Sponsors
Headline Sponsor
CTT Group is a multi-disciplinary support for the UK’s Professional Advisor Community, offering advice in all aspects of Estate Planning, Tax, and Finance.
Founded by Bob Massey and Clive Ponder in 2003 as Countywide Tax & Trust Corporation, the ambition was to improve services offered to clients by combining the skillsets of multiple professions.
In 2021, they rebranded their business-to-business offering, and CTT Group was born. With that came a crystalline direction for the two companies, offering capabilities across six key areas: Professional Services, Legal, Accountancy, Tax & Trust, Private Client, and Legacy Software.
From its base in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CTT Group provides thousands of advisors across the UK with a unique, multi-faceted support mechanism, covering everything from training to technical support alongside a software platform that helps advisors to manage their businesses efficiently.
CTT Group celebrates its twentieth year of innovation within the Estate Planning sector, and will be launching a number of ground-breaking digital developments in the run up to the TWP Awards this year.
For more information please visit: www.ct-group.co.uk
Hear what CTT Group had to say about The British Wills and Probate Awards here.
Networking Sponsor & Customer Service Champion
Death is a difficult time for everyone. Sadly, the processes that come with it don’t make it any easier. They can be lengthy, repetitive and complicated. At Exizent we don’t believe it has to be this way.
Exizent connects the data and services used by legal services firms, institutions, and executors to sort out what’s required to make the journey for the bereaved an easier one.
Our online platform is digitising the probate process. We’re making it easier for legal services firms and institutions to streamline the administration, so you can get back to what’s important – using your specialist knowledge and working with clients.
For more information please visit: www.exizent.com
Charity Partner
At Macmillan, we give people with cancer everything we’ve got. If you’re diagnosed, your worries are our worries. We will move mountains to help you live life as fully as you can.
And we don’t stop there. We’re going all out to find ever better ways to help people with cancer, helping to bring forward the day when everyone gets life-transforming support from day one.
We’re doing whatever it takes. But without your help we can’t support everyone who needs us.
To donate, volunteer, raise money or campaign with us, call 0300 1000 200 or visit macmillan.org.uk
Charity Legacy Probate Collaboration of the Year
Institute of Legacy Management (ILM) is the membership body for all those working in charitable legacy fundraising, with 700 members representing over 500 charities and not-for-profit organisations.
Across the charity sector, legacy professionals are responsible for over £3.5bn of charitable income each year – income that many charitable organisations rely on for their survival. ILM seeks to ensure that every donor’s charitable legacy achieves its greatest potential, by offering specialist training, qualifications, expert advice and support to legacy professionals working in charities big and small across the UK. We also offer guidance and support to executors dealing with charitable legacies through our factsheets and guidance notes which are available on our website.
Find out more at legacymanagement.org.uk/ or get in touch by emailing ceo@legacymanagement.org.uk
‘One to Watch’ Practitioner of the Year
The Law Superstore is the UK’s leading comparison site for legal services. With a panel of solicitors and legal service providers from across the UK, The Law Superstore makes it simple and straightforward for consumers to find and compare over 130 legal services online, including wills and probates, divorces and pre-nuptial agreements.
Consumers can compare by price, location and service ratings left by previous users, bringing transparency to the online legal services sector. Every provider is quality checked, reputable and fully regulated.
The Law Superstore was acquired in 2017 by reallymoving.com, the UK’s leading price comparison site for home-moving services.
For more information please visit: www.thelawsuperstore.co.uk
Contentious Wills and Probate Team of the Year – Large
Finders International are an award-winning probate genealogy company who trace heirs to estate, property and asset worldwide. From our offices in London, Hull, Edinburgh, Dublin and Sydney, we are able to provide a comprehensive range of global research and support services; tracing missing/unknown beneficiaries, through to preparing estate distribution schedules and finding missing wills and assets. Finders International is also the founding member of the IAPPR, the International Association of Professional Probate Researchers, which provides regulation and a single authoritative voice for industry professionals, ensuring you are met with a professional efficient service.
For more information please visit: www.findersinternational.co.uk
Afterparty Sponsor
Simplifying and accelerating due diligence in estate administration, Estatesearch’s award-winning platform enables private client practitioners to deliver greater value to their clients whilst ensuring they mitigate against risk. Our range of searches and services, accessed from one, technology-driven and efficient portal, transforms processes for thousands of clients all over the UK. It provides simple and efficient access to our award-winning combined Financial Asset & Liability searches, the Financial Profile Service, Will Searches, Gazette Notices, Local Ads, Unoccupied Property Insurance, Bankruptcy Searches; all in one place and all on one invoice for greater efficiency.
