A day in the life of… Emma Rolfe

My morning begins with coffee, of course, followed by a brisk walk into the office. It is a picturesque route along the canal and I am treated today to some sunshine.

On arrival at the office, I catch up on emails from my non-working day and check my to-do list for this week. As a private client solicitor, my days are varied and I help clients with putting their affairs in order from lifetime planning through to the administration of estates.

I spend my morning working on an Inheritance Tax (“IHT”) return for a new estate that I am dealing with. The deceased had made a significant number of lifetime gifts and so I am going through their bank statements as we are hoping to claim that these gifts are exempt from IHT, as they were made out of surplus income.

If we were not able to do so, the gifts would use up some of the deceased’s nil rate band – their IHT-free allowance – which would lead to a higher IHT bill. Luckily, in this case, the figures appear to support our claim. I am then able to complete the remainder of the IHT schedules which can then be sent to the executors for approval.

Once the executors approve the IHT return, this will be submitted to HMRC and any IHT due will need to be paid. We then have to wait for HMRC to issue us with a code which enables us to apply for the Grant of Probate. The Grant of Probate is effectively a certificate confirming the validity of a will and the appointment of the executors, then enabling us to administer the estate.

After a taxing morning I enjoy a lunchtime catch up with colleagues in the office canteen followed by a walk through the park. We are lucky that our Central England office sits right next to Becket’s Park.

In the afternoon, we have our weekly team meeting. This is a chance for us all to catch up and to discuss our current workload. It is also an opportunity to hear any wider firm news or to discuss any changes in the law that will affect our work.

After this I have a meeting with a new client to discuss the preparation of Lasting Powers of Attorney (“LPAs”). These are important documents that enable an individual to appoint their chosen attorneys to act on their behalf for finance or health decisions, if they were to lose mental capacity.

These documents are often overlooked but can be invaluable where a person has lost capacity. If a person loses capacity and they do not have LPAs in place, there is nobody with an automatic right to act on their behalf.

This means that if bills need to be paid, there is nobody with authority to do so. An application would need to be made to the Court of Protection for a deputy to be appointed and these proceedings are lengthy and expensive.

It is up to the client to decide whether they wish to make LPAs to cover both finance and health, or just one type but we generally recommend making both to ensure that all types of decisions can be made. There are various options to consider when setting up these documents which I explain to the client.

After the meeting I make a note of what was discussed and start to draft the LPAs which will then be sent to the client for approval before we arrange to meet again to go through them and to sign.

I finish the day by completing a few admin tasks ready for tomorrow. I then run my commute home – I am currently training for the Northampton Half Marathon and this is a good way to fit it in on a day when I am not on the nursery run. This is also a good opportunity to wind-down ahead of an evening with my spirited toddler!