full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the world’s leading organisation for private wealth professionals.
Richard is admitted to practise in England and Wales.
Experience
- Advising on a claim against executors for an alleged breach of their duty of care in the administration of a complex estate, maximising post-death planning opportunities for two generations of a family.
- Advising multiple generations of a family in relation to their successful, national family business and personal assets.
- Considering and advising on a practical solution for the executors of an insolvent author’s estate by unwinding a complex family trust whilst minimising inheritance tax.
- Advising the independent administrator of a complex and contentious £25m cross-border estate with assets in four jurisdictions.
- Advising the executors and trustees of an estate to establish a lasting legacy of a pub and farmland for the benefit of future generations, including detailed claims for business and agricultural property reliefs.
- Establishing a disabled person’s trust through the variation of a UK estate to mitigate inheritance tax and provide protection and control.