For more information please visit: www.estatesearch.co.uk
Solicitor Firm of the Year – North
Ochresoft’s ‘Intelliworks’ is award-winning, market-leading case management software.
Intelliworks Private Client was designed by lawyers who understand real practice, so it’s built to be the product working practitioners need. The STEP-compliant software frees fee-earner and support staff from routine administrative tasks in probate administration, grant-only cases, will writing and LPAs.
With automatic production of IHT400 forms, several hours of work is reduced to just several clicks, making firms more efficient and reducing the risk of manual error.
Intelliworks supports hundreds of law firms, who use our Private Client workflows to increase process and business efficiency.
For more information, visit: www.ochresoft.com
Court of Protection Team of the Year
Now in our sixth decade, Anglia Research has a specialist team solely focused on providing timesaving solutions to legal professionals. We work with law firms of all sizes, including Legal 500 firms, across the UK and around the world.
The research work we undertake helps Private Client practitioners with their workload on a daily basis. We provide expert support to both Probate and Court of Protection teams, whether that’s finding missing beneficiaries, verifying a family tree, undertaking Statutory Will research, completing financial and bankruptcy searches, or even providing indemnity insurance quotes.
We provide research that can be relied upon.
For more information please visit: www.angliaresearch.co.uk/services
Best Use of Technology
The Best Foundation is the UK’s newest, forward-thinking, non-profit organisation for Estate Planning professionals who thrive on digital innovation, superior working practices and client satisfaction. The three key objectives of the Best Foundation are to grow a supportive community, educate the public and promote the estate planning industry. We help our members with any aspect of their business, and we aim to be a champion for professionals in the industry, highlighting and fighting significant problems on their behalf.
For more information, visit: www.bestfoundation.org.uk
Private Client Team of the Year – Large
Pro-Gen Research Limited was established in 2016 by Samantha Kimber, a graduate of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, after gaining ten years’ experience in the probate research industry having worked with one of the more well-known probate research companies.
In the seven years since its inception, Pro-Gen Research Limited has established relationships with solicitors in over 70 solicitors’ firms who regularly look to us for advice and assistance on various research and tracing requirements including:
- international bankruptcy searches
- tracing missing beneficiaries
- identifying and locating entitled relatives in intestacy cases
- forensic research such as identifying the ultimate beneficiaries of Estates settled decades ago where assets have been located recently.
Pro-Gen Research pride themselves on establishing approachable, friendly and professional relationships with all clients and count many as friends, not just clients. These relationships also extend to various colleagues around the world who provide an added expertise to the research methodology utilized by Pro-Gen Research in being able to provide the results requested by our clients.
Pro-Gen Research have been rated as “highly commended” in the category of Best UK Probate Research Firm for two consecutive years at the Probate Research Awards.
For more information please visit: www.pro-gen-research.co.uk
Solicitor Firm of the Year – National
Using market leading technology, Inheritance Data offers a tailored searching engine that provides Executors and Probate Professionals with a bespoke platform to access a growing range of services for estate administration.
The service saves administration time and helps fulfil obligations as an Executor or appointed Administrator when locating assets, liabilities, wills or placing a legal notice.
Using a combination of award-winning technology and traditional searching methods, our financial asset and liability search contacts over 350 financial institutions and databases to uncover accounts or policies held across the Financial Industry that may not have previously been known.
For more information, visit www.inheritancedata.co.uk or call 01603 673250.
Paralegal / Support Team Member of the Year
Fraser and Fraser is home to expert genealogists and probate researchers who offer you and your clients a first-class service. At the forefront of the industry, we support legal professionals and public authorities in tracing missing beneficiaries and heirs to unclaimed estates, assets and derelict properties, worldwide.
Since our formation in 1923, we have solved over 20,000 cases and are committed to delivering professional and cost-effective results. We pride ourselves on our commitment and clarity, treating each referral on a case-by-case basis.
We’re happy to answer your questions, please do get in touch.
For more information please visit: www.fraserandfraser.co.uk
Contact: info@fraserandfraser.co.uk | 020 7832 1400
Will Writing Firm of the Year – National
WillSuite is a fully cloud-based document drafting software for estate planning professionals. Approaching 10 years experience in the legal software industry, 6000 documents drafted per week and over half a million wills put through the system, we’re the leading provider for legal professionals in England and Wales. Case management, CRM, Invoicing, Wills, LPAs, Letters of Wishes and Living Wills, WillSuite is the solution that can automate it all.
For more information about how WillSuite can maximise your efficiency, get in touch with a member of our team today. https://willsuite.co.uk/contact
Solicitor Firm of the Year – Midlands
Designing technology to improve the efficiency of law firms, including those practising probate work, LEAP continuously refines its technology to create an unparalleled legal practice productivity solution.
