Charlotte Macdonald

Charlotte’s work includes the following:

• Preparing Wills for clients with UK assets. Where appropriate, drafting Wills including life interest trusts and discretionary trusts.
• Preparing Wills to cover certain overseas jurisdictions.
• Reviewing non-English and Welsh Wills to ensure that they ‘dovetail’ with the Wills that Charlotte has prepared her clients in relation to scope, revocation and planning goals.
• Providing detailed cross-border estate planning advice to her clients to ensure that her clients are aware of how the succession and tax rules in multiple jurisdictions interact with one other.
• Providing lifetime gifting advice to clients in relation to UK gifting and the impact of overseas gifting on their UK tax position in relation to both inheritance tax and capital gains tax.
• Providing an analysis of domicile for inheritance tax purposes for use with HMRC.
• Reviewing overseas trust structures and advising clients on how these will likely be viewed by HMRC.
• Drafting, registering and advising on the content of English and Welsh Lasting Powers of Attorney.
• Providing advice on relevant double taxation agreements following the sale of overseas property.

Administering estates within the UK:

• Drafting and submitting inheritance tax returns to HMRC, including those with business assets and overseas assets.
• Providing advice to clients throughout the estate administration process.
• Obtaining English and Welsh grants of probate and grants of letters of administration.
• Providing advice on and drafting deeds of variation.
• Drafting deeds of appropriation (where necessary).
• Preparing estate accounts.

Assisting with the estate administration of overseas estates:

• Liaising with overseas probate lawyers and notaries.
• Reviewing Wills as to their validity and applicability in overseas jurisdictions, including consideration of whether the EU succession regulation is relevant.
• Advising on and applying various overseas double taxation treaties to ensure that inheritance tax is applied correctly.
• Providing affidavits/opinions of English law for overseas lawyers.
• Arranging for the re-sealing of non-English grants of probate with the Probate Registry where applicable.
• Providing advice to charity clients and school clients who are beneficiaries of multi-jurisdictional estates and individual overseas legacies.

Charlotte also provides advice to other firms of solicitors on international elements of their work including estate planning and estate administration.

Charlotte is a full member of STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) and has also taken and passed with distinction the specialist STEP advanced certificates in Cross-Border Estate Administrations and UK Tax for International Clients.

Charlotte has two undergraduate degrees; International Relations Bsc (2:1 University of Plymouth) and Law LLB (2:1 University of Law). Charlotte completed her Legal Practice Course in 2012 with distinction.