12092019

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Newbury Business Today

Legal Review

Coffin Mew is shortlisted in prestigious Law Society awards NEWBURY law firmCoffin Mew has been shortlisted by the Law Society as ‘medium law firm of the year’ in its Excellence Awards for the second year running. The awards celebrate the best of the legal profession and the winners will be announced at a glittering celebration on October 23. Coffin Mew merged with Charles Lucas & Marshall in 2017, positioning it among the South East’s largest law firms with offices across the region and 230 partners and staff. Judges were impressed with the firm’s standout performance since then, building on the success of the merger, with revenues increasing by more than 30 per cent. Coffin Mew chief execu- tive Miles Brown said: “We regularly get glowing client feedback as well as truly favourable endorsements from our people following all of the positive growth we have seen. “We are delighted to also have industry recognition with another prestigious shortlisting and be nation- ally recognised among the ‘best of the best’ by the Law Society.” compliance, vehicle availabil- ity and safety. “We have also made signifi- cant investments in sophisti- cated systems, supporting Network Rail and other customers with real-time insights that can drive improved cost and environ- mental efficiencies across their fleets. “In the longer term, support for a transition to green fleets must be a priority. “As we have seen from our involvement in Optimise Prime, the industry is already rising to the challenge and we will continue to demonstrate leadership in supporting this movement.” Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solu- tions’ service levels have also been recognised as industry leading, with multiple awards including Leasing Company of the Year and a highly commended for supplier of the year at the Fleet News Awards 2019, as well as Van Leasing Company of the Year at the Commercial Fleet Awards 2018. The team was also recog- nised by its largest customer Centrica, receiving the Collab- oration Award 2018, beating more than 20,000 competitor suppliers.

The pitfalls of DIY wills and probate MANY people no doubt view lawyers as an expense that they can well do without. monies left to a UK charity (if you leave at least 10 per cent of your estate to charity then this the aftermath of homemade wills – sometimes the financial implications can be

will reduce your IHT bill), Normal Expenditure out of Income (NEOI) Relief, Agricultural Property Relief (APR) for farmers and Business Property Relief (BPR) for business owners. Additionally, BPR can apply to exempt certain investments from IHT and this is an area of estate planning that we specialise in. Turning to question 2, in the author’s view, one of the main advantages of having a professionally-drafted will that addresses all of the above issues, is the peace of mind of having put your affairs in order so that you haven’t left a legal mess for your family to sort after your death. The team at Horsey Lightly has wide experience of dealing with

catastrophic, particularly, for example, where the deceased has remarried and has children from their first marriage. How much better to have peace of mind knowing that everybody and everything has been considered and provided for and that your will is fully tax efficient? Contact Steve Meredith, Vicky Brackstone or Carl Wheeler in Horsey Lightly’s specialist IHT and wills team on (01635) 580858 or email info@horseylightly.com to see how we can help you achieve that peace of mind. Horsey Lightly has been providing legal expertise for families and businesses for more than 100 years. Visit www.horseylightly.com to find out more.

For that reason, they buy a will- making kit from a high street store or online at very little cost and then sit back and congratulate themselves on all the money they have saved by not using a lawyer. Similarly, when they die their executors deal with the probate themselves without professional help. However, if they had instructed a solicitor who is also an expert on Inheritance Tax (IHT), they may well discover that the IHT savings that can be achieved by careful will drafting may significantly outweigh the saving in professional fees. There are two issues here: 1. Has the family really saved money? 2. Do they have peace of mind that their affairs have been ordered in the best possible way? Dealing with question 1 first, if you make a homemade will, are you certain that your estate will qualify for all the applicable IHT reliefs and exemptions? To give a simple example, a new relief, known as the Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) was introduced in April 2017 which

effectively gives IHT relief on the value of a person’s home when it is inherited by lineal descendants, ie children and grandchildren. By April 2020, RNRB for a married couple or civil partners will be worth £350,000 which represents an IHT saving at 40 per cent of £140,000. However, the rules relating to RNRB are complex and this relief can easily be lost by poor will drafting. Is it worth the risk of losing the very significant benefit of RNRB by making a DIY will? Similarly, it is not only IHT savings that are at stake. It is also possible to make wills that mitigate the costs of paying

care or nursing home fees. Care costs are much more swingeing than IHT. The latter only takes a slice of your wealth, ie a 40 per cent hit on the amount by which the value of your estate exceeds £325,000 (£650,000 in the case of a married couple or civil partners). However, care fees are punitive and can decimate your wealth down to £23,250, leaving virtually nothing to pass down to your heirs. There are many other IHT exemptions and reliefs that you may potentially qualify for, which can all save you money if your will is drafted correctly, eg charitable exemption for

Steve Meredith Carl Wheeler Hitachi’s profits grow to £24.8m Fleet finance and management firm gains market share Vicky Brackstone

HITACHI Capital Vehicle Solutions, based in River Side Lane, Newbury, grewprofit to £24.8m in 2018/19, the second largest market share increase among top leasing companies. The business unit, part of Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC, now operates more than 68,200 assets totalling £822m. Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solu- tions, which provides vehicle funding and fleet management services, has grown signifi- cantly over the past 10 years, with the annual volume of busi- ness rising from £100m in 2009 to £377m in 2018/19. The business has also started the new financial year strongly with the recent announcement of a £136m contract to manage Network Rail’s owned and leased road vehicle fleet. Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solu- tions is also playing a key role in Optimise Prime, the world’s biggest trial of commercial electric vehicles (EVs). The three-year project, cost- ing £18m, is led by Hitachi Vantara and UK Power Networks and brings together leading power, technology, fleet and transport companies to test and implement the best approaches to roll out EVs on the road at scale.

Jon Lawes

Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solu- tions’ role as fleet expert in the consortium is to bring a wider understanding of the impacts of the charging infrastructure, network service provision and commercial solution to identify optimal performance for alter- native fuel fleets. Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solu- tions managing director Jon Lawes said: “In a challenging and rapidly-changing land- scape for the automotive indus- try, driven by changes to legis- lation, growth of registrations for alternatively-fuelled vehi- cles and ongoing Brexit uncer- tainty, we have worked closely with our customers to deliver market-leading solutions. “Our integrated leasing and fleet management model is providing Network Rail with the right assets to improve