For UHNW families, securing probate on a deceased family member’s estate is rarely straightforward, especially when international assets, family businesses, and complex trust structures are involved. The lawyers featured in the Spear’s 2025 probate and wills lawyers index are specialists in navigating difficult cases while offering tailored advice that goes far beyond the drafting of a will.
For clients, the stakes can be incredibly high as the division of assets after death must not only be legally sound, particularly key in light of government changes to inheritance tax policy, but also sensitive to family dynamics, charitable intentions and long-term legacy planning.
Barry Adamson tells Spear’s, for some clients, ‘fairness doesn’t necessarily mean equality’, particularly when complex financial structures such as long-term investment strategies are part of a family’s finances. This is a sentiment echoed by many UHNW clients who are choosing to divide estates based on each child’s financial vulnerability rather than equal shares, underscoring the nuanced nature of estate planning at this level.
Explore the full 2025 Spear’s Tax & Trust Indices:
Related
- Tax Lawyers
- Contentious Trust Lawyers
- Probate and Wills Lawyers
- Tax and Trust Barristers
- Accountants and Tax Advisers
- Trusts, Structuring and Offshore
This year’s research highlights the growing concern around the UK government’s attitudes towards taxing wealthy Brits. As changes are made to inheritance and capital gains taxes, advisers are increasingly called upon to structure estates in ways that mitigate liabilities.
‘There are huge changes coming up,’ says Matthew Barnett of Edwin Coe. We’re doing a lot of work at the moment with business owners, with the loss of business relief from April next year. I have lots of quite panicked, elderly clients with sizeable pensions with the changes coming in from April.’
Family Investment Companies (FICs) have emerged as a vital tool amid the current tax uncertainty. FICs allow wealth creators to retain control while transferring value to younger generations through differentiated shareholder responsibilities. They are often used to hold complex assets such as cryptocurrency, landed estates, and other alternative investments. David King of Harrison Clark Rickerbys, a new addition to the index, has made FICs and trust structures a central focus of his practice, frequently collaborating with family offices and in-house legal teams.
As estate planning becomes more common among HNW families and tax issues complicate inheritance, the advisers in this index are increasingly a key component to well-rounded tax advice. They stand out for their ability to anticipate future risks and deliver bespoke counsel that protects and preserves a family’s legacy.
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- Methodology
- The best probate and wills lawyers in 2025: some names to know
- The best probate and wills lawyers in 2025: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to The Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
The best probate and wills lawyers in 2025: some names to know
Nita Maru
- Focus: Expatriate wills in the UAE
- Ranking: Top recommended
- Firm: TWS Legal Consultants
Of the high-powered lawyers making waves in the UAE, Nita Maru is among the most formidable. When she established her firm, TWS Legal Consultants, in 2009, she’d advocated for the development of the DIFC wills and probate system to consider expatriates and non-Muslims who’d prefer their estate to be determined as per their own wishes and not by sharia law.
‘Many expatriates were unaware that their estate could be subject to sharia/UAE law, leading to unforeseen complications, particularly for families with complex asset and business structures,’ she tells Spear’s. ‘By advocating for these communities and helping them navigate the legal landscape, I aimed to provide peace of mind and security for their family.’
Read Nita Maru’s full profile on Spears500.com
Helen Calcutt
- Focus: Probate and tax planning
- Ranking: Top recommended
- Firm: Keystone Law
Keystone Law partner Helen Calcutt has extensive experience in advising on a wide range of private client work.
Calcutt’s advice focuses on lifetime tax planning, wills, lasting powers of attorney and probate matters as well as Court of Protection matters for clients who have received large settlements for injuries.
Her HNW clients, who range from the moderately wealthy to those with ‘multi millions’, appreciate her accessible approach when communicating legal information.
Read Helen Calcutt’s full profile on Spears500.com
Robert Lee
- Focus: Elderly clients
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: MSB Solicitors
Robert Lee is head of wills and probate at MSB Solicitors in central Liverpool, focusing on matters involving probate, court of protection, trusts, estates and wills.
The private client department at MSB offers a range of services to the high-net-worth individuals and families of north-west England, including inheritance tax advice, will writing, reviews of existing assets, probate services for complex estates, business planning and family dispute resolution.
Read Robert Lee’s full profile on Spears500.com
Claire Rudkin
- Focus: Midlands clients
- Ranking: Top recommended
- Firm: Flint Bishop
Based in Derby, Claire Rudkin is head of Flint Bishop’s wills, probate, tax and trusts team and a trusted adviser to UHNWs in the East Midlands.
A background in accountancy before entering law gives Rudkin an excellent grounding for handling complex matters of probate, trusts, tax structuring, succession and estate planning.
Her clients include both UK residents and international non-doms with estates over £10 million and trusts in excess of £300 million
Read Claire Rudkin’s full profile on Spears500.com
David King
- Focus: Sport, media and entertainment clients
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Harrison Clark Rickerbys
David King’s day-to-day practice involves estate planning and probate and wills advice for UHNW individuals, typically those with assets of £10 million or more. Based in Harrison Clark Rickerbys’ Cardiff office, King supports an international clientele with assets in offshore trusts and businesses in other jurisdictions.
As joint head of sport, media and entertainment at the firm, he helps clients in these industries to establish their tax structures in order to create generational wealth.
Read David King’s full profile on Spears500.com
The best probate and wills lawyers in 2025: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles of each adviser on The Spear’s 500 website. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
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With additional reporting by Caitlin Kilpatrick.
