Joanne Seal > Collas Crill > St Peter Port, Guernsey > Lawyer Profile

Joanne Seal

01481 734261 joanne.seal@collascrill.com View profile View profile

Work Department

International Private Client and Trust

Position

Joanne is a Group Partner in the International Private Client & Trusts team. Having led an international offshore private client practice for over 10 years, she now heads the Wills & Estate and Private Client services in Guernsey.

Joanne specialises in estate planning and advising on inheritance matters, focusing on complex wills for both local and non-resident individuals. She advises on all aspects of estate administration, from undertaking executorships, advising on Guernsey’s probate procedures, dealing with intestacies (where someone has died without a will), to preparing instruments of variation and obtaining Guernsey grants of probate and representation.

Joanne and her team also advise upon local guardianships and powers of attorney, and the recognition of foreign equivalents, property matters with estate connections and a variety of other private client matters.

Joanne also acts as the Primary Deputy Registrar of the Ecclesiastical Court of Guernsey which oversees the issuing of documentation such as grants of representation and local marriage licences.

• Advising UHNW individual (GBP £700+ million) in relation to his estate planning and potential claims against his estate post death.
• Acting as lead advisor for UHNW client with assets in C.I., South Africa and Scotland co-ordinating multi jurisdiction team of lawyers and tax advisors in relation to lifetime succession planning and involving trusts, foundations and will drafting.
• Acting for HNW individual (GBP £75+ million) in relation to estate planning and the establishment of trust structures over Guernsey, Canadian and French company assets.
• Acting as Attorney for HNW individual with physical incapacity (management of assets with value in excess of £2+ million).

Career

Joanne has worked at Collas Crill for the majority of her career after a brief background in matrimonial and child law elsewhere. In addition to her fee-earning responsibilities, and time acting as Deputy Registrar at the local probate Court, Joanne frequently runs a local seminar programme aimed at assisting local organisations and charitable bodies to understand Guernsey’s laws on inheritance and capacity issues. She assists the Citizens Advice Bureau as a peer reviewer (reviewing advice given and ensuring it is correct) and is a co-author of the C.I. chapter of ICGL and ISL succession chapters.

Languages

French

Memberships

STEP – TEP Qualified
GILA
Law Society

Education

Ladies College, Guernsey (1992-99);

Leeds University (1999-2002);

L’Université de Caen (2004 Certificat d’études juridiques normandes et français);

Inns of Court School of Law (2002-03);

CLT International (2006 QLTT);

Leisure

Travel, Pilates