As more than half of lawyers say they anticipate leaving their role within the next five years because of poor mental health and wellbeing, the latest Today's Wills and Probate Podcast tackles the issue head on with a wide ranging discussion on what organisations can do to protect their staff. Joining the podcast are Trish McLellan and Niamh Warnock of LawCare; a mental health and wellbeing charity focused on the legal services sector. It has published the results of its survey into the...

The latest episode of the Today's Wills and Probate Podcast, takes a musical tur as host David Opie welcomes John Heavens, CEO of Your Legacy Solutions - and a professional jazz musician. John shares with David his background and how the worlds came to collide; and how he manages to balance his two professions. By day, he leads a tech-driven estate planning firm. By night, he’s a signed vocalist and flautist with a London jazz and blues label. His musical roots run deep, with a family h...

The probate industry is under increasing pressure to demonstrate practitioners have acted in the best interest of the estate, particularly as beneficiaries become more financially dependent on inheritances. The Probate Registry has done much to ease the pain of delays and now private enterprise is playing its part in helping law firms and probate professionals remain on the right side of compliance. Enter Darren Leggett, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Director of Property Ladder Group (PLG) who j...

In this episode of Today’s Wills and Probate, host David Opie is joined by Elka Goldstein, founder of Sort & Store, to explore how estate clearance is being reimagined for one of probate’s most emotionally fraught tasks: clearing a loved one’s home. Sort and Store has taken the traditional house clearing process and introduced a digital element, documenting and cataloguing every item into a private online catalogue. Everything is then relocated to a secure warehouse and placed in storage....

In this episode of Today’s Wills and Probate, host David Opie welcomes Dan Baines, Founder and CEO of Advanced Inheritance, for a deep dive into the growing role of probate lending in modern estate administration. With delays in probate often leaving beneficiaries in financial limbo, organisations like Advanced Inheritance now offer a regulated, consumer-first solution designed to ease the provide reassurance to families. The conversation explores two key areas of innovation in this spa...

This episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast is hosted by David Opie and features Lucinda Frostick, Director of Remember A Charity, and Meg Edwards, a solicitor specialising in trusts and estates disputes at Shakespeare Martineau. Their discussion centres on legacy giving, inheritance tax, and the importance of clear communication between advisors and clients. Lucinda introduces Remember A Charity’s mission to encourage charitable bequests through a consortium of 200 member charities...

In this episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie explores the evolving world of probate property sales through the lens of auctions. He’s joined by Russell Taylor, Managing Director and Auctioneer at probate.auction, and Corin Holness, Corporate Relationship Director. Together, they unpack how the auction process is helping executors, legal professionals, and beneficiaries realise better returns and greater transparency when selling estate property. Russell, with 25 y...

In this episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, David Opie welcomes a panel of legal experts to explore the recent Addison and Niaz case and its important implications for Larke v Nugus requests. He is joined by Lucy Scourfield, associate in the contentious trusts and probate team at Forbes Solicitors; Shannon Thompson, a non-contentious Wills, Trusts and Probate solicitor at Forbes, who are representing the firm; and Norman Lamb, a barrister from Nine Chambers, specialising in cont...

In this episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate podcast, host David Opie welcomes Anthony Allsopp, Head of Business, and Simon Barber, Technical Manager at Title Research, to explore the nuanced challenges of probate genealogy and the role of missing beneficiary insurance. The conversation begins with a look at Title Research’s history, from its founding in 1965 to its evolution into a specialist firm focused on genealogy and international asset repatriation. Allsopp outlines the company’s s...

The project to modernise wills law book-ends the career of Professor Nick Hopkins in his role as the Commissioner for Property, Family and Trust Law at The Law Commission as he departs in the coming months following the end of his tenure. Before he departs Nick sits down with Today's Wills and Probate Podcast host David Opie to discuss the culmination of 10 years' effort, resulting in the 500-page Modernising Wills Law report and associated draft bill. He explains the focus of the repor...

