Many of you will be aware of my very personal story, which fuels my professional purpose.

My background is that I was the nine year old little girl who got nothing when my Mum died, as my Mum had remarried a year before she died, and marriage cancels Wills.

There’s no denying that it makes sense that the law builds in some sort of provision for a husband or wife, on death of the spouse, but in my case, I don’t think my Mum would have left her three children nothing financially.

The Court case which went on in my childhood, taught me at a visceral level, what an energy sapping experience Court can be, even if you have no real idea at the time what’s going on.

My recollection is that the Court case went on and on and on. And it didn’t achieve anything financially, because we still got nothing from Mum’s estate. Some would say the lawyers were the real winners.

I was interested in law from a young age, but I chose to study English with Philosophy for my first degree. Then, before embarking on a law conversion course I took on as much legal work experience and work shadowing as I possibly could, for a whole year. I wanted to make sure I really did want to make the investment of my time and energy.

Despite in the back of my mind, knowing that my family had absolutely no respect for lawyers, my Dad naming them “daylight robbers,” I still wanted to study law.

I did the conversion course followed by the LPC and was told in no uncertain terms that I may never qualify as a Solicitor as I had no family in the law and no legal connections. The connections I had made were through hard work and persistence. Back in the day there was a big physical book called the Yellow Pages. And I rang all law firms in it. Twice.

I managed to land a training contract. Just over two years later, I qualified.

Why do I tell you all that?

My background is at the core not only of what I do, but how I do it.

The idea of lawyers being paid for the time they record in a weird diary system, is not appealing to me. I believe in fixed fees for work which is (after taking the time to understand things), predictable. I know that some fellow lawyers become uncomfortable with the idea of me suggesting that work is predictable, but that’s how I see it.

If a third Nil Rate Band is available because one spouse was previously widowed, I can spot that. If someone dies and my firm needs to liaise with fifteen banks rather than two, it’s clearly more work. If you’re part of a blended family and therefore require the extra protection, I can see that coming a mile off.

A good lawyer who specialises in this work, can identify the issues in advance, and therefore give a price in advance. If for some reason, clients do not go ahead and limit our time to that initial chat, I see no reason to charge to chat. Yes it’s advice, but my logic is that the knowledge is interesting, but if you haven’t got Wills in place, if you haven’t sorted an estate out, then nothing concrete has been achieved.

Another impact my background has had, is that I believe with a specialist Contentious Probate lawyer fighting my case, I should surely have secured something financially. Now, twenty years qualified, I see the sense in making use of what I call super specialists. I have different people I refer a variety of work to. It could be financial abuse which is continuing in someone’s lifetime. It could be a dispute over a Will made shortly before someone died, Covid influenced situations, farming squabbles and scenarios which involve the police. It could be anything.

Even though I specialise in Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) and Probate services, there are variations on that theme which justify calling on the super specialist.

My experience is that I have developed a team across the country who are willing and able to have initial chats with my clients, for free.

If you or someone you know might need to chat through a scenario which you’re pretty sure is not my bag, please know that I’m genuinely happy to field the call, give you some pointers and share contact details with fellow professionals I know can help you.

And in case you’re not aware from previous articles and posts, the reason I’m happy to give freely, is that this service is part of my Mum’s legacy. That means I take it very seriously.

Jane’s office runs remotely most hours of most days so drop her an email at Jane@jcwillsandprobate.co.uk or give her a call on 01727 840 240 (option 3)