Michael Alden > Ashfords LLP > Exeter, England > Lawyer Profile

Ashfords LLP Offices

Ashfords LLP
ASHFORD HOUSE
GRENADIER ROAD
EXETER
EX1 3LH
England
Visit website 01392 337000

Michael Alden

Michael Alden photo
01392 334041 m.alden@ashfords.co.uk View profile

Work Department

Private Wealth; Trust & Estates.

Position

Partner and Head of the Trusts and Estates Team specialising in acting for and advising landed estates and agricultural clients.

Career

Michael also advises on inheritance tax, trust formation and on-going administration and the administration of complex estates including business and agricultural property as well as heritage property and works of art. Michael acts as a Court of Protection Deputy for a number of clients with impaired capacity.

Prior to joining Ashfords, Michael was a Partner with Shoosmiths and, prior to that, he was a Partner with Freeth Cartwright LLP.

Relevant experience:

  • Private client: Acting in the administration of a complex Intestacy including applying to the Court for a Variation on behalf of a minor to incorporate an IHT saving arrangement.
  • Private clients: Advising substantial landowners with mixed agricultural, engineering and commercial property letting activities on IHT planning under the so called “Balfour” approach.
  • Private client: Advising on a £40 million estate on IHT issues as part of a long-term succession strategy.
  • Private client: Acting for a Sicilian-born individual now lacking capacity in relation to managing her assets including Sicilian and Italian Properties/assets.
  • Private client: Dealing with the estate of a UK domiciled individual with US based (excluded) trusts where domicile had changed since creation of the US Trusts.

Lawyer Rankings

London > Private client > Court of protection

(Firms to watch)

Ashfords LLP fields a ‘really strong team which deals with some of the more complex welfare matters before the Court of Protection’. Katie Webber. Kerry Morgan Gould and Michael Alden co-head the department, which was pleased to add Jess Flanagan to its ranks, as a consultant, from Clarke Willmott LLP.

South West > Private client > Personal tax, trusts and probate

‘Efficient, knowledgeable, professional and extremely capable’, Ashfords LLP advises a wide range of clients including high-net worth individuals, business owners, landed estates, farmers, executors and trustees. The ‘professional and extremely capable‘ team has specialisms in complex succession and inheritance tax planning, will drafting, capital gains tax mitigation and high value estate administrations. The practice is jointly chaired by Michael Alden, who has extensive experience of working with high-net-worth individuals, and Kerry Morgan Gould, an ‘extremely intelligent, focussed’ partner who oversees the private wealth department.

South West > Private client > Contentious trusts and probate

Drawing on expertise from various departments within the firm, the team at Ashfords LLP handles a broad array of contentious trusts and probate mandates, including will validity disputes, mutual claims, proprietary estoppel disputes, and related personal negligence claims. The team is jointly chaired by Robert Horsey, a highly experienced partner; Michael Alden, who also heads up the private wealth division; and Kerry Morgan Gould, noted for her expertise in contentious Court of Protection work. Other key figures include Barny Croft, who is praised as a ‘real star who attracts great work and is unflappable under pressure’, and Jess Flanagan, who joined from Clarke Willmott LLP in April 2022.

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