Erica is a Partner in the Tax & Trusts and Wills & Estates teams.
Providing guidance on wealth protection strategies, business succession options, later-life care arrangements, life-time tax planning, the use of onshore and offshore trusts and the drafting of wills is her specialist area.
She drafts lasting powers of attorney, Court of Protection applications for vulnerable individuals, trusts and settlements for people with a disability, and probate applications following death. In addition, she undertakes estate administration and variations to a will to mitigate unintended tax consequences.
Her clients include wealthy individuals, business owners, farmers, entrepreneurs, elderly clients, and children. She also acts on behalf of adults, including those with mental health problems or a recognised disability, who require help in protecting their assets and income.
Recent examples of how Erica has supported clients include:
- shaving £4 million off the potential inheritance tax bill of a successful businessman, by arranging for his shares to be placed in an exempt asset trust and including a cross-option agreement to enable the shares to be sold outside of his estate free of any tax charge;
- saving the estate of a recently deceased gentleman £350,000 by varying the terms of his will to prevent a residential property being transferred into a discretionary trust, thereby entitling the estate to benefit from a £1 million tax exemption;
- establishing a trust for a wealthy couple in order to ring fence £10 million of assets for the benefit of future generations and to ensure such assets could not be attacked in divorce proceedings should one of them die and the other remarry;
- successfully appealing a decision not to award a care home patient NHS continuing healthcare funding, thereby securing a rebate of £36,000 for the patient’s family who had been covering their relative’s care costs pending the appeal; and
- administering the estate of a lady who had been domiciled in South Africa prior to her death but who had a significant connection to the UK and Switzerland and who had therefore made multiple wills to cover differently located assets.