This year has brought no shortage of reminders that estate planning is becoming more complicated, more contested and, for many families, more urgent. Probate delays are still leaving estates tied up for months or even years, disputes are rising as more families turn to caveats to halt grants, and frozen inheritance tax thresholds continue to draw more ordinary households into the tax net.
At the same time, changes to business property relief have sharpened the succession-planning conversation for family businesses, while the continued growth of digital assets is creating new risks for executors and families left trying to piece together an estate without the right information.
A more human theme also runs through this month’s stories. Behind every statistic is a family waiting for a grant, arguing over intentions, trying to access assets, or discovering too late that a practical safeguard such as an LPA, better record-keeping or an updated will would have made life much easier. In this May edition of the Clarke & Wright newsletter, we look at some of the most important recent developments affecting wills, LPAs, estate planning and inheritance tax, and what they may mean in practice.
Probate delays are still trapping families in limbo
Probate remains one of the clearest practical pressure points for bereaved families. Moneyweek found that, between 2020/21 and 2024/25, the number of probate cases taking 21 to 23 months rose by 131%, while the number taking more than a year rose by 177%. It was also noted that one in eight estates in 2024/25 took more than six months to clear, even though government guidance indicates probate should often take around 16 weeks.
For families, delays like these are about far more than administration. Until probate is granted, executors may struggle to collect assets, close accounts, sell property, or make distributions. That can leave estates in an uncomfortable position where tax deadlines and bills continue to fall due, but the people dealing with the estate still do not have full control of the assets.
The practical lesson is straightforward. The more organised an estate is before death, the less likely it is to become tied up afterwards. Clear paperwork, realistic record-keeping, sensible asset schedules and an up-to-date will will not remove every delay, but they can make the process significantly easier for the people left behind.
Why more families are paying £3 to stop probate
One of the most recent and arresting probate stories was the rise in caveats. Law Gazette reported that applications to block probate by entering a caveat rose by 12% to 11,589 in the 12 months to 31 July 2025, and highlighted the striking fact that this can be done for just £3. A caveat prevents a grant from being issued for six months and can then be extended.
That sounds like a technical detail, but it reveals something wider. As estate values rise and family arrangements become more complex, it takes very little for disagreement to harden into a formal challenge. A second marriage, a late-life will, capacity concerns, unequal provision or simply a lack of clarity can all be enough to stop matters in their tracks.
For readers, the message is not that every estate is heading for a disagreement. It is that uncertainty is expensive. Good drafting, a proper explanation of intentions, and regular review remain among the best ways to prevent a manageable concern from becoming a full-blown inheritance dispute.
One in five fear loved ones would not find key documents after death
This is one of the most relatable estate-planning stories of the month. Research has found that one in five people fear their loved ones would struggle to find important documents if they died unexpectedly. The same survey found that 23% either disagreed or did not know whether their loved ones could easily locate key paperwork, and one in six adults had lost an important document in the previous five years.
In many ways, this is the simplest estate-planning problem of all, but also one of the most overlooked. A will may be properly signed, an LPA may have been prepared, and assets may exist in all the right places, but if nobody knows where the paperwork is, families can still find themselves dealing with confusion at the worst possible time.
The story also reflects a broader shift in how people store their lives. More households now want a mix of paper and digital records, and younger adults in particular are comfortable with secure digital storage. For estate planning, that means practical organisation matters almost as much as the legal document itself. A well-drafted will is most useful when it can actually be found.
Is inheritance tax now becoming a property tax by default?
Inheritance tax continues to feel less like a niche issue and more like a mainstream planning concern. Rising property values and frozen thresholds are leaving many more families exposed, with significant regional variation. Research also suggested that, in 2026, 136 local authorities already face meaningful inheritance tax exposure, with London and the South East particularly affected.
The underlying tax structure has not kept pace with asset growth. HMRC’s inheritance tax guidance still centres on a £325,000 nil-rate band and a £175,000 residence nil-rate band, while the standard rate of IHT is 40% above available allowances. That means asset inflation, especially in residential property, has done much of the work of pulling more estates into scope.
For many families, the pressure point is no longer a caricature of extreme wealth. It is often an ordinary family home combined with pension value, savings, investments or business assets. That makes early planning more important, not less, particularly where couples assume they are safely below the line without reviewing the details.
Family businesses face sharper succession pressure after April’s relief changes
Succession planning for business-owning families has become more pressing now that the new Agricultural and Business Property Relief rules have taken effect. Although the government announced the changes in December 2025, the revised £2.5 million threshold came into force on 6 April 2026, allowing spouses and civil partners to pass on up to £5 million in qualifying agricultural or business assets between them.
That is a significant figure, but it should not encourage complacency. Family businesses often raise questions that go beyond headline tax relief. Who will control the business? How will children involved in the business be treated compared with those who are not? How will any tax or liquidity pressure be funded if the estate is asset-rich but cash-poor?
