Sponsors

Thank you to this year’s sponsors

Headline Sponsor

Executor Solutions are a specialist property company working with law firms and private executors across the UK since 2015.

Our focus is on valuing and selling probate property to maximise return for the estate using methods that save the estate the associated selling fees without any break in service or reduction in property value. We also maintain and protect property to ensure it is in the best condition it can be when presented for sale.

We understand that estate management takes time and can drain the fee-earning time of busy professionals. It can also be expensive in a period where efforts are being made to clarify and protect an inheritance. We partner with busy professionals to deliver those services on their behalf and with an approach that is of advantage to the estate (see our Zero Fee open house service).

For more information please visit: www.executorsolutions.co.uk

Champagne Sponsor

Death is a difficult time for everyone. Sadly, the processes that come with it don’t make it any easier. They can be lengthy, repetitive and complicated. At Exizent we don’t believe it has to be this way. 

Exizent connects the data and services used by legal services firms, institutions, and executors to sort out what’s required to make the journey for the bereaved an easier one. 

Our online platform is digitising the probate process. We’re making it easier for legal services firms and institutions to streamline the administration, so you can get back to what’s important – using your specialist knowledge and working with clients. 

For more information please visit: www.exizent.com

Community Involvement of the Year

We’re Honey Legal, a family of legal experts established over 10 years ago, based in Shropshire. From humble beginnings we have grown to be one of the largest estate planning companies in England & Wales – by giving transparent, educational, and bespoke advice to families.

With over 100 Head Office staff and 200+ sales consultants we provide an unparalleled estate planning service focusing on the protection of customer’s assets, wealth, and well-being, in their lifetime and beyond.

Offering a specialist Wills, LPA, Trusts and Probate 5-star service, backed by advanced in-house technology solutions, SRA regulated solicitors and highly qualified paralegals, we continue to grow at pace, despite the challenges in 2020.

For more information please visit: www.honeylegal.co.uk

Solicitor Firm of the Year (National)

Inheritance Data is the UK’sleading financial asset searching platform and is devised to explore financial institutions’ records to establish the deceased’s or living person’s financial history. Our searches exposes all assets which are owed to the estate during estate administration or to the living person, to ensure they have identified and recorded all of their assets. 

Acting on behalf of Probate Professionals, Estate Planners and Will Writers, Inheritance Data contacts over 200 financial institutions via ouronline portal enabling industry professionals to submit a Probate, Power of Attorney or Living Financial Asset Search using one platform.  

For more information please visit: www.inheritancedata.co.uk

Probate Provider of the Year Small Firms

Just Clear is a multi award-winning nationwide house clearance service, with a strong focus on customer service & using waste as a commodity. Top Rated on Trustpilot for House Clearance. Featured in Forbes & MailOnline.

For more information please visit: www.just-clear.co.uk

Most Rewarding Charity Initiative

Tower Street Finance is a specialist in inheritance lending products and the winner of last year’s Innovation of the Year award for its Inheritance Advance product.

The product is unique in that it helps beneficiaries get hold of their inheritance early with no risk, no personal liability, no monthly payments and no charges over property. There doesn’t need to be a Will, and the Advance can be used for any purpose.

Currently partnering with over 100 legal firms to offer its products, TSF is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a lender not a broker.

For more information please visit: www.towerstreetfinance.co.uk

Private Client Team of the Year

Pro-Gen-Research is becoming the first port of call for many private client practitioners who rely on the professionalattentive and competitively priced probate research offered to them covering such issues as: 

  • International bankruptcy searches across the world 
  • Intestate estate research where the identification, location and verification of entitled relatives is required to ensure correct distribution of the intestate estate  
  • Tracing missing beneficiaries and verifying their identity prior to providing the solicitor with full contact details 
  • Statutory Will matters where the identification and location of relatives is required prior to the preparation of a Statutory Will 
  • Residual client balance repatriation in order to satisfy the requirements of the SRA Accounts Rules 2011 
  • Document acquisition including birth, marriage and death certificates together with divorce searches 

For more information please visit: www.pro-gen-research.co.uk

Best Use of Technology

Tower Street Finance is a specialist in inheritance lending products and the winner of last year’s Innovation of the Year award for its Inheritance Advance product.

It subsequently launched its IHT Loan which helps executors who are in a catch 22 situation where they can’t pay an inheritance tax liability before the proceeds of the estate are released. There doesn’t need to be a Will, and it offers no risk, no personal liability, no monthly payments and no charges over property.

Currently partnering with over 100 legal firms to offer its products, TSF is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a lender not a broker.

For more information please visit: www.towerstreetfinance.co.uk

Court of Protection Team of the Year

Anglia Research provides probate genealogical services to the legal profession, local authorities and private Deputyship companies. It has more accredited genealogists and independently regulated staff than any other UK research company. It specialises in tracing and locating lost heirs, missing beneficiaries, unknown next of kin and unclaimed assets, both in the UK and worldwide.

Now in its sixth decade, Anglia Research’s expertise and diligence has led to the successful administration of thousands of estates. It also locates title holders to abandoned properties and offers consultancy to media companies and others, on a range of historical and genealogical issues.

For more information please visit: www.angliaresearch.co.uk

Innovation of the Year

We are an expert, bespoke lender with over 50 years’ experience in lending. We offer transparent and fair financing options, designed to fund life events. This began with providing funding for Family Law proceedings, and now includes financing specifically designed for the Probate sector. We offer loans to Beneficiaries and Executors, effectively releasing the proceeds of an Estate much earlier than they will otherwise be able to. We promise quality, transparency and speed to make life that bit easier.  We have harnessed technology to ensure efficiency in process, leaving time and space for a personal touch, which we are fiercely passionate about.

