Frequently Asked Questions…
Commercial: What should I do if I am unable to pay my rent when it becomes due ?
Speak to your Landlord immediately to advise him of the situation. Do not just ignore the fact that you will not be paying your rent (or have not paid your rent) when it was due as your Landlord could forfeit your lease.
Commercial: What do I need to do if I want to sell my business and transfer my lease to the buyer ?
Inform your Landlord and provide him with details of the buyer as he will need to take up reference etc. from the buyer before a Licence to Assign your lease is issued. You should also be aware that in almost all situations when you assign your lease, your Landlord will require you to act as a guarantor for the incoming tenant (ie. your buyer).
What is Probate?
“Probate” is the term used by people to mean the process involved in sorting out the financial and legal affairs of a deceased person. An estate may need a “Grant of Representation” to allow the assets to be dealt with. There are various different sorts:
A “Grant of Probate” is the legal document which proves that a Will is valid. You may need to obtain this if the deceased owned a house, held shares in companies like utility providers or privatised banks or building societies, or if they had bank accounts with over ₤15,000 in them. The Grant may be needed even though there is a Will.
If a person dies without a Will then a “Grant of Letters of Administration” is needed to deal with their financial and legal affairs. In this case the document proves that the people named within it have the legal right to deal with the deceased person’s affairs.
When the phrase “going to Probate” is used this is often a reference to the District Probate Registry, which is the branch of the Court which deals with the administrative paperwork involved. The District Probate Registry which we use is in Liverpool, but when you instruct a solicitor to deal with the estate then you do not need to actually go to court – we deal with all of this on your behalf.
My relative has dementia, and Social Services have said I need to get “Power of Attorney”. How do I do this?
A “Lasting Power of Attorney” is a document which a person signs, which gives someone else the authority to act on their behalf. The word “Lasting” means that the Power given will continue to be effective even if the person making the Power (the “Donor”) loses capacity to make decisions for themselves. The document remains effective until the Donor dies.
In order to draw up a Lasting Power of Attorney, the Donor must understand the nature and effect of the power they are giving to their Attorney – they must have ‘Capacity’ to sign the document. An independent Third Party (often one of our solicitors) will meet with the Donor to assess whether they have Capacity, to discuss with them any questions they may have, advise of any issues they should be considering and to assist with ensuring that the relevant paperwork is completed correctly.
Before the document can be used, it must be registered with a part of the High Court called The Office of the Public Guardian. They will check the paperwork, ensure that everything is in order and then register the document in their records. This process takes at least 6 weeks, and often much longer as the Court usually has a backlog of outstanding cases.
If your relative no longer has capacity to make a Lasting Power, and very often if they were diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s some time ago, they may not, then there is the possibility of making an application to be appointed as a “Deputy” on behalf of the person who lacks capacity. This is a much more involved process, but we would be pleased to discuss the options available to you.