The practical takeaway is that business succession should never sit in isolation. Wills, shareholder arrangements, lifetime gifting, trust planning and family expectations all need to be considered together. Tax reliefs matter, but they are only one part of a successful succession plan.
Cryptoassets and estate planning: why regulation matters for inheritance too
Digital assets are no longer a fringe issue in private client work. The FCA launched a review in April on cryptoasset perimeter guidance, explaining that firms will be able to start applying for authorisation from September 2026 and that the new UK cryptoasset regime is being shaped now. The review covers when authorisation will be needed for activities such as issuing qualifying stablecoins in the UK.
This matters for estate planning because digital wealth is becoming more normal, but still remains operationally awkward after death. Even where cryptoassets are legally recognised as property, the real-world issue is often much simpler and harsher: can anyone identify, access and deal with them lawfully? If private keys, recovery phrases or account details are lost, value can effectively disappear from the estate. That makes record-keeping and instructions critically important.
More broadly, digital assets sit within a much wider category of modern estate-planning risks, including online accounts, cloud-stored documents, digital subscriptions, monetised content and digital investment platforms. Families may not discover what existed until long after they needed to know.
LPAs still matter most before a crisis
Lasting powers of attorney remain one of the simplest and most effective planning tools, but they are still too often left until urgency takes over. The Office of the Public Guardian said that, as of 7 April 2026, it takes 8 to 10 weeks to process and register LPA applications, including the statutory four-week waiting period.
That timing point matters because an LPA is precisely the sort of document people most need when life becomes unpredictable. Illness, accident, hospital admission or cognitive decline rarely arrive on a timetable that works neatly with legal administration. An LPA prepared calmly in advance is very different from one someone wishes they had started several weeks earlier.
In practical terms, this month’s wider stories about lost documents, delayed probate and disorganised life admin all point the same way. Estate planning works best when important documents are prepared early, stored clearly and understood by the people most likely to need them.
Case spotlight: the Amy Winehouse auction dispute
The reported High Court dispute involving Amy Winehouse’s belongings is a useful reminder that estate disputes do not always centre on the will itself. BBC News reported that Mitch Winehouse lost his legal bid over memorabilia sold by two of Amy Winehouse’s friends, after the court rejected the claim concerning items auctioned in 2021 for about $1.2 million.
What makes the case especially interesting for readers is that it turns on a familiar but emotionally charged problem: ownership. The argument was not simply about money, but about which items belonged to whom, what had been given away, and whether property had been kept, abandoned or transferred during life. Those questions can become surprisingly difficult once the central figure is no longer here to explain their intentions.
Cases like this are a reminder that personal possessions can generate disproportionate conflict. Sentimental value, celebrity, memory and family expectation can all raise the stakes, even where the items involved might once have seemed informal or casually shared.
A lighter note: eccentric bequests and curious inheritance tales
Not every inheritance story is solemn. Some are so strange they sound invented, but the history of wills is full of unusual conditions, eccentric gifts and legal headaches caused by people wanting authority over family life long after they are gone:
- The “marry the right person” inheritance.
Some wills have tried to make inheritance conditional on who a beneficiary marries, or does not marry. It is the closest that law gets to matchmaking from the other side, and it rarely ages well. - Money is left to pets, while relatives get less.
Few things cause more outrage than a family discovering that a beloved dog, cat or parrot has effectively done better out of the estate than they have! - The grave-maintenance obsession.
There have been wills leaving money on condition that a grave is maintained in a very particular way, sometimes with instructions so fussy they sound more like garden-management contracts than testamentary gifts… - Families go on treasure hunts (!)
Every profession has its horror stories, and wills and probate have plenty involving missing originals, hidden papers, mysterious envelopes, half-explained gifts and relatives trying to piece together someone’s intentions like amateur detectives. - The dramatic disinheritance.
There is something uniquely theatrical about a will that leaves a close relative a token sum, just enough to make the point unmistakable. It is the legal equivalent of slamming a door very slowly.
As these examples show, wills and inheritance can be just as strange as they are serious. Eccentric conditions, surprising gifts and family drama have always had a place in this area of law, and there is no shortage of curious stories still to tell. We will bring you more odd facts, bizarre bequests and inheritance curiosities in the next edition!
Keeping plans clear, current and practical
Taken together, this month’s stories point to a simple conclusion. Good estate planning is rarely about one document in isolation. It is about clarity, organisation and timing. Wills matter, LPAs matter, record-keeping matters, and so does a realistic understanding of inheritance tax and succession pressure as asset values continue to rise.
The best plans are not necessarily the most elaborate. They are usually the ones that are clear, current and easy for others to follow. When paperwork can be found, intentions are properly recorded, and legal documents are reviewed before a crisis, families are far more likely to avoid delay, conflict and unnecessary expense.
If you would like to review your will, put LPAs in place, or discuss inheritance tax and succession planning, please contact the Clarke & Wright team.