For more information please visit: www.ampla.finance/

The Today’s Wills & Probate Industry Champion

Arken.legal is a provider of expert digital solutions for the private client sector. Its innovative product suite delivers business efficiencies and consistency across a practice, while enabling client acquisition through an improved customer experience – from document automation to digital fact finds, online Wills to marketing tools. Built by private client solicitors, Arken is trusted by more than 500 firms in the UK, as well as Trust companies in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. With 30 years of experience and more than six million Wills having been drafted through its solutions, you can be confident of an excellent service for both you and your clients.

For more information please visit: www.arken.legal/uk

Will writing firm of the year North and Midlands

The Institute of Paralegals is an international professional Institute for paralegals and the only Institute in the UK.  We are passionate about upholding the highest professional standards in knowledge, practice and ethics across the paralegal profession. We have developed the competency standards for paralegals and Legal Secretaries which map to the National Occupation Standards for Legal Services. Our purpose is to uphold the highest standards in knowledge, practice and ethics across the paralegal profession and to support individual paralegals in developing the skills and knowledge required to meet these highest standards.

For more information please visit: www.theiop.org

Will Writing Firm of the Year (National)

Whatever challenge our clients are facing in their life, Friends Legal strive to not make a difficult time any more confusing. We offer transparent and fair pricing with no hidden fees or legal jargon. Our qualified Legal experts are passionate about working alongside our clients through every stage of an emotional process. With ‘By Your Side’ from Friends Legal, we have a fair and empathetic way of helping our clients deal with the legal side of death. From a first Will, to Power of Attorney, or any kind of legal help after losing a loved one.

For more information please visit: www.friends-legal.co.uk

Best Contentious Wills and Probate Team

Tower Street Finance is a specialist in inheritance lending products and the winner of last year’s Innovation of the Year award for its Inheritance Advance product.

It has just launched its third product – Inheritance Dispute Funding . It has been designed to help people who want to contest a will but don’t have the means to fund it themselves. There is no personal liability, no monthly repayments and no credit checks.

Currently partnering with over 100 legal firms to offer its products, TSF is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a lender not a broker.

For more information please visit: www.towerstreetfinance.co.uk

Probate Provider of the Year Large Firms

CLS PI is a leading provider of products and services for Legal Indemnities, Conveyancing and Estate Administration matters. We offer a digital solution called PIPA for easy online ordering, including Variable Statements of Fact to allow you to customise policies. And for when it’s more complex, we provide a personal service with expert advice and support from our highly qualified underwriters, business development and client services teams.

We start with our customers, identify the pain points then work together to innovate and deliver real value.  Every problem has a solution. You just have to be creative enough to find it.

For more information please visit: www.clspi.co.uk

Will Writing Sole Practitioner of the Year

Will Aid is an annual fundraising campaign involving nine of the UK’s leading charities: ActionAid, Age UK, British Red Cross, Christian Aid, NSPCC, Save the Children, SCIAF, Sightsavers and Trocaire. Every November, solicitors donate their time in exchange for a voluntary donation to Will Aid. Clients are invited to have a will drawn up by a professional solicitor, without paying the usual fee (instead the suggested donation is £100 for a basic will and £180 for a pair of mirror wills). This money is then split between the nine participating charities. Since 1988, Will Aid has raised over £21 million.

For more information please visit: www.willaid.org.uk

Probate Research Firm of the Year

Provira is a disruptive innovator, providing simple and transparent financial solutions within the estate and probate space.

We specialise in flexible and bespoke cashflow solutions for beneficiaries, executors and legal service providers – always ensuring that our products are easy to understand.

Probate Advance allows beneficiaries instant, risk-free access to a portion of their future inheritance, structured as a facility. Probate Home Improvement is an innovative end-to-end financing, renovation, conveyancing and sales solution, aimed at increasing the value of properties (and thereby inheritances) stuck in probate. Estate Advance allows executors to cover IHT and other estate expenses, whilst we also provide Partner Fee Financing solutions to select professional partners.

For more information please visit: www.provira.com

Young Practitioner of the Year

The Law Superstore is the UK’s leading comparison site for legal services. With a panel of solicitors and legal service providers from across the UK, The Law Superstore makes it simple and straightforward for consumers to find and compare over 130 legal services online, including wills and probates, divorces and pre-nuptial agreements.

Consumers can compare by price, location and service ratings left by previous users, bringing transparency to the online legal services sector. Every provider is quality checked, reputable and fully regulated.

The Law Superstore was acquired in 2017 by reallymoving.com, the UK’s leading price comparison site for home-moving services.

For more information please visit: www.thelawsuperstore.co.uk

Best use of Marketing & Social Media

Content marketing is an invaluable tool when it comes to growing your legal business. If the content you produce is engaging and informative, you will be viewed as a credible and authoritative source within your area of expertise. It also plays a key role in driving genuine trust and quality leads. However, writing good quality and engaging content can be rather time consuming. One of the main challenges we hear is that firms are just too busy in their day to day roles, to invest time in focusing on writing content for their business, especially when this time can be better spent with a client. As the publishers of 3 legal journals providing daily news, industry insight and best practice, Today’s Media are well placed to understand how to communicate with and on behalf of the legal sector. Today’s Legal Content provides a range of content options from pre-written articles, through to bespoke blogs and longer form whitepapers. Our content packs provide consistent and topical articles monthly, enabling your firm to stand out in a busy market. Our subscription options are flexible and we can help you plan scheduled content for the whole year.

For more information please contact: [email protected]