Musician, DJ and record producer, Avicii died on 20th April 2018 after reportedly taking his own life. The Swedish electronic dance artist whose real name was Tim Bergling was born in 1989. Despite being just 28 years of age at the time of his death, he left behind an incredible legacy through his musical career and charitable gifts, and a sizeable estate, reportedly worth £20 million.

This year has been a big year for government-related announcements, including proposed probate fee changes, civil partnerships set to be extended to mixed-sex couples, and recommendations to simplify Inheritance Tax. 2018’s research papers have also revealed some interesting insights about the Will writing and financial service industries.

We recently reported that an Inheritance Tax review was to be published by the end of this year, and the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has now released their first Inheritance Tax review report. This first stage of the report provides an overview of the tax and “sets out recommendations on administrative issues”.

On the 5th of November 2018, an update on probate fees was provided by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Ministry of Justice, Lucy Frazer QC MP. It was announced that new legislation to implement a new, banded structure of fees for a Grant of Probate (also known as Grant of Representation) has been presented before Parliament.

Theresa May has announced that all couples in England and Wales will be able to choose to enter into a civil partnership, instead of getting married. Currently, the law allows same-sex couples to either marry or enter into a civil partnership but mixed-sex couples can only choose to marry. Theresa May is planning to change this by taking a Bill through Parliament, in order to give everyone the same life choices.

There are a number of lessons that members of the public can learn from the recent celebrity deaths that have hit the headlines. That’s why this blog post explores the considerations that are raised from these high profile deaths:

After a near six decades in the spotlight, Aretha Franklin has died at the age of 76, reportedly without leaving a Will. The Queen of Soul passed away at her home in Detroit on Thursday the 16th of August, after an on-going battle with pancreatic cancer.

Bitcoin. Ripple. Ethereum. Litecoin. Dogecoin. To some, these words look like gibberish but the reality is, they are all different types of cryptocurrency.

Sir Bruce Forsyth sadly passed away on the 18th August 2017, leaving behind a truly remarkable legacy. Most famous for presenting Strictly Come Dancing, The Generation Game and Play Your Cards Right, Bruce Forsyth was beloved and is now missed by many.