In this episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie welcomes Sam Grice, founder of Octopus Legacy (formerly Guardian Angel), to discuss the origins, evolution, and future ambitions of one of the fastest-growing companies in the end-of-life planning and bereavement support space. Sam's journey into the wills and probate sector began with a deeply personal tragedy. In 2017, while working in financial services, Sam lost his mother suddenly in a car accident. At just 27, he ...

In the latest episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie discusses the intriguing and often surprising world of probate genealogy with Eileen Lavelle, Regional Head at Anglia Research. Eileen offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be a probate genealogist and how their work dovetails with the probate process. Eileen's day-to-day role involves identifying and locating rightful heirs, constructing family trees, and providing solicitors with the necessary docu...

The latest Today's Wills and Probate Podcast welcomes workplace culture and staff retention specialist Andre Thomas of Thomas Telman to discuss the critical importance of cultivating a positive workplace culture and the direct impact this has on staff retention and overall business success. The firm has created a empirical methodology by which culture can be measured through engagement surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. He identifies 15 key data points for assessing culture, in...

In this latest episode of the Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Stephen Lawson, Partner at IDR Law and Elizabeth Gibbison, a solicitor at Irwin Mitchell and Chair of Law Society Private Client Solicitors Section Advisory Committee, to discuss the likely contents of the Wills Act 1837 by the Law Commission, its wider implications, and the broader legislative changes facing the private client sector The Wills Act has remained largely unchanged for over 150 years. T...

Arken Group CEO Dave Newick joins the Today's Wills and Probate Podcast to discuss the output of a recent report published by Arken looking at the current landscape of the private client sector. The podcast focuses on three key discussion points borne out of the report; law firms and professionals need to be; better at understanding the data they holdproactively manage the changing employment landscapeexplore scalability and finding their marketplace."Strategically navigating a consolid...

In this Today’s Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie sat down with Mariam Khan, Solicitor at WMP Legal, to discuss the complexities of Islamic wills and estate planning. Many will writers and solicitors do not have the expertise to draft wills that align with both English law and Islamic inheritance principles. Mariam Khan has developed this niche expertise, ensuring that her clients receive advice that respects both legal and religious frameworks. Mariam’s journey into this specialisa...

Podcast host David Opie in joined by CEO of the charity LawCare, Elizabeth Rimmer, to discuss their latest "Life in the Law" surveys which are now open for completion until Friday 21st March. LawCare supports and promotes mental health and wellbeing across the legal services sector. They have 2 main focuses. Their first is in providing direct support on and offline for those who wish to reach out. Their second focus is on providing wider education and advocacy of mental health planning ...

The Today's Wills and Probate Podcast welcomes back Dan Warburton, a law firm consultant and trainer who specialises in helping individuals delegate work more effectively; in the process junior staff are elevated, the individual has a happier work/life balance, and ultimately the firm can be more profitable. It's a soapbox Dan has jumped on before having appeared previously on the podcast to discuss “the skill of profitable delegation;” creating leaders who can deliver high levels of pe...

In the second episode of the fourth series of the Today's Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie sat down with Taz Khalid, CEO, and Jean Ward, COO of My Probate Solicitor (MPS), to discuss the launch of the new business and the introduction of ZENA—an AI-powered “warrior princess” designed to streamline probate services for an ageing and growing population. MPS was founded as a tech-centric firm with AI at its core, offering a fixed-fee solution for probate. Ward, who transitioned from a...

In the first episode of the fourth series of the Today's Wills and Probate Podcast, host David Opie is joined by Alison Hesketh of TimeFinders; a service best described as providing later life admin support. Filling the "yawning gap" between the legal and financial professions, and the care sector, Timefinders was set up in 2010 following Alison's own experiences of supporting her family. Initially focused on retirement downsizing, the business rapidly widened its services to help people '...