LEAP’s powerful features expand beyond traditional practice management software to include legal accounting, document assembly and management, and uniquely, legal publishing tools in one integrated solution.
Investing over £13 million each year into R&D, LEAP provides legal practitioners access to the very latest technological innovations including:
- Integrated time recording
- Billing and client accounting
- Automated legal forms and precedents
- Will building tools
- Full remote working capabilities
- Estates Administration App
- Client collaboration tools and more
Highly secure and cloud-based, LEAP allows law firms to simplifying their IT infrastructure and run their entire firm from one application eliminating the risk of using multiple systems.
For more information please visit: www.leap.co.uk
Solicitor Firm of the Year – South
Founded by Bill Wilkinson, Wilkinson & Fox is a reputable firm of Chartered Surveyors specialising in providing comprehensive property services for private client professionals. With a primary focus is taking estates from valuation to sale whilst maximising value and minimising cost.
At Wilkinson & Fox, we understand the intricate details and legalities involved in property valuations for tax and dispute purposes. We possess the expertise and experience to handle complex valuation matters, assisting clients in making informed decisions and resolving property-related disputes.
Our team at Wilkinson & Fox is well-versed in providing solutions beyond traditional surveying, including chattels valuations, property clearances, vacant property insurance and District Valuer negotiation.
For more information please visit: www.wilkinsonandfox.com
Legal Supplier of the Year
The PPR has been developed in direct response to the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) that recommended a body should come forward to regulate paralegals who are working outside of the regulated sector.
We have recognised the need for Paralegals to be regulated for two reasons:
- To provide greater consumer choice and protection
- To professionalise Paralegals and recognise them as the fourth arm of the legal profession
The PPR is a voluntary scheme for Paralegals who do not work in solicitors’ firms and are not governed by the legal services regulator, The Legal Services Board.
The regulatory framework of the PPR is designed to be proportionate to match the perceived or real risk attached to different areas of work that Paralegals do.
For more information please visit: www.ppr.org.uk
Best Place to Work
Estgro is a first-of-its-kind digital ecosystem which seamlessly connects financial services professionals to a network of trusted estate planners.
Estgro empowers financial services professionals to make estate planning and inheritance part of vital financial planning conversations, enabling them to offer truly holistic advice to their clients. Estate planners can receive regular, qualified referrals via the Estgro platform where they can interact easily with clients and the referring advisor, utilise digital instruction tools, quote builders and confirmation letters and obtain digital go ahead for work.
For more information please visit: www.estgro.com
Probate Research Firm of the Year
Established in 2012, Modern Law Magazine is a leading publication that celebrates excellence and innovation within the legal industry. Our aim is to uplift and support the everchanging legal landscape, and allows those in the industry to have their narrative heard.
Our diverse content delves into the latest legal trends, breakthroughs, and challenges across various sectors, from technology to family law, private client law, conveyancing and much more. Through thought-provoking articles, interviews, and expert analysis, we foster a deeper understanding of the law’s impact on society, business, and innovation.
Modern Law Magazine is your guide to staying informed, connected, and inspired within the dynamic world of law.
Will Writing Firm of the Year – Online
The Society of Will Writers (SWW) is a non-profit making self-regulatory organisation that seeks to protect the public and serve the interests of those who are active professionals in the Will Writing and Estate Planning field, as well as the upkeep of advancement, education, and ethical standards within the profession.
Founded in 1994, the SWW has grown to a membership of over 1700 estate planning professionals across the UK, Europe and further afield in places such as Asia and Africa, each championing our standards and enabling the public access to high-quality Will Writing and Estate Planning services.
For more information please visit: www.willwriters.com
Will Writing Firm of the Year – Online
With over 100 years of heritage working with individuals, companies and advisers and with over 1,000 professionals working across 29 offices worldwide, ZEDRA lives by its motto of Do More. Achieve More.
ZEDRA’s Probate and Estate Administration Team is based throughout the UK to support bereaved families and their advisers wherever they are, and whenever they need us. We bring an unrivalled end to end service provision coupled with a unique wealth of Estate Administration knowledge and experience guaranteeing your affairs are in the best possible hands.
Our dedicated and experienced team will always go the extra mile when dealing with our partners’ clients.
We provide dedicated support for families following a bereavement including access to one central point of contact for your cases including a direct dial telephone number.
We also offer:
- The opportunity to build a pipeline for future business
- Flexible, generous referral agreements and fee sharing including an advanced fee share which means we aim to pay your full fee share around 60 days from your client’s instruction.
