Private Wealth

Supporting individuals and families across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and the surrounding region with private wealth matters has been a core part of our legal service for many years and encompasses a wide range of advice. Whatever your private wealth protection goals, we will be happy to provide the legal advice you need.

Our Private Client team is the only team of private wealth solicitors based in our office locations to be recommended currently by the independent Legal 500 directory. This year’s editorial commentary says:

“Fraser Dawbarns’ private client offering in East Anglia includes notable practitioners in Ely, King’s Lynn and March. Seema Solanki receives considerable client praise and is noted as ‘very good in advising and negotiating in cases where personal and family difficulties exist’. She has a broad client base of HNWIs, businesses, entrepreneurs, families and academics. Kim Neal, Harleen Hanson and Danielle Dennis-Betts are among the additional lawyers to note.”

Private Wealth areas of expertise in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk

Our private wealth specialists at Fraser Dawbarns have a very broad range of experience and expertise. These include but are not limited to:

• Drafting new Wills or reviewing and updating existing ones
• Adding a Codicil to a Will
• Advising on Inheritance Tax Planning
• Advising on the creation and running of Trusts
• Creation of Lasting Powers of Attorney (Property & Affairs)
• Creation of Lasting Powers of Attorney (Health & Welfare)
• Advising and acting as Attorneys or Deputies
• Court of Protection advice
• Care fees planning
• Obtaining a Grant of Probate and all other aspects of Estate Administration
• Deeds of Variation.

Members of our team are accredited by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and Seema Solanki is currently Chair of the Cambridgeshire branch of STEP.

You can contact our private wealth lawyers who are able to help with any of the above, or other related matters, through our offices in King’s Lynn, Ely, March, Downham Market or Wisbech.  Alternatively, complete a contact form and we’ll be in touch.

Private Wealth solicitors for local business owners

As the owner of a business, you will appreciate the importance of ensuring that your business and personal financial arrangements work seamlessly together. However, everyone’s circumstances are slightly different, and this is where our private wealth lawyers can help.

They don’t offer ‘off the peg’ advice, but instead work with you to understand your priorities and provide appropriate solutions to achieve your goals. This may include:

• Working with you alongside our Corporate & Commercial or Agriculture & Estates teams, to plan the tax-efficient succession of a family business
• Finding the most appropriate way to ensure that you can leave your assets equally to the next generation where some are involved in the family business and others are not
• Ensuring that you have suitable LPAs in place to protect your business as well as your family if you became temporarily or permanently unable to manage your own financial affairs.

Private wealth solicitors for people who are marrying or remarrying

Marriage or divorce are both changes of circumstances which are likely to trigger the need to review your Will and any related arrangements. Some key points to note are:

• Marriage automatically invalidates an existing Will so, when you marry, you should review your position.
• Divorce does not automatically revoke an existing Will so reviewing your position should be a priority if you divorce. Many people prepare an interim Will as soon as their marriage breaks down so that the person they are divorcing would not benefit if anything should happen unexpectedly in the short term.
• If you have Lasting Powers of Attorney, you may wish to review these on marriage or divorce to ensure that you have nominated the most appropriate attorneys for your circumstances at any given time.
• If you are marrying and have children from a previous relationship, it is very likely that you will wish to review your circumstances and re-make your Will at this point. Our team members have extensive experience of working with couples with blended families to ensure that their Wills, tax-planning and trust arrangements will achieve the outcome they desire.

Private Wealth solicitors for the older generation

Definitions of what qualifies as the ‘older generation’ vary widely. However, there is no doubt that milestones such as becoming grandparents or reaching retirement can mean that people’s priorities and plans for their assets change. Below are just a few of the areas in which our private wealth lawyers often help local families or individuals at this stage of their life.

• Reviewing and updating an existing Will
• Adding a Codicil to a Will
• Reviewing their Inheritance Tax position and potentially making changes to mitigate IHT in the longer term
• Reviewing an historic Enduring Power of Attorney (made pre-2007) and advising on whether it is still valid
• Creating a Property & Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney
• Creating a Health & Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney
• Planning for possible future care needs.

Our team of private wealth lawyers is committed to ensuring that it can provide the most appropriate advice at all times, and do so in a friendly and approachable way.

The majority of the members of our Private Client team are Dementia Friends and some are members of The Association of Lifetime Lawyers (formerly Solicitors for the Elderly).

Private Wealth solicitors for executors

When someone dies, their chosen executors will need to ensure that their wishes, as outlined in their Will, are carried out. Sometimes this is relatively straightforward, but frequently it is not, particularly if it isn’t something you’ve had to do before.

Our private client lawyers work with executors in various different ways, always aiming to make the situation as stress-free for them as possible.

We usually begin by helping to obtain the Grant of Probate and completing any relevant tax returns that are required in order to do so. In many instances we also go on to undertake the administration of the probate once the grant has been obtained.

If someone has died without a Will (‘intestate’) then we can assist a family member to obtain a Grant of Representation to enable them to divide up the assets in the estate.

Private Wealth solicitors for beneficiaries

When someone inherits money from a parent, spouse or other family member, it often triggers a need to consider their own position and make plans for the future, possibly including reviewing or updating their own Will.

In some circumstances, it can also be appropriate to review the planning carried out by the person who has died, and to consider making retrospective changes if it wasn’t tax efficient and there is the scope to do so. This can sometimes be done using a Deed of Variation. It is important to note that there is a time limit to this and a Deed of Variation has to be completed within two years of the death of the person whose affairs are being reviewed.

Private Wealth advice for younger families

Our specialist private wealth solicitors are here to assist at any stage of your financial journey. Many younger people know they ought to make a Will, but it never quite makes it to the top of the ‘to do’ list because there seem to be other priorities. While this is understandable, it is not the best approach.

Once you have got a foot on the property ladder, have had a child, or get married, then you should consider what would happen to your assets and your much-loved small person if anything should happen to you. Worse still, what would happen if something unexpected happened to you and your spouse, co-mortgagee or co-parent at the same time? While these may not be things you like to think about in your 20s or 30s, doing so will give you peace of mind and failing to do so could cause unexpected future problems for those you love.

Why choose Fraser Dawbarns for Private Wealth work?

Because our clients, and others, recommend us. These were among the client quotes fed back to Legal 500 in 2025.

“Fraser Dawbarns is unique in that unlike other law practices it really is interested in helping their clients. One is not seen as a potential fee but as a person who needs legal assistance and is prepared to pay for a good service.”

“Kim Neal was extremely professional and friendly offering advice which I found very helpful. Wouldn’t hesitate to use her again, can highly recommend the whole team.”

“Seema Solanki is very experienced and knowledgeable in trusts. She is very good in advising and negotiating in cases where personal & family difficulties exist, having a very friendly, approachable, considerate and concerned manner, while maintaining strict legal propriety at all times.”

You can contact our Private Wealth specialists in our King’s Lynn, Ely, Downham Market, March and Wisbech offices, or fill in the contact form below and a member of the team will get in touch.