Will writing & estate planning in Cirencester
Home appointments in Cirencester and the surrounding Cotswold villages — Chesterton, Siddington, Kemble, South Cerney and the Ampneys.
Call 01793 228068Mon–Fri 9am–7pm · Sat by appointment · Home visits across Gloucestershire
Land, farms and Cotswold property
Cirencester estates are frequently more complicated than the family expects, and the reason is usually land. The Cotswolds around the town are still genuinely agricultural, and a good proportion of the people we see here own something beyond the house: a let field, a share in a family farm, a barn conversion, some woodland, or a plot with hope value that a developer has already written to them about twice.
Agricultural property relief and business property relief can take qualifying assets out of the inheritance tax charge, and for a farming family they are usually the difference between the next generation continuing and the next generation selling. But the reliefs turn on detail: whether the land is farmed or let, on what terms and for how long, whether the farmhouse is genuinely of a character appropriate to the land, whether diversified activities such as holiday lets or a wedding barn have tipped the balance away from a trading business. Recent changes to the reliefs have narrowed them further, which makes reviewing an old will considerably more urgent than it was.
A will drafted twenty years ago on the assumption that the reliefs would cover everything may now leave a substantial bill and no cash to pay it. We look at how the will and the ownership are structured, and where a question falls outside estate planning we will say so and suggest you take it to a suitably qualified professional rather than guessing at it ourselves.
Succession, and keeping the peace
Where a family business or a farm is involved, the hardest question is rarely the tax. It is which of the children is taking it on, what the others get instead, and whether everybody has been told. We have seen well-drafted wills cause years of bad feeling because the fairness was never explained while the person who made it was still alive to explain it. A letter of wishes alongside the will, or simply a conversation over a kitchen table with all of them present, prevents a great deal of that.
The town itself has plenty of estates with no land at all — retired professionals in the streets around Cirencester Park, staff and academics connected with the Royal Agricultural University, and families in the newer housing towards Chesterton and Kingshill. For most of them a straightforward will and a pair of lasting powers of attorney is the whole job, and we will say so.
Cirencester is a comfortable drive for us and there is no charge for travel or for the first conversation.
What we can help with in Cirencester
Wills
A clear, legally valid will that says exactly what you mean.
from £150
Trusts
Protect the family home and provide for the next generation.
from £400
Lasting Powers of Attorney
Property & financial affairs and health & welfare, registered for you.
from £150
Estate Planning
Everything pulled together into one clear, co-ordinated plan.
quoted after a free review
Executors
Make sure the people you appoint know what they are taking on.
Executor Pack £200
We also cover
Nearby villages include Chesterton, Siddington, Kemble, South Cerney, Stratton, Preston — all within our normal visiting area.
Talk to someone in Cirencester
The first conversation is free, and there is no obligation to go any further.