- Complimentary lifetime document storage facility
- Access to networking opportunities and resources such as Estate Planning webinars and newsletters with useful case studies and industry insights.
Contact partners@zedra.com to find out more or visit www.zedra.com.
Today’s Wills & Probate Industry Champion
Prosperity Insurance are insurance specialists who are able to provide ATE legal expenses insurance and Title Indemnity Insurance to the legal services sector. Prosperity are able to offer a wide range of these products and services and are also able to offer be-spoke solutions to fit a client’s specific needs. We are very proud to have now also launched a Probate Insurance product entitled ‘Executor Liability Insurance’ – this policy is designed to safeguard Executors during probate by ensuring that should a claim be brought against an Estate; the clients’ legal costs are insured (Subject to the policy Terms and Conditions).
For more information please visit: www.prosperityinsurance.co.uk
Probate Provider of the Year – South
CLS PI is a leading provider of products and services for Legal Indemnities, Fraud Protection checks and Estate Administration matters.
Providing a personal service with expert advice and support from our highly qualified underwriters, business development and client services teams.
We start with our customers experiences and needs, simply identify the pain points then work together to innovate and deliver real value.
Every problem has a solution. You just have to be creative enough to find it.
For more information please visit: www.clspi.co.uk
Probate Provider of the Year – North & Midlands
Prosperity Insurance are insurance specialists who are able to provide ATE legal expenses insurance and Title Indemnity Insurance to the legal services sector. Prosperity are able to offer a wide range of these products and services and are also able to offer be-spoke solutions to fit a client’s specific needs. We are very proud to have now also launched a Probate Insurance product entitled ‘Executor Liability Insurance’ – this policy is designed to safeguard Executors during probate by ensuring that should a claim be brought against an Estate; the clients’ legal costs are insured (Subject to the policy Terms and Conditions).
For more information please visit: www.prosperityinsurance.co.uk
Will Writing Firm of the Year – Regional
PLG are experts in providing Probate Property Support to Professional Executors.
Our services include:
- HMRC Compliant Valuations that cover Section 160 inheritance tax act 1984, and Taxation chargeable gains act 1992.
Not only are they easy to read, but they cost much less than a RICS.
- Property Sales that ensure a more driven approach which results in achieving the highest price.
- Vacant Property Insurance powered by one of the world’s largest insurance providers.
- Clearances, Cleans, Chattel Valuations, Lock Changes and much more.
0330 124 7434
For more information please visit: www.theplgroup.co.uk
Contentious Wills & Probate Team of the Year – Boutique
Aviva’s Estate Distribution policies offer certainty in uncertain circumstances. When you can’t be sure if the deceased left a will or a later will, or that all entitled beneficiaries under the deceased’s will or on intestacy have been identified and traced, our range of estate distribution products provide protection to beneficiaries and executors following the distribution of a deceased’s estate.
Aviva are one of the UK’s leading Insurance, Wealth and Retirement businesses. Aviva has been taking care of people for more than 325 years. We are deeply invested in our people, our customers, our communities and the planet that is our home. Serving our customers well will let us create a lasting impact for the communities and the society in which we live.
For more information please visit: www.aviva.co.uk
Community & Charity Champions
Simpler Law is part of the HAIG Legal Group Ltd http://www.haiglegalgroup.co.uk that incorporates Fidelis Legal Services and Northwood Banks & Co offering all aspects of Estate Planning, Trust, Probate and Conveyancing directly to members of the public or via our affinity partnerships supporting 1,000’s of employees and trusted advisers throughout the UK.
Simpler Law was founded by Andrew Townsend, Ian Peace, and Helen Claydon in 2016, with the ambition to offer an exceptional level of service, encompassing an expert Lawyer led legal service, that combines compassion with the innovative use of technology. It is the businesses aim to continue to grow and extend legal services to those members of the public that feel that having access to justice and a family lawyer seems out of reach.
It is the Group’s mission statement that we have an obligation to the public that no one in society is prevented from having access to our products. We achieve this by making our products accessible through our omni-channel approach to distribution through, TV, Website, Professional Introducers, social media and directly via the Web.
Our Head of Legal Services – Helen Claydon has over 30 years’ experience as a legal professional who is a Licensed Conveyancer and Probate Practitioner, Commissioner for Oaths and Chartered Legal Executive.
From humble beginnings, Helen has grown the legal services team organically to a team of over 45 legal professionals, working across its 3 offices in Lincoln, Leicester, and Birmingham our offices that employ more than 100 employees that provide legal services to over 170,000 customers across its 3 businesses.
Simpler Law will be launching a new product to the industry later this year, so please watch this space.
For more information please visit: https://www.simplerlaw.